Are Grandma's Records Inaccurate? Researching Sophia (King) Sturgill (1794-1835) of Ashville, NC and Virginia, a Myth/Hoax Perpetuated

I received wonderful mail from a cousin sometime past that enclosed photos and momentos in his possession which had belonged to our grandmother.  All great items I am thankful to have.  One of the items was an envelope on which was written: "Do Not Throw Away, Some of my ancestors as told to me by my mother."  Wow.  In the absence of a family bible, this is worth gold.  The notes, some handwritten and some typed, confirmed much of my research and I was glad to know I was headed in the right direction.  I only wish her information had extended even further back in the ancestral tree as these notes ended where my own research had ended - with Sophia King my great great great great grandmother.  This Midwest branch of the family tree looks like this:

My grandmother's notes offered this (I can only surmise that these notes were left by my grandmother Wilma to probably one of her sons given the relationships described by the writer, i.e., "my great grandmother, etc.):

" Sophia King -  sister of Gordon & William King of Newport-Rhode Island. Sophia King married William Sturgill of Ashville-North Carolina. They had one son named Alvin Sturgill, born about 1820. Sophia died when Alvin was about 14 or about 1834 or 1835. After Sophia died - William Sturgill sold everything and walked through the cuts to Galipolis-Ohio. Sophia also had a daughter - who married a Mr. Saunders and had a son named Gordon.

Her son Alvin (my great grandfather) married Rachel Wray and they moved to Missouri. They had several sons and daughters one of which was Sarah Sturgill - my grandmother.

William - Gordon and Sophia King were brothers and sister from Newport, Rhode Island."

Okay? Great right!? In the absence of any other information, this note had possibly given me the names of two brothers for Sophia King.  So research began anew.  From the scant records online for both Sophia (King) Sturgill and her husband William Sturgill, it seems probable that Sophia and William were from North Carolina.  In consulting other family trees for clues, etc., I discovered a story that William Sturgill had been a horse trader and met Sophia in Rhode Island where her family was very well-to-do.  Their marriage had been forbidden by the King family and ultimately the couple galloped away on a horse down south ways to North Carolina or thereabouts.  Hmm, this sort of went along with my grandmother's notes!  Maybe that's why it was so difficult to find anything further on Sophia?  Another Ancestry tree and information noted on Find-A-Grave labeled Sophia's story a "hoax," and I recently found another blog series (insert name of blog) documenting the impossibility of verifying much of the information out there on Sophia King and related stories.  I have stated before I am not completely at ease yet with research outside of New England and some "cousins" are much more far along in compiling information on this side of my family.  I thank them all for providing clues and "lessons" to assist me in finding my way. 

Newspapers again proved essential in understanding at the very least how this story may have evolved over time.  Ultimately after attempting to write and research Sophia King and her son Alvin Sturgill, I am left just as frustrated as ever.

Beginning sometime around 1893, newspapers across the country carried the bizarre and romantic story of a missing man, probably locked away in an insane asylum against his will, and the woman he was forbidden to marry.  The same articles were reprinted and rerun across the United States from New York to California and even in Pickering and St. Joseph, Missouri where my grandmother's family  - the Sturgills were living.

 

A Synopsis of the Newport King Family Saga According to Newspaper Stories:

1.  3 September 1875 death of Mr. Edward King of Newport, Rhode Island is announced.  He was the son of Dr. David (Sr.) and Anna King, a wealthy son of a prominent family.  He was apparently a quiet man, who was head of a trading company, Russel & Co., which often sent him to China. 

2.   On 11 March 1882, the Newport Mercury and Weekly News announced the death of Dr. David King (Jr.),  prominent surgeon and physician of Newport.  He was born to Dr. David and Anna King of Newport on 12 May 1812 and died 7 March 1882.

3.  In September 1893, the same newspaper noted that an application for a writ of habeus corpus had been filed in the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts by a Mrs. E.A. Webster Ross of Boston who claims to be a niece of William King.  William King was said to be the brother of Edward King and Dr. David King. The article claims that William King was very wealthy and had been an inmate at the McLean Insane Asylum in Massachusetts for over 30 years. On 26 May 1894, the same newspaper published a probate and guardian notice concerning the estate of the late David King, who had died in 1882, and his guardianship of his brother William.  The court named Gordon H. King as new guardian of William King both as to his person and to his estate.  

3.  On 13 March 1897, William H. King, aged 78, son of David and Anna King, died.

4.  12 April 1897, articles are published concerning the claim of Mrs. E.A. Webster Ross (a widow in 1896) "who had made several unsuccessful attempts to secure control of the estate of William Henry King" of whose estate she claimed to be the heir.  Mrs. Ross had initially fought for the release of Mr. William King from the McLean Asylum in Somerville, Massachusetts where it states he had been held for over 30 years.  Her battle against the King family turned on the idea that the man in the asylum had not been William H. King the brother to Edward, David, and Gordon King, but was an uncle to Mrs. Ross using a false identity.  Ultimately, the Court appointed George King as heir to the King fortune which was approximately $2,000,000 at the time.  

Mrs. Ross claimed "William King" was kidnapped in 1866 by the Newport King family and put in an insane asylum at MacLean near Boston and then removed to an asylum in Rhode Island for the last years before his death in 1897.  She claimed that she had been searching for this man who was her uncle all over the world for many years, and that he was in fact an imposter using the name of William King, falsely identified as the Kings' brother in a possible scheme to cover overseas business dealings in China with Edward King.  

As stated above, she ultimately lost the case, and George Gordon King, Mrs. David King, and several others received the fortune.  The case had been forgotten until 1915 when -

My Family Enters the Picture:

                                                    

On 25 March 1915 an article appeared in the Fall River Globe regarding the possible reopening of a case related to the Estate of Dr. David King of Newport, Rhode Island. This reopening came at the appearance at Newport of an attorney representing individuals from St. Joseph, Missouri who were heirs of Sophia King-Sophia King being the mother of Alvin Sturgill.  My great great great grandfather Alvin Sturgill had died 18 June 1904.  These interested "heirs" included my own ancestors from St. Joseph, and given the notes left by my grandmother the family sincerely believed Sophia was from Newport. I have currently found no further articles on this possible lawsuit but will continue to find out if one was actually ever filed. I have found note that affidavits from individuals/neighbors of the Kings of North Carolina and Sturgills, etc., stated that Sophia King was the daughter of Edward King of North Carolina.  My current research plan includes location of these legal records to verify.

                                              

                             

King Family of Newport Facts:

George Gordon King, b. 2 June 1807, d. 17 July 1870;

David King, Jr., b. 12 May 1812, d. 7 March 1882

Edward King, b. 15 Feb 1816, d. 2 Sep 1875

William H. King, b. 15 Nov 1818, d. 6 March 1897

Some Sturgill/King Family Facts:

As stated above, I have currently found no actual birth records for Edward King nor for his possible daughter Sophia King.  The very act of writing this blog post only amplifies the lack of any good information or sources. However, given the dates of birth and death for the Newport King family, and essentially birth and date information for Sophia King - Alvin Sturgill's mother - facts point towards a hoax or misunderstanding at most.  A genealogy written about the Sturgill family in 1960 does repeat the story about William Sturgill and Sophia King running off to be married.  Given that Sophia was possibly about thirteen years of age at the time of the marriage, this would give merit to a reason why the marriage would have been forbidden.  Please note that the statement that William Sturgill was killed in a sawmill accident also must rely on word of mouth and cannot be verified.

Alvin Sturgill was born in 1815, about the same time that the King brothers of Newport were born.  Sophia would have to have been an older sister to realistically fit in the story.  Information naming Edward King of North Carolina as Sophia's father relies heavily on Revolutionary War Pension Service records and Sons of the American Revolution applications.  But again, Edward's pension was not applied for by Edward King himself but by a son John King and daughter Mary (King) Mullins many years after Edward's death (approximately 1860).  The pension application was denied due to lack of records confirming identity of Edward King as their father.  Their claim does not offer any connection to the later Newport King claims.  Affidavits in the pension files provide that Edward King was born approximately 1746 at Wilkes County, North Carolina and died at Ashe County, North Carolina approximately 1800.  He was married to Freely Lewis in 1767.  Freely was born approximately 1749 and died approximately 1849.  The SAR application made in 1922 must rely heavily on information taken from the original pension application file.  A lot of ancestry trees and recent blogs try to connect Alvin Sturgill and siblings back to this Edward King, but again the connection is flimsy with no concrete evidence.

Mary Mullins says she is the daughter of Edward King.  Sophia King, if also this Edward King's daughter, would not have been born in Rhode Island, and especially not running away from Rhode Island at the time of her marriage to William Sturgill in approximately 1804.  No marriage record for Edward King and Freely Lewis has been located.

In 1800, Edward King living in Morgan, Ashe, North Carolina: 1 Male 16-25; 1 male over 45, one female under 10, two females 10-15, and one female 26-44.  Edward King would be over 45; Sophia King would have been 6 six years old at this time.

Once we get to Alvin Sturgill, William and Sophia (King) Sturgill's sons (as well as his sibling), records become more abundant and verifiable. Note however that in the 1880 census records for Alvin Sturgill at Union, Missouri place of birth for both his parents shows North Carolina.  In the 1900 Census Alvin is enumerated again at Union, Missouri but record shows place of birth for both his father and mother as Rhode Island.  Was this truly believed or was it in preparation for an upcoming lawsuit?

Sources: 

A brief history of the Sturgill family in America, from 1650 to 1960, page viewer number 54 of 277, 1960, online edition, Familysearch.org

King Family Papers, 1844-1901, Background - Scope and Content, Collection, University of Michigan Library, https://findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-wcl-M-3277.4kin

William H. King Is Dead, The New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, March 7, 1897, p. 3, viewed online at Newspapers.com.

Newport Daily News, Newport, Rhode Island, miscellaneous articles accessed on Newspapers.com.

Newport Mercury and Weekly News, Newport, Rhode Island, miscellaneous articles accessed on Newspapers.com.

Nodaway Democrat, Maryville, Missouri, 10 March 1904, page 2, and other miscellaneous articles, accessed on Newspapers.com.

Hopkins Journal, Hopkins, Missouri, miscellaneous articles, accessed on Newspapers.com.

St. Joseph Folk Seek Big Estate, St. Joseph Gazette, St. Joseph, Missouri, 31 March 1815, p.7, accessed on Newspapers.com.

King Family of NC, blog, emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com, https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/category/king-family-of-nc/page/3/

US, Revolutionary War and Pension Applications, 1800-1900, Fold3.com.

Historic Structures, website,

https://www.historic-structures.com/ri/newport/kingscote.php#google_vignette

North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-2011, Familysearch.org.

Findagrave.com.

Americanancestors.org.