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Volney LeRoy King was born 11 March 1847 of a pioneer family who emigrated to the Utah Territory in 1851. His parents were Thomas Rice and Matilda Robison King. The family were among the earliest settlers in Fillmore and remained in that community until approximately May 1877.
At that time Thomas, son Volney, and a number of other LDS settlers moved to Kingston to form and practice the United Order. Meanwhile, Volney had served a mission to England, met his future bride and returned with her and her family to Utah.
Volney King and Eliza Syrett (born 23 March 1856) were married 9 November 1874 at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City by Wilford Woodruff. They made their home at first with Volney's father in Fillmore. Volney occupied himself with farming and assisted his father in the cooperative store. Following the beginnings of the United Order at Kingston, Volney established his own home in Grass Valley.
The years in Grass Valley were marked by the usual tribulations of pioneer farming; throughout it all, however, the younger King was able to maintain a modest but apparently secure home for his growing family. His pioneer life, though, was not limited solely to farming and performing his assigned duties in the United Order.
The 1880s was a period of continuing geographic exploration of the Territory, and King was called upon to assist in that effort. Together with several other settlers of the region King made an exploratory trip from the head of the Fremont River (near "Capitol Wash") down to the Colorado River. King made this trip in the company of Elias Hicks Blackburn, Joseph H. Wright, George Rust and Franklin R. Young in March and April of 1882. His account of the venture is included in his diary.
A few months later King's fourth child was born. In their first fifteen years together Volney and Eliza had eight children born to them, six of whom lived to maturity. It was possibly for this and other reasons that the Volney Kings moved to a larger home at Coyote (now Antimony) in February 1891. Two additional sons were born to them, only one of whom lived to maturity. The Volney LeRoy King family, as revealed in his diaries, is outlined following this brief biographic sketch.
King's early years were marked by his devotion to the Mormon church, to his wife and children, and to the community. He regularly attended Sunday School, observed all the church holidays, and was active throughout most of his life as a visiting home teacher and in other church-assigned capacities.
His familial concerns and interests are indicated by the careful mention in his diaries of his children's birthdays, baptisms, and school and community successes. Further, he frequently noted similar events in the families of his brothers and sisters.
King's life, while apparently placid enough in these few paragraphs, was periodically scarred by family tragedy. For example, on the funeral day (25 February 1896) of a favorite niece, King's wife Eliza birthed a son; less than one year later, the King's first grandchild and their own newborn, Claudius Melvin, were buried together.
Jan. 4 1897 ...Our little Claudie died as did Etties little loyed [Lloyd] ... Jan 6 we burried our little ones both in one grave but not in one coffin they were intered just North of Father and mothers grave.
As a public community figure, Volney King held no major elected office in any of the places he lived; he did serve, however, as a Piute County Selectman, Justice of the Peace, road tax assessor, and as a member of occasionally formed ad hoc committees, when called upon. Further, his diaries indicate that while he did not seek public office, he was called upon to serve as a judge at elections.
During the summer of 1902, Volney and Eliza King and their two youngest children (Ada and Lawrence) visited three of their older children who were then living in Big Horn Basin, Wyoming. By January 1903, King had sold his home in Coyote and had begun the trek to Cowley, Wyoming. He and his family subsequently determined to spend a year in Basalt before moving on to Cowley. King was fifty-six years old when he packed his household and began herding several hundred head of cattle northward in this move.
For the following sixteen years King lived in Cowley in much the same manner as he had lived in Coyote. He farmed, he cared for his family, and when asked he served in his church in whatever capacity called upon. King's years at Cowley also saw his initial acquaintance with the telephone, the automobile, and indoor plumbing.
King apparently longed to return to Utah and by December 1918, he had leased his Wyoming farm and purchased a furnished home in Bicknell where he remained until just before his death in January 1925 at the age of seventy-seven.
Volney LeRoy King (11 March 1847 - 30 January 1925)
Married Eliza Syrett (23 March 1856 - 18 January 1938) 9 November 1874, in old Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Utah
Children:
Eliza Rosettie (Ettie) (3 October 1875 - 9 December 1955)
Volney Emery (5 June 1878 - 14 February 1962)
Susan May (Mae) (5 October 1880 - )
Edmund Rice (24 November 1882 - 13 January 1953)
Leland (23 February 1885 - )
Clarence (15 May 1887 - 11 June 1887)
Warren (5 July 1888 - 16 August 1889)
Ada Delilah (17 July 1890 - )
Claudius Melvin (25 February 1896 - 4 January 1897)
Lawrence (3 April 1898 - 19 July 1954)
The Volney King collection contains a wide variety of materials; among the richest of these are eighteen of King's diaries; also included are approximately nine centimeters of correspondence and other documents of King's life and approximately four centimeters of legal papers concerning the settlement of what became of King's estate after it had passed to his heirs and had undergone incorporation and other changes.
Of primary interest are the diaries and other materials of King's own life. His diaries span the years from September 1873 to August 1922 -- approximately fifty years. These diaries were kept by King on what appears to be an almost daily basis and except for entries in his last years are easily read by the unaided eye.
The matter of King's handwriting style deserves additional comment. In numerous instances the handwriting in the diaries reveals marked differences. For example, his diary for 1874-1879 shows at least three different styles; especially in the earlier diaries are differing hands and orthographies noticeable.
King also apparently rewrote and/or extended his diary entries; there is some evidence of overlapping in his bound diaries as if he (or someone) had made an attempt to provide continuous narrative of his life's activities. Coincidentally, several gaps occur in his diaries; this circumstance may indicate that some of his documents, diaries, or other materials may have been lost in the course of time or may still be held by descendants.
For example, the absence of diaries and/or any other written materials from April 1899 until January 1902 is especially noteworthy in that it was during this period that King decided to move his family to Cowley, Wyoming; nowhere in the extant materials is there any hint of his reasons for so doing.
The other, non-diary materials in the King collection may be summarized briefly. Nothing approaching a series of exchanges by correspondence survives in the King materials. Of the correspondence that is available at present the bulk is concerned with Volney's older brother William's missionary experiences in the Sandwich Islands and with the progress of the family during William's absence. Much of Volney's correspondence throughout his life concerned his genealogy and a number of letters regarding Volney's apparently unpensionable service during the Black Hawk War. Other family and financial topics are also touched upon in King's extant correspondence. Finally, there is a substantial quantity of correspondence written neither to nor by King that touches on his life.
Of some additional interest may be several of the documents of King's life that survive in the present collection. For example, handwritten originals and copies of patriarchal blessings pronounced 29 November 1889 by Elias Hicks Blackburn upon Volney's son, Volney Emery, and upon his wife Eliza are extant; a land patent [signed by President U. S. Grant?] to Volney King survives; property deeds, contracts, and similar documents survive -- including certification as judge of elections for Piute County (July 1889) after having first forsworn belief in or practice of polygamy; and this was less than four years after Volney's older brother Culbert had served a term in the Territorial prison for cohabitation.
Some novelty interest may attach to a Certificate of Indebtedness issued by the Commissioners of Wyoming's Big Horn County for six dollars payable to Volney King (and never cashed). In 1914 Big Horn County was apparently unable to pay its own debts and issued such certificates in lieu of cash; King's certificate is included in the present collection of his papers.
The extant materials of Volney King's life here presented offer several opportunities for investigation by scholars of the period. Included in King's diaries, for example, are minutely detailed accounts of typical days in the United Order at Kingston, including duties performed, references to rotating assignments for family members, credits and debits in the several cooperatives and so on.
King's role in the late nineteenth century exploration of the Fremont River region may well add to the body of information concerning the settlement of southern Utah. His experience in assisting in the exploration of that area points to another source of information regarding settlement activities during the latter third of the nineteenth century.
Volney King's diaries are widely sprinkled with the names of numerous other families who were part of the development of what has since become Wayne, Piute, and Garfield Counties. As was the case with many of Utah's settlers, King maintained ties with these families through cooperative work in the church, in county formation and political organization, and through marriage. His diaries help to trace (albeit irregularly) the histories of the Black, Callister, Blackburn, Hiskey, Dockstader, and other prominent pioneer families. Moreover, King frequently mentions the activities of several of the Syretts (Eliza's family) who came to Utah after his marriage.
The extant materials of Volney LeRoy King have been arranged by type and by chronology within types. The bound diaries appear first arranged in chronological order beginning with his diary for 1873 and continuing through August 1922.
Following the diaries comes his correspondence and other individual documents arranged chronologically beginning with letters dated in 1870. Following the last dateable document are approximately two centimeters of materials of undetermined date. Finally, there come materials concerning the disposition of the King Ranches, Inc.
Note: Researchers are to be aware that photocopies of King's diaries have been made for general use in the library. Special permission for use of the original diaries may be granted to qualified researchers upon application to the Manuscript Curator.
Volney LeRoy King Papers, 1873-1922, Utah State Historical Society.
Gift of Wayne L. and Bettina Black
The Volney LeRoy King Papers are the physical property of the Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. Literary rights, including copyright, may belong to the authors or their heirs and assigns. Please contact the Historical Society for information regarding specific use of this collection.
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