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A Narrative History
of
The People of Iowa
with
SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN
EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS, ETC.
by
EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M.
Curator of the
Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa
Volume IV
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc.
Chicago and New York
1931
JAY A. KING. Among the old and honored business citizens of Des Moines few
are better known or more greatly respected than Jay A. King, president of the
Western Grain Dealers Fire Insurance Company. Mr. King is a descendant of
one of the oldest American families, which, however, originated in Scotland,
and the environment of his forbears was calculated to bring out and develop
all that was sturdy and vigorous in both mind and body, and their descendants
continue to manifest the traits of character which enabled them to survive the
hardships they were compelled to endure, and which rendered prosperity
possible in the face of the most forbidding conditions.
Mr. King was born May 28, 1845, at Akron, Ohio, and is a son of Dr. John E.
and Ann (Jackson) King. Dr. John E. King was born in Pennsylvania, in 1825,
and because his family were in humble financial circumstances he received
little schooling. This did not prevent him from acquiring a medical education,
however, for he was ambitious and enterprising and possessed a good memory,
so that he was able to take his place in his profession and to build up a good
country practice. In 1855 he went to Wisconsin, where he resided for six
years, and in 1861 moved to Eldora, Iowa, where he passed the remainder of his
life in the practice of medicine and surgery, his death occurring in 1923,
when he had reached the remarkable age of ninety-seven years. He was a devout
member of the Presbyterian Church, a Mason fraternally and a Republican in his
political views. At Akron, Ohio, he married Ann Jackson, who was born in
England and was brought to the United States by her parents when a child, and
she died in 1863, having been the mother of six children, of whom three are
living: Jay A., of this review; George H., who is retired and living in
California; and O. J., who is living in retirement at Eldora, Iowa.
Jay A. King attended the public schools of Akron, Ohio, from the time he was
eight until he reached the age of ten years, and then spent two school terms
in Wisconsin and one term in Iowa. As his father had been, he was a close
student and great reader, and thereby built up the foundation of a good
practical education. In 1863 he enlisted in Company H, Ninth Iowa Cavalry, and
served with that regiment until the close of the war between the states, seeing
active service in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Indian Territory. At the
close of the War There were many of the soldiers whose lives had been so
disturbed by the adventures and excitement of warfare that they could not readily
settle down again to the pursuits of peace. Not so with Mr. King. He had
come to the realization while in the army that if he were to make a success of
his life he must be fully prepared to enter into stern competition, and
accordingly, upon receiving his honorable discharge after a year of special
service in the South, went to Chicago, Illinois, where he took a course in Bryant
and Stratton's Business College, which already had gained a reputation and
standing. In April, 1866 Mr. King, who had taken the course in the shortest
time any one had taken it up to that date, took a position with Crane Brothers
as an accountant, and in 1868 entered the employ of Baldwin & Maxwell,
proprietors of a large establishment for that day, and during the seven years he
was connected with this concern worked his way, through ability and loyalty,
into the position of cashier treasurer of Story County, of which Nevada was the
county seat. After serving six years he entered the Farmers Bank of Nevada
as cashier, a position which he held for eight years, but his health became
impaired through overwork, and he was compelled to sell out his interest.
During the nine years that followed Mr. King was compelled to rest, but in 1899
he again entered the business arena, establishing a lumber and grain
enterprise at Nevada under the firm name of Dunkelburg & King. This was a successful
enterprise which continued for seventeen years. In 1907 Mr. King conceived
the idea of the Western Grain Dealers Fire Insurance Company, which he
organized at Des Moines, and of which he has since been president. Under his able
management this has become one of the important companies of the state and has
enlarged its scope considerably, now writing a full line of fire, tornado,
and automobile insurance. Mr. King is greatly respected in business circles,
and although he has passed the four score year mark still attends to his daily
routine of duties with the energy and alert mind of a man many years his
junior. He is a regular attendant of the Presbyterian Church, and is a York
Rite Mason and Shriner. He likewise belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic,
of which he was at one time commander, of Jason D. Furgeson Post, and belongs
also to the Grant Club. A Republican in politics, he cast his first
presidential vote, while in the army for Abraham Lincoln when he was but nineteen
years of age, and has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since
that time. at one time he was chairman of the Story County Republican
Committee and also served as a member of the State Committee. while living at
Nevada he served as a member of the city counsel several terms, as a member of the
school board for three years and as president of the board of education two
years, and was likewise a member of the library board.
In 1880 Mr. King was united in marriage with Miss Lilly Day, who was born at
Nevada, Iowa, and died in 1881, leaving one son: Day E., who is now an
electrical engineer residing in San Francisco. In 1889 Mr. King married Mrs.
Elizabeth Coggshall, who was born and educated in Ohio, and died in Nevada,
Iowa, in 1913. They had no children.
Posted at this site with Debbie's permission
htttp://www.iagenweb.org/history/index.htm
*Check your facts, do not know how accurate.
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