So far as is presently known by this writer, there are no Kings in his direct line of LEECH ancestors. However a close relationship can be found between these two families in five states:
Samuel Thomas King (1797-1848) and David Leech (1790?-1848?) were both born in York Co. SC and lived successively as neighbors in Franklin Co. TN, Lawrence Co. AL and Lafayette Co. MS where they both died. I have found the following intermarriages between the King and Leech families:
Minos B. Feemster, of York Co.SC, Franklin Co. TN, Marshall Co. AL, Pontotoc Co. MS (and some other places), a near kinsman of David Leech, married Martha Matilda King, sister of Samuel Thomas King.
Ca 1847 in Lafayette Co. MS Samuel Whitfield King , son of Samuel Thomas King, married Margaret Leech, daughter of David Leech. In 1850 they had a son named David, age 2.
1856: Wm Charles the son of Abel and Jane Leech Johnston,
born in 1834,
married 17 year old Jane Emeline King in 1856, daughter of James
Harvey and Jane Madison Hope King.
They had 2 children: Roxie and Charles William Johnston (8 children).
Charles William and family lived and died in Toccapola in Pontotoc,
just across the Lafayette line. (Wm Charles died in the Civil War and
was buried at Shiloh.)
Jane Johnston was the sister of David Leech.
In 1859 in Lafayette Co. MS Harvey F. King, son of Nathaniel Whitfield King, married Lucy C. Leech, daughter of David Leech of Lawrence Co. AL. She was 23.
It was probably in Izaard Co. AR that William Finis King, the youngest son of Samuel T. Leech, married Elizabeth Narcissa Victoria Leech, born ca 1840, youngest child of David Leech.
The 1790 census for York Co. SC shows several Kings listed on page
30, the same page that has most of the Leech's:
Francis
George
Samuel
Thomas
Thomas
Francis King had come from Granville Co. NC as evidenced by a deed signed in 1778 by John Black of 319 acres on Bullocks Creek. With him was probably one of the Thomas Kings above. George is said to have come from a low country family of Kings who landed in Charleston in 1670. In 1790 George owned 23 slaves.
George's son, Samuel was in the same neighborhood as David Leech and adjacent to John Fumster (Feemster), who was adjacent to Joseph Leech. Samuel's daughter, Martha Matilda, was to marry John's son, Minos B. Feemster, and in 1830 Samuel's widow, Ann was living with the Feemsters in Franklin Co. TN, and in 1850 in Pontotoc Co. MS. James Feemster's daughter, Jane, married John Leech, the son of Joseph Leech, according to one family authority.
In 1781 George King Sr. was conveyed 200 acres on Turkey Creek by Robert and Jane Dowdle for 3 negroes.
George King, Sr. and Jr. had apparently acquired considerable acerage
from the state shortly after the Revolution:
1785 George King, Sr., plat for 450 acres on branch of Turkey
Creek.
1785 George King, plat for 190 acres on Turkey Creek.
1786 George King, Jr., plat for 1000 acres on Turkey Creek. This
tract was later described as being between the farms of Joseph Feemster
and David Leech, Esq. George and James King conveyed this property to
Alex Galloway in 1791 for 5 lbs.
In 1792 George King made his will, witnessed by John Morris and Margaret and William Robinson. He named sons, George, Samuel, Benjamin, and John, and wife, Mary. At this time John King was a minor. The three younger sons were named executors with wife, Mary. The will was proved by William Robinson in 1796, anad the executors named at that time were Samuel and Benjamin.
About 1800-01 Benjamin King conveyed land to John King, Wm Robison, and John Dickey. He doesn't appear in the 1810 or 1820 census, from which I speculate he may be the man who appeared in Franklin Co., Ga. about that time.
In 1801 John King and David Leech, Jr. witnessed the will of John Dickey.
John King, born 1774 and David Leech were early elders at the Bullocks Creek Church.
In 1816 John King was appraisor of James Leech, whose exors were John and William Leech (York Co.).
In 1836 John King died, aged 62, and was buried at Bullock Creek,
leaving wife, Elizabeth and sons:
Legrand W. king,
Inglesby King,
and Jas A King.
It appears that Elizabeth also had 4 sons:
Ebander C King,
James P King,
Alfred I King,
Elzaphan King
George King's son, Samuel had 12 children and four of them had
special connections with the LEECH family:
1. Samuel Thomas King (1797-1848)
2. Martha Matilda King Feemster (1803)
3. Nathaniel Whitfield King (1805)
4. James Harvey King (1807)
1. Samuel Thomas King (1797-1848) was born in York Co. SC and died in Lafayette Co. MS. His wife was Elizabeth Farr, born in Wilson Co. TN, md. 1824 in Lawrence Co. AL and buried 1870 in Union Campground in Izaard Co. AR.
(Rev. John A. Leach (Leech), son of David Leech had moved to Izaard Co. shortly after his ordination in North Mississippi in 1853. There is some indication that Elizabeth Farr King may have been the aunt of Rev. Leach, since her son, Robert King was ordained on the same day and in his autobiography referred to John Leach as his cousin. Note also that both John A Leech and Elizabeth Farr King lived successively in Lawrence Co. AL, Lafayette Co. MS and Izaard Co. AR.)
The 1830 Lawrence Co. census shows this sequence of names:
John Leitch (Leech) grandfather of Rev. John Leach
William Ash
(his son-in-law)
William Davis (he appraised Leech's estate in 1835)
John Moore (there were Leech-
Moore
connections in SC)
James Moore
William
Dickey
Samuel T. King (father of Rev. Robert King)
All of these surnames are found earlier in York Co. SC in close proximity to the Leech family there. Of particular interest is the proximity of Samuel T. King to the Leech extended family. Samuel T. King and David Leech were close neighbors in York, SC, perhaps Franklin, TN, Lawrence AL and Lafayette MS. Some of their children moved together to Izaard Co. AR.
By 1850 the Leech and King families were both in SE Lafayette Co. MS, presumably both attending Pleasant Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church (later known as Kingdom).
1a. The youngest son of Samuel T. King was named William Finis King. He married the youngest daughter of David Leech, Eliz Narcissa V. Leech in Izaard Co.AR. In 1870 they were living with their son, David (5 months) and with her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Leech.
2. Martha Matilda King was born in 1803, md Minos B. Feemster in 1825 (presumably in York Co. SC, although he was living in Franklin Co. TN at that time). Both of them died in Pontotoc Co MS. In 1830 David Leech was living next door to Minos and Martha in Franklin Co., and in 1850 David's son John A. Leach (Leech) was living in their home in Pontotoc Co., a few miles from the Leech home in Lafayette. Rev. John A Leach and Rev. Minos B. Feemster both went to Arkansas in the pre-war period, although to different parts of the state. Rev. Feemster soon returned. There was at least one LEECH-FEEMSTER intermarriage back in York Co.
3. Samuel King's son, Nathaniel Whitfield King, b. 1805. One of his sons, Harvey F. King in 1859 md Lucy C. Leech. She was the sister of Rev. John A. Leach and is listed in the Leech family in Lafayette Co 1850 census, aged 14. That would make her ca 23 when she married Harvey King.
3a. Samuel Whitfield King was said to be the son of Nathaniel Whitfield King.
The 1850 Lafayette Co. MS census showed:
S.W. King, 24, born in AL. He was in houshold 1040 , adj to
Mrs. E.M.Leach and Samuel W. Leach.
His wife Margaret was 25 and David 2. (This Margaret was
the daughter of David Leech; in 1860 she was living in Craighead
Co. AR with her brother William A. Leech. In 1850 she had a son,
David, 2.
But Cousin June Martin reported that this S.W.King was Samuel
Whitfield King, the son of Samuel T. King. They had children:
Martha b. 1850
Rhoda b 1852
Mary A. b 1855.
The son, David apparently died young.
4. Samuel King's son, James Harvey King, b. ca 1807 in York Co. married Jane E. Madison Hope, daughter of James and Jane Barron Hope in York County in 1828. (Two older brothers, Benj Franklin King and Nath. Whitfield King md sisters of Jane Hope, namely Pamela and Ellen Demoss.) In 1839 James Harvey and Jane King moved from Franklin Co.TN to Lafayette Co. MS. One of their children was:
4.a. Jane Emeline King b. 1833 in York Co. married William Charles
Johnston in 1856. He was the son of Abel and Jane Leech Johnston of
Lawrence Co. AL. Jane Leech was the sister of David Leech and the
aunt of David's sons, James McGrady Leech and Rev. John A. Leach.
(This marriage would have made John A. Leech and Rev. Robert King (sort of)
cousins. In his journal or memoirs Rev. Robert A. King referred to
John A. Leech as his cousin when the two of them met one another on
the way to be licensed as Cumberland Presbyterian
ministers.)
The 1860 Craighead AR Co. census showed:
And this one from June Martin:
The 1860 census, Union Township, Izard Co., AR,
King, Samuel W., age 35, born AL
Margaret, age 37, born AL
Martha, age 10, born MS
Rhoda, age 8, born MS
Mary A., age 5, born MS
Elizabeth, age 60, born TN S.W.'s mother Eliz. Farr King
Mary E., age 21, born KY S.W.' sister
William [Finis], age 17, born KY S.W.'s brother
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