Here is Val L. Lunday, Jr.’s explanation of the Wiley/Charles King connection (or lack thereof).
“Here are my thoughts on the parents of Wiley King of Lawrence County,
Mississippi: First, I don't believe Wiley's parents
were Charles King and Elizabeth Gardner of Bertie County, North Carolina.
Someone latched onto this one way back and it
has been passed on as "gospel" ever since. I have seen nothing
to indicate that these were Wiley's parents, but have seen
documentation indicating they were not. Charles King was married twice,
first to a "Judah -" and second to Elizabeth
Gardner. Charles was the father of 15 children, how many by each wife I
do not know. Charles did have a son named
Wiley (or Wilie, or Willie... your choice as the name is shown with these
different spellings throughout various documents).
“Charles died in 1818 and left a will, and there is quite a bit of
documentation available in the court records where some of his
children petitioned the court to divide the portion of his estate which was
left to one of their siblings....Wiley (or Willie).
Bertie County Deed Book G, for the year 1818, shows the various
distributions of Charles' estate to his children, with the
following entry for Wiley (Willie): "To son Willie: Land and
plantation whereon I now live with all remainder of my land not
before mentioned." Since it appears "Willie" was
given the larger portion of the estate (land with plantation, and all other
lands not given to the other children), it seems logical that Wiley (Willie)
might have been the eldest son, by Charles' first
marriage, and not by Elizabeth Gardner.
“The basis for the court petitions by the other children was that Wiley
(Willie) died as an infant under the age of 20, sometime
prior to 1818. He was said to have died unmarried, leaving no will.
So, from these documents it appears there can be no
connection between this Wiley (Willie) and the Wiley of Lawrence County,
Mississippi, unless something new shows up to
change things. All of this information was published in "The Lees
and Kings of Virginia and North Carolina," back in 1975.
“I saw some old info on the Internet years ago (FamilySearch, I believe it
was - before it was revised) showing the line of
Charles King and Elizabeth Gardner, with a son named "Wiley."
Indeed, there was a son by that name (or similar), but that
was where the Internet info stopped. It did not continue on to say
that this Wiley had died sometime before 1818. Though
I have seen a more recent entry on FamilySearch saying Wiley died before 1817,
I think this site may have been the original
source of someone thinking the son of Charles King was the one who came to
Mississippi prior to 1820. If the website had
given more background on the family I think it would have been fairly clear
that these were two different Wileys. I supposed
that's where "half truths" get you into trouble.”
E-mail Val: "Val L Lunday, Jr." vllunday@flash.net
E-mail me: Pam
Jennings King pamjenning@yahoo.com
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