William King^[1]

1595 - Bef 1650  (< 55 years)

• Name	William King
  Birth	1595	England
  Gender	Male
  Death	Bef 27 Jun 1650	Salem, Massahusetts, British Colonial America
  Person ID	I64928	Scudder
  Last Modified	2 Mar 2020

  
  

  Family	Mrs Dorothy King,   b. 1601, England d. Aft 28 Mar 1684, Southold, Suffolk, New York, British Colonial America (Age > 83 years)
  Marriage	Bef 1623	England
  	Estimated from birth of eldest child Mary.
  Children	1. Mary King,   b. Abt 1623, England d. unknown, Newtown, Queens, New York, British Colonial America
  Family ID	F23495	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2024

  
  

• Notes

  Biographical Sketch of William King, wife Dorothy and their children in Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, volume 4, I–L, 174–177. "ORIGIN: Unknown. IMMIGRATION: 1635 on the Marygould (on 20 March 1634/5), 'William Kinge,' aged 40, 'Dorothy his wife,' aged 34, 'Mary Kinge his daughter,' aged 12, 'Katheryn his daughter,' aged 10, 'William[ia]m Kinge his son,' aged 8, and 'Hanna King, his daughter,' aged 6, were enrolled at Weymouth as passengers for New England on the Marygould [Hotten 285; GMN 7:9). (Samuel King, son of this couple, was born in England and should have been included in this passenger list. The next line is this list, as printed, following the entry for Hannah King, is incomplete, and is simply 'Somm'.' This has been taken to be an abbreviation for Somerset, the residence of most of the passengers on this vessel. But this may in fact be the beginning of the entry for Samuel King, for some reason not completed." These children and the two additional children born at Salem, Mehitable and John, and spouses are listed on p. 176. After mention in her father's will, there is no further record for Mehitable. The probate file of William King at Salem in 1650 corroborates the names of his children. Much ado has surrounded the name of William King's wife Dorothy unknown. Her name is unknown by any primary source that can be proven to belong to her. The Rufus King data published by Lucy D. Akerly in 1902 in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 33:71 introduced the erroneous guess that William's wife was Dorothy Hayne based on a marriage record in 1616 at Sherborne, Dorset. Great Migration considers this marriage too early based on Dorothy's age in the immigration record. Others have jumped in with their guesses finding 2 women named Dorothy Hayne from Portisham, England, one christened in 1593 and the other in 1598. They postulated that one of these was the Dorothy Hayne that married a William King at Sherborne in 1616. However, if one examines the Portisham records they prove that neither of these women named Dorothy Hayne married William King. The Portisham PR has marriages for both Dorothys to other named men. These guesses by those overly eager to assign parents in England to William and Dorothy (unknown) King of Salem, Massachusetts has unfortunately created much genealogical misrepresentation on the Internet and in print. It is important to remer, especially in this time period, records may not exist for an event or have not yet come to light. Databases do not contain all people who were ever born, only those who have been found through diligent labor. Serious researchers understand that much diligent labor goes unrewarded. Preferring to be accurate rather than guessing, we refer the reader to the ancestry link to the sketch of William King in The Great Migration that states: John Scudder md. at Salem, Massachusetts in 1642 to Mary King, daughter of William King and Dorothy (unknown) of Salem. Undocumented speculations have given Dorothy and William inaccurate identities. For the most recent NEHGS scholarship see The Great Migration, v. 4, I–L, p. 177, that states the problem that came from unproven speculations: "In 1902 Lucy D. Akerly (and apparently Rufus King) took note of the marriage at Sherborne, Dorset, on 17 February 1616/17 of William King and Dorothy H ayne, and suggested that this marriage pertained to this immigrant. In 1918 J. Gardner Baett stated (without proving any evidence or argumentation) that William King had two wives, of whom Dorothy was the second, and that he had four children with each of these wives.... "These two hypotheses are mutually exclusive. The English marriage record is certainly possible, but it seems a few years too early, based on both the approximate age of William and the ages of his children. Bartlett may have based his arrangnt of the family on the apparent gap of six years between the birthdates of the fourth and fifth children. The gap is not, however, as great as this, and the total range of dates of birth for the eight children, from about 1623 [Mary's age at immigration] to 1641, is well within the fertility span of a single woman. We do not subscribe to either of these hypotheses, and simply state that William had a wife Dorothy, surname unknown." The Scudder Association Foundation adds: There are a great many William Kings in England and several who married Dorothys that are more in line with the family's ages at immigration, but discourage speculations for any of them. Also to be considered is how many people in the early time do not have records that survive. See https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2496/42521_b158315-00281?pid=1237&backurl=//search.ancestry.com//cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DPOb2%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26db%3DGreatMigration%26gss%3Dangs-d%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26msT%3D1%26gsfn%3DWillliam%26gsfn_x%3DNN%26gsln%3DKing%26gsln_x%3DNN%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3D5v2%26pcat%3D40%26fh%3D0%26h%3D1237%26recoff%3D4%25205%26ml_rpos%3D1&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=POb2&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=42521_b158315-00281

  
  

• Sources

  [S1485] William King Family in the Great Migration.