Charles Ray King (March 16, 1813 – April 5, 1901) was an American physician, farmer and author. He was the second child of John A. King,

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

from 1857 to 1858, and grandson of Constitution signer

Rufus King Rufus King (March 24, 1755April 29, 1827) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention and was one of the signers of the Unit ...

. He authored the book ''The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King'' and founded King Library in

Andalusia, Pennsylvania Andalusia is a historic neighborhood and unincorporated community in Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It borders Philadelphia along the Poquessing Creek. The ZIP Code is 19020. The area is the southernmost part of the township and ...

. Some sources incorrectly state Charles Ray King's name as Charles Rufus King.

Life

Charles Ray King was born on March 16, 1813, in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springfi ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to John Alsop King and Mary Ray King. He was the second of eight children. His brother, also named John A. King, was a delegate to the 1872 Republican National Convention and later a member of the New York State Senate. Charles Ray King attended grammar school in Jamaica and graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1831, King received medical degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1834. After spending two years studying in Paris, he returned to New York and worked as a physician. He married Hannah Wharton Fisher (1816–1870) on December 12, 1839. King moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and retired from medicine in 1848. He purchased the Chelwood estate from Edward Biddle, son of Nicholas Biddle and later moved to Devon, an adjacent estate. Devon was subject to a fire five years after King moved in. King rebuilt the house and moved his personal library, the King library, to his estate. Hannah Wharton Fisher died in 1870, two years later in 1872, he married her sister Nancy Wharton Fisher (1826–1905). His desired to build a more ambitious library led to the founding of King Library on 1065 Bristol Pike in Andalusia in 1882. The library's architecture was based on John Quincy Adams Library, now known as Stone Library, located in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

. The King Library building was completed and opened to the public in 1888. King donated a large portion of his own books to the library.

Death

King died on April 5, 1901, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Charles Ray 1813 births 1901 deaths People from Queens, New York Columbia University alumni