Benjamin Franklin King Jr. (1857–1894) was an American

humorist A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

whose work published under the names Ben King or the pseudonym Bow Hackley achieved notability in his lifetime and afterwards.Biography by

Opie Read Opie may refer to: *Opie (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name, nickname, or surname * Acronyms OPIE: ** OPIE (Entomology) (''Office pour l'Information Eco-entomologique''), a French government organisation devoted t ...

i
Ben King's Verses
1894

Biography

King was born at

St. Joseph, Michigan St. Joseph, colloquially known as St. Joe, is a city and the county seat of Berrien County, Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,365. It lies on the shore o ...

, March 17, 1857, and according to a short biography by

, as a child he was reputed a piano prodigy; in adult life he was by many deemed a failure for his lack of business instinct. But as "a poet, a gentle satirist and a humorist of the highest order, he achieved notability" in his short life for a series of newspaper published poems.

Rise to fame

King billed himself as "Ben King, the Sweet Singer of St. Joe," and first came to prominence for a concert given during the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

. Introduced to the Press Club of Chicago, he was quickly picked up by Read, who invited King to tour with him, reading his poetry with piano accompaniment.Michigan in Literature
By Clarence A. Andrews, Wayne State University Press, 1992, p.257

Death

King died of an undisclosed illness while on a speaking tour at

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the ...

, April 7, 1894. As he had become a favorite of the Press Club of Chicago, that organization published a posthumous collection of his works titled '' Ben King's Verse'' in 1894, comparing him with

Thomas Hood Thomas Hood (23 May 1799 – 3 May 1845) was an English poet, author and humorist, best known for poems such as " The Bridge of Sighs" and " The Song of the Shirt". Hood wrote regularly for ''The London Magazine'', '' Athenaeum'', and ''Punch' ...

, a then-famous English humorist and poet. For the next quarter century, the book reputedly outsold any other single volume of verses in Michigan. King was buried in the St. Joseph City, Michigan Cemetery. A monument later erected in Lake Bluff Park,

Berrien County, Michigan Berrien County is a county on the south line of Michigan, at the southwestern corner of the state. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 154,316. The county seat is St. Joseph. Berrien County is included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, MI Me ...

in 1924 features a bronze bust of King created by Chicago sculptor Leonard Crunelle. On the granite monument base are lines from his poem "The River St. Joe":

Where the bumblebee sips and the clover's in bloom,
  and the zephyr's come laden with peachblow perfume.
Where the thistle-down pauses in search of the rose
  and the myrtle and woodbine and wild ivy grows;
Oh, give me the spot that I once used to know
  by the side of the placid old River St. Joe!

Personal life

He was married November 27, 1883 to Aseneth Belle Latham, of St. Joseph, Michigan, and the couple had two children, Bennett Latham King and Spencer P. King, aged nine and five, respectively, at the time of his death.

References

External links

* *
Index entry for Ben King at Poets' Corner
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Benjamin Franklin Jr. 1857 births 1894 deaths People from St. Joseph, Michigan Poets from Michigan American humorists 19th-century American poets American male poets 19th-century American male writers