Roswell King
Encyclopedia
Roswell King was an American
businessman, planter and industrialist. King and his son, Barrington King, founded Roswell
, Georgia
in the 1830s. A son (Roswell King, Jr.), grandson (nicknamed "Ross" or "Rossie"), and great-grandson of Roswell King bore the same name. (Bulloch 86, Myers 1584-85)
, the son of Timothy King, a weaver and Revolutionary naval commander, and Sarah (Fitch) King. At age fifteen, he moved to Darien, Georgia
. His early professional life included jobs as surveyor
in Glynn County
, and Justice of the Peace
in McIntosh County
.
's rice and cotton plantations on Butler
and St. Simons Islands, Georgia. The plantations covered hundreds of acres on each island. Five hundred slaves worked and lived there. Roswell King also owned slaves and had a plantation of his own.
In the 1830s, King moved his family from the coast to the Piedmont
area around Vickery Creek
(referred to as Cedar Creek at the time) that would eventually become Roswell. King had identified this as a good area for the construction of a cotton mill. He had the idea to combine cotton production and cotton processing at the same location. He invited planter friends James Stephens Bulloch
and Archibald Smith
to join him in the new enterprise.
to work on constructing the mill, infrastructure and other buildings. The slaves likely worked on his house(s) as well.
King dammed the creek to power a cotton mill
that became fully operational by the later half of the decade. The mill was incorporated as the Roswell Manufacturing Company by an act of the Georgia General Assembly
on December 11, 1839, with Roswell's son, Barrington King, serving as the company president. Other people named in the act included John Dunwoody and James Stephens Bulloch
.
After living in temporary homes for his first years in the area, Roswell King (who had been recently widowed) moved into Primrose Cottage
in 1839 along with his recently widowed daughter Eliza King Hand and her children. He died on February 15, 1844, and was buried in what is now referred to as Founders' Cemetery on Sloan Street in Roswell, just to the north of the original location of the mill. Some of his personal "servants" (enslaved African-Americans) were buried near him in unmarked graves.
Roswell's son, Barrington King, and Roswell Manufacturing Company continued to depend on the skills and labor of enslaved African Americans as he built the business in Roswell. According to the 1850 Census Slave Schedules, Barrington King held 70 slaves, and he controlled another 13 slaves held in the name of Roswell Manufacturing Company. In 1860, Barrington King still held 47 slaves. He may have sold some when the heavy construction work was finished.
when he managed his island plantations in Georgia, because Butler took a more moderate approach to the treatment of slaves than did King. In addition, King was believed to have fathered one or more mixed-race children by enslaved women. (Kemble 201) At least one, Bran, who became a driver on St. Simons Island, was conceived and born during King's marriage.
Roswell King, Jr. (1796–1854), his second son and namesake, took over as manager of the Butler plantations after his father resigned. During his tenure of 1820-1838, the younger King is said to have fathered mixed-race children—including Renty, the twins Ben and Daphne, and Jem Valiant—with slave women Betty, Minda, Judy, and Scylla. (Kemble 176, 201, 238, 249, 269, 273-74) These children and their mothers remained slaves. Fanny Kemble
, the younger Pierce Butler's actress wife, attested to these children by her own observations and from stories told her by slaves during her residence at the plantations in 1838-1839, documented in her published journal of those years. She complained to her husband about Roswell King, Jr.'s harsh treatment of slaves. However, Kemble's allegations were countered by King's granddaughter, Julia King, who maintained that Fanny Kemble invented lies about Roswell King, Jr., with whom she had fallen in love, because he refused to return Kemble's affections. (Kemble and Clinton 15-16; Julia King to ____, 24 October 1930) That the marriage of Kemble and Pierce Butler was fraught with conflict, was undermined by episodes of spousal infidelity, and ended in divorce in 1849, are established facts. (Bell 288-310) There is evidence that Kemble not only falsified portions of her journal but harbored racist sentiments that contradicted her ostensible abhorrence for the institution of slavery. (Kemble and Clinton 16; David 162) Further contradiction about the character of Roswell King, Jr. appears in Kemble's journal, in which she apparently quotes King verbatim as he vehemently condemns slavery: "I hate the institution of slavery with all my heart; I consider it an absolute curse wherever it exists. It will keep those states where it does exist fifty years behind the others in improvement and prosperity." (Kemble, Journal 111)
Although Kemble's credibility with regard to the Roswell Kings has been called into question, Roswell King, Jr. provided an epistolary summary of his own "calmly reasoned" view of the brutal system he deplored in The Southern Agriculturalist on 13 September 1828. (David 161)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman, planter and industrialist. King and his son, Barrington King, founded Roswell
Roswell, Georgia
Roswell is a city located in northern Fulton County; it is a suburb of northern Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The 2010 Census population was 88,346. It is the eighth largest city in Georgia...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
in the 1830s. A son (Roswell King, Jr.), grandson (nicknamed "Ross" or "Rossie"), and great-grandson of Roswell King bore the same name. (Bulloch 86, Myers 1584-85)
Early life
King was born in Windsor, ConnecticutWindsor, Connecticut
Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....
, the son of Timothy King, a weaver and Revolutionary naval commander, and Sarah (Fitch) King. At age fifteen, he moved to Darien, Georgia
Darien, Georgia
Darien is a city in McIntosh County, Georgia, United States. It lies on Georgia's coast at the mouth of the Altamaha River about 50 miles south of Savannah, and is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Darien was 1,719 at the 2000 census. The city is the...
. His early professional life included jobs as surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
in Glynn County
Glynn County, Georgia
Glynn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 67,568. The 2008 Census Estimate showed a population of 75,884...
, and Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in McIntosh County
McIntosh County, Georgia
McIntosh County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Brunswick, Georgia, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of McIntosh, Glynn, and Brantley counties. As of 2010, the population is 14,333. The county seat is Darien.-History:McIntosh County was split...
.
Plantation manager
He also became manager of Pierce ButlerPierce Butler
Pierce Butler was a soldier, planter, and statesman, recognized as one of United States' Founding Fathers. He represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress, the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and the U.S. Senate...
's rice and cotton plantations on Butler
Butler Island
Butler Island is a circular, ice-covered island wide which rises to , lying east of Merz Peninsula, off the eastern coast of Palmer Land. It was discovered and photographed from the air in December 1940 by the United States Antarctic Service...
and St. Simons Islands, Georgia. The plantations covered hundreds of acres on each island. Five hundred slaves worked and lived there. Roswell King also owned slaves and had a plantation of his own.
In the 1830s, King moved his family from the coast to the Piedmont
Piedmont (United States)
The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...
area around Vickery Creek
Vickery Creek
Big Creek is a stream in Forsyth and Fulton counties in Georgia. The creek mouth into the Chattahoochee River is located at the southern border of Roswell where State Route 9 crosses the river...
(referred to as Cedar Creek at the time) that would eventually become Roswell. King had identified this as a good area for the construction of a cotton mill. He had the idea to combine cotton production and cotton processing at the same location. He invited planter friends James Stephens Bulloch
James Stephens Bulloch
James Stephens Bulloch was an early Georgia settler, planter and grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt and great-grandfather of Eleanor Roosevelt...
and Archibald Smith
Archibald Smith
Archibald Smith FRS FRSE was a Scottish mathematician and lawyer.He was the only son of James Smith FRS , a wealthy merchant and antiquary of Jordanhill, Glasgow, and his wife Mary, daughter of Alexander Wilson, professor of astronomy in Glasgow University...
to join him in the new enterprise.
Roswell, Georgia
When he moved, King transported 36 enslaved African-Americans from his plantation and bought another 42 slaves in DarienDarien, Georgia
Darien is a city in McIntosh County, Georgia, United States. It lies on Georgia's coast at the mouth of the Altamaha River about 50 miles south of Savannah, and is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Darien was 1,719 at the 2000 census. The city is the...
to work on constructing the mill, infrastructure and other buildings. The slaves likely worked on his house(s) as well.
King dammed the creek to power a cotton mill
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
that became fully operational by the later half of the decade. The mill was incorporated as the Roswell Manufacturing Company by an act of the Georgia General Assembly
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....
on December 11, 1839, with Roswell's son, Barrington King, serving as the company president. Other people named in the act included John Dunwoody and James Stephens Bulloch
James Stephens Bulloch
James Stephens Bulloch was an early Georgia settler, planter and grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt and great-grandfather of Eleanor Roosevelt...
.
After living in temporary homes for his first years in the area, Roswell King (who had been recently widowed) moved into Primrose Cottage
Primrose Cottage
Primrose Cottage was the first permanent private home in Roswell, Georgia, United States. The house built and completed in 1839 for Roswell King's recently widowed daughter, Eliza King Hand, and her children...
in 1839 along with his recently widowed daughter Eliza King Hand and her children. He died on February 15, 1844, and was buried in what is now referred to as Founders' Cemetery on Sloan Street in Roswell, just to the north of the original location of the mill. Some of his personal "servants" (enslaved African-Americans) were buried near him in unmarked graves.
Roswell's son, Barrington King, and Roswell Manufacturing Company continued to depend on the skills and labor of enslaved African Americans as he built the business in Roswell. According to the 1850 Census Slave Schedules, Barrington King held 70 slaves, and he controlled another 13 slaves held in the name of Roswell Manufacturing Company. In 1860, Barrington King still held 47 slaves. He may have sold some when the heavy construction work was finished.
Slave owner
As powerful and successful men, Roswell King and his sons lived out some of the complexities of their times. Roswell King, Sr. had conflicts with Maj. Pierce ButlerPierce Butler
Pierce Butler was a soldier, planter, and statesman, recognized as one of United States' Founding Fathers. He represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress, the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and the U.S. Senate...
when he managed his island plantations in Georgia, because Butler took a more moderate approach to the treatment of slaves than did King. In addition, King was believed to have fathered one or more mixed-race children by enslaved women. (Kemble 201) At least one, Bran, who became a driver on St. Simons Island, was conceived and born during King's marriage.
Roswell King, Jr. (1796–1854), his second son and namesake, took over as manager of the Butler plantations after his father resigned. During his tenure of 1820-1838, the younger King is said to have fathered mixed-race children—including Renty, the twins Ben and Daphne, and Jem Valiant—with slave women Betty, Minda, Judy, and Scylla. (Kemble 176, 201, 238, 249, 269, 273-74) These children and their mothers remained slaves. Fanny Kemble
Fanny Kemble
Frances Anne Kemble , was a famous British actress and author in the early and mid nineteenth century.-Youth and acting career:...
, the younger Pierce Butler's actress wife, attested to these children by her own observations and from stories told her by slaves during her residence at the plantations in 1838-1839, documented in her published journal of those years. She complained to her husband about Roswell King, Jr.'s harsh treatment of slaves. However, Kemble's allegations were countered by King's granddaughter, Julia King, who maintained that Fanny Kemble invented lies about Roswell King, Jr., with whom she had fallen in love, because he refused to return Kemble's affections. (Kemble and Clinton 15-16; Julia King to ____, 24 October 1930) That the marriage of Kemble and Pierce Butler was fraught with conflict, was undermined by episodes of spousal infidelity, and ended in divorce in 1849, are established facts. (Bell 288-310) There is evidence that Kemble not only falsified portions of her journal but harbored racist sentiments that contradicted her ostensible abhorrence for the institution of slavery. (Kemble and Clinton 16; David 162) Further contradiction about the character of Roswell King, Jr. appears in Kemble's journal, in which she apparently quotes King verbatim as he vehemently condemns slavery: "I hate the institution of slavery with all my heart; I consider it an absolute curse wherever it exists. It will keep those states where it does exist fifty years behind the others in improvement and prosperity." (Kemble, Journal 111)
Although Kemble's credibility with regard to the Roswell Kings has been called into question, Roswell King, Jr. provided an epistolary summary of his own "calmly reasoned" view of the brutal system he deplored in The Southern Agriculturalist on 13 September 1828. (David 161)