The medical profession in Hancock county is honored by the superior talents of the distinguished physician and surgeon of Greenfield whose name appears above. He is an Indianian by birth and the son of Benson and Esther (Robinson) King, both parents natives of the state of New York. The Doctor’s paternal grandfather, David King, came west in an early day, making the journey down the Ohio river by flat boat as far as North Bend where he landed and for some time thereafter farmed on land which he leased from General William Henry Harrison. Later he removed to Fayette county, Indiana, and built a flouring-mill on Williams creek, seven miles from Connersville, one of the first enterprises of the kind in that part of the state. He was a prominent factor during the pioneer period of Southern Indiana and is remembered as a man of great industry, energy and withal a most excellent citizen. Among his sons was Benson King, who accompanied the family from New York to Indiana, and in early manhood settled in the county of Hamilton, where he died in the year 1845. A notable coincidence worthy of mention is that both Benson King and his wife on the same day and hour, the wife breathing her last just six minutes after the husband had passed into the great unknown. They left four children, the oldest of whom was Minor, who died in Boone, Iowa, in 1881; the second in order of birth was the subject of this review, after whom came Harriet, who married Melvin Ellis and resides in Connersville, and Martilla, wife of Lewis Sparks, of the same city.

Dr. Warren R. King was born February 6, 1842, in Clay township, Hamilton county, Indiana. Left an orphan at the age of three and a half years, he was taken into the family of an uncle, Daniel Shortridge of Fayette county, and he lived in that part of the state until 1862. His childhood and youth were spent on a farm and he received a preliminary education in the district schools subsequently pursuing the higher branches of learning in what was known as Fairview Academy. The Doctor entered the army enlisting at Connersville in August, 1862, in Company K, Sixty-ninth Indiana Infantry. Within three weeks after entering the service he received his first baptism of fire at Richmond, Kentucky, where he received a gunshot wound in the thigh and was taken prisoner. Three weeks later he was released and, with other disabled soldiers, removed under a flag of truce to the Federal lines. The serious condition of his would precluded further active service, accordingly on the 14^th day of November following he was honorably discharged and returned to his home in Fayette county. During the winter and spring following he was engaged in teaching, and in the fall of 1863 entered the medical college at Keokuk, Iowa, at that time the medical department of the Iowa University, where he attended the full course of lectures.

In the fall of that same year the Doctor enlisted in the United States navy and was assigned duty on the gunboat Carondellet, as paymaster’s clerk and which patrolled the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers, and it was his fortune to be with the vessel at Nashville during the severe battle which took place at that city. Severing his connection with the nay, Dr. King, in March, 1865, engaged in the practice of his profession at Miami, Indiana, where he remained until 1876, when he located in Hancock county. Soon after opening an office here he entered upon a large and lucrative practice which he has since commanded and in point of service he is at the present time, with one exception, the oldest practicing physician of Greenfield, where he located in 1889.

Dr. King does not belong to that class of professional men that are content with past achievements but has ever been a student, keeping in touch with the latest researches of medical science. He has long been a leading member of the Hancock County Medical Society, having filled all its important offices, and for a number of years had attended the sessions of the State Medical Society, to which he also belongs. In the deliberation of these organizations he has always taken an active part, and upon one occasion read a carefully prepared, scholarly paper before the latter society upon spinal concussion, which displayed profound erudition and which elicited great praise from the members of that body. He is also identified with the American Medical Association, through the medium of which he has made the acquaintance of many of the most distinguished professional men of the country.

Dr. King has been twice married, the first time in 1865 to Miss Martha Haynes, who died in 1881, leaving him one son, Frank King, at the present time a resident of Piqua, Ohio. Mrs. King was born near Harveysburg, Ohio, the daughter of James and Martha Hayne, both parents members of old and prominent Quaker families of that state. The second marriage was solemnized in 1883 with Miss Belle Reed, a union without issue. The Doctor has long been prominent in Masonic circles, belonging to the lodge in Greenfield, also the Royal Arch chapter and council. He is past commander of Samuel H. Dunbar Post No. 92, G. A. R., and at the present time holds for the second term the position of medical director of the state encampment. He is also a member of the United States board of pension examiners. In various ways the Doctor has been and is identified with the material prosperity of the city of his residence and his name is usually found in connection with all enterprises for the public welfare. He is vice-president of the Citizens Natural Gas, Oil and Water Company of which he was one of the chief promoters and organizers. For a period of forty years he has been connected with the Christian (or Disciple) church, and is now an elder of the congregation with which he is identified. The Doctor has been successful financially as well as professionally, having accumulated a sufficiency of material wealth to place him in independent circumstances. He owns a beautiful home and office on West Main street, which he built some years ago and where, surrounded by all that is calculated to make life pleasant and agreeable, he passes his leisure time in quiet and content. In every relation of life he is recognized as an upright, worthy and conscientious man, and his name is destined to occupy a conspicuous place for years to come on the roll of Greenfield’s progressive citizens.

Transcribed from Biographical Memoirs of Hancock County B. F. Bowen, Publisher, Logansport, Indiana, 1902 Pages 353-355.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI August 1, 2002.

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