Maine Memory Network

William King was born on February 8, 1768, in Scarborough in the District of Maine.

He was the fourth of six children of merchant Richard King and Mary (Black) King, Richard's second wife.

William received his education at home except for one term at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

After working on the family farm and in various mills, William left Scarborough at age 19 to join his younger sister, Betsy, and her husband, Dr. Benjamin Porter, in Topsham, Maine.

King moved to Bath in 1799 and served in the Massachusetts Legislature as Bath's Representative in 1800 and then as Senator of the Lincoln District in 1807 and 1808.

While in the Massachusetts Legislature, he fought hard for Maine's separation from Massachusetts.

Shortly after moving to Bath, King married Ann Frazier of Boston and built their home on a hill overlooking the wharves on the Kennebec River where his merchant fleet docked.

As Bath's leading citizen, King hosted many parties at his mansion, started the South Church, founded the Bath Bank, served as Customs Collector from 1829-1834 and participated fully in improving the city's services and infrastructure.

In the War of 1812, King played an important role in enlisting troops and organizing defenses to protect the Maine coast against attack by British warships.

Initially he served as Major General in the Massachusetts militia; later he was given the rank of Colonel in the U. S. Army.

In the early stages of the conflict, King and many other merchants continued to trade with the British under the protection of British licenses and by using vessels registered in neutral countries. Such trading ceased when both countries tightened trade restrictions.

After the War of 1812, King renewed his efforts to obtain statehood for the District of Maine, eventually presiding over its constitutional convention in 1819 and serving as the new state's first governor in 1820.

Outside the political arena, before and after the War of 1812, King became Bath's most prominent businessman, partnering with Porter and several Bath entrepreneurs in shipbuilding, banking, farming, mercantile shipping and lumbering.

He built at least 14 ships and was owner or part owner of more than 35 merchant vessels involved in trade with England, the West Indies and various ports in the United States.

In addition to his home and many commercial properties in downtown Bath, King also owned an architecturally unique stone hunting lodge/farmhouse on a farm in the northern part of Bath, where he grew potatoes and apples for shipping abroad.

While building his business empire, King also acquired many tracts of land in the vicinity of Bath and elsewhere in the state, especially farmland in what is now Franklin County, where the town of Kingfield was named for him.

Serious financial difficulties in the later years of his life forced King to sell most of these properties.

After his death in 1852, the King property on Front Street in Bath was sold to the Federal Government and the King mansion was moved to a nearby site where it served as an inn for more than 70 years.

Although lacking in formal education, King acquired a substantial personal library reflecting a wide range of interests. That library, purchased for the Patten Library Association after King's death, is now housed in the Patten Free Library in Bath.

Subjects of particular interest to King were history, politics, geography and medical science.

In addition to collecting the standard classical works of literature and philosophy, King acquired a number of volumes marking the significant events of his time.

William King, his wife and his two children are buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Bath at a site marked with a monument erected by the State of Maine in 1855.

Text by Peter Goodwin and Joyce Wanger Images from Patten Free Library

Suggested Reading:

Clark, C.E., Leamon, J.S. and Bowden, K., Maine in the Early Republic. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1988.

Judd, R.W., Churchill, E.A. and Eastman, J.W., Maine: The Pine Tree State from Prehistory to the Present. Orono, Maine: University of Maine Press, 1995.

Owen, Henry W., The Edward Clarence Plummer History of Bath. Bath, Maine: The Times Company, 1936.

Reed, Parker McCobb, History of Bath and Environs, 1607 ? 1894. Portland, Maine: Lakeside Press, 1894.

Smith, Marion Jaques, General William King. Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 1980.