William Redding King I have a minor interest in the King lines of Monroe Co and Clay Co, TN. A few years ago I was placing the census mortality schedules for Monroe Co for 1860-1880 on my web page and I noticed (among other names) the name Redding King. His death date was Feb 1880 (Monroe Co) and his age was not completely legible (on the original) but 70 is a reasonable guess. His birth state was KY. Since his death was in Feb 1880 he would not have been shown on the 1880 census, but he was in Monroe Co in 1870 listed as Redin King with wife Elizabeth and some children. Going back to the 1880 census you find Elizabeth and her youngest daughter in Monroe Co. In the 1860 Monroe Co census Redding King is found listed as R King and was living very near old Zachariah King, who probably was his father. Redding King was not in the 1850 Monroe Co census, but one would not have expected him to be there since his first child, Martha A King, was born in TN in 1851. Now children 2,3 and 4 were born in Monroe Co in the 1850s and each is recorded in the vital stats for Monroe Co. One record reveals important information about the parents. The record of Caledonia's birth states that Redding (spelled Reding in that record, but often as Redin or Reddin) was born in Knox Co, KY. The last name of Redding's wife is given here also: Elizabeth Ledbetter, born in Overton Co, TN. There were a lot of Ledbetters in Overton Co in 1850 and many were there in 1820, the (more or less) year of Elizabeth's birth. Thus it would be natural to find Redding and Elizabeth King in Overton Co in 1850, perhaps living as newly weds with Elizabeth's parents. They weren't in Overton Co, but one always looks in neighboring counties as well. Thus I found them in 1850 in Fentress Co, TN. Apparently they lived there briefly and then moved up to Monroe Co around 1852, after the birth of their first child. It would appear from the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses that Redding and Elizabeth always lived more or less in the same location after coming to Monroe Co. It would appear that the present interest in Redding King, exhibited by a number of queries on the Monroe Co Genweb page, began about the time that Phil Rhoton posted an interesting note to the KyMonroe list. He had found an old Monroe County court record on a research trip to Bowling Green: "This day personally appeared before the undersigned a justice of the peace from Monroe County & State of Kentucky one Anna Steen of said county and made oath that that (sic) on the 3rd day of Augt (sic) 1844 she was got with child and that one Redden King of sd county did get her so with child and further that on the 3rd day of May 1845 she was delivered of a male child which child she states was sired by Redden King as afore said" Phil went ahead to surmise that the male child was undoubtedly Anna's son Elihu Steen (age 5 in 1850 census), who eventually settled in Macon Co,TN. This can be put in perspective as follows. Redding King was almost certainly the son of Zachariah King and thus the brother of Alphonso King. Alphonso had married Sarah Steen around 1844. Sarah was the sister of Anna Steen, who filed the paternity suit above. Thus Redding King was undoubtedly living in Monroe Co (probably in the household of Zachariah) at the time of his affair with Anna. One might conjecture that Anna's legal action was prompted by her realization that Redding was going to marry Elizabeth Ledbetter instead of Anna. Redding King's daughter Caledonia married Levi Condra. There is a very brief article on Levi Condra in the Monroe Co History Book. In this article, Caledonia's father is identified as William Redding King. With the exception of an inaccurate birthdate for Redding, the article is reasonably accurate. Thus I tend to accept William as the first name. A brief descendancy chart for Redding is given below. =========================================================================== William Redding King 1 William Redding King b: 1809 Knox Co,KY d: February 1880 Monroe Co,KY m: Elizabeth Ledbetter b: c1820 Overton Co,TN m: c1850 d: 1900 2 Martha A King b: c1851 TN m: John Grider b: c1843 Overton Co,KY m: February 08,1877 Clay Co,KY d: August 04,1907 Monroe Co,KY 3 Herod Turner Grider b: December 1878 Monroe Co,KY 3 Thomas Bedford Grider b: December 15,1880 Monroe Co,KY 3 Wade Hampton Grider b: February 1884 Monroe Co,KY 3 Bennet C Grider b: January 30,1889 Monroe Co,KY 2 Calvin King b: September 03,1852 Monroe Co,KY d: July 10,1854 Monroe Co,KY 2 John S B King b: September 15,1853 Monroe Co,KY 2 Mary A King b: October 14,1856 Monroe Co,KY 2 Caledonia King b: November 11,1858 Monroe Co,KY d: September 30,1933 m: Levi Condra b: November 16,1855 Monroe Co,KY m: November 24, 1877 Clay Co,TN d: January 10,1925 Burial: Old Soldiers Cem, Tompkinsville,Monroe Co,KY Father: William F Condra Mother: Catherine Steen 3 Evilena Condra b: 1878 Monroe Co,KY 3 Herbert Condra b: April 09,1880 Monroe Co,KY d: August 06,1942 Burial: Oak Hill Cem,Tompkinsville,Monroe Co,KY 3 Jasper Condra b: 1884 Monroe Co,KY d: 1884 Monroe Co,KY 3 Radford Condra b: April 29,1885 Monroe Co,KY 3 Katherine Condra b: November 1888 Monroe Co,KY 3 Luther Condra b: April 03,1892 Monroe Co,KY 2 Sarah E King b: c1861 Monroe Co,KY m: William Jessie Rhoton b: August 12,1857 Monroe Co,KY m: April 06,1879 Clay Co,TN d: February 17,1939 Monroe Co,KY Burial: Old Soldiers Cem,Tompkinsville,Monroe Co,KY Father: Elisha Rhoton Mother: Nancy Evaline Gaw 2 Octavia B King b: February 03,1863 Monroe Co,KY d: March 10, 1925 Monroe Co,KY Burial: Beautiful Home Cem,Monroe Co,KY m: Hiram H Deckard b: August 17,1862 Gamaliel,Monroe Co,KY m: August 23,1880 Clay Co,TN d: September 30,1941 Monroe Co,KY Burial: Beautiful Home Cem,Monroe Co,KY Father: James Harvey Deckard Mother: Dorcus Crabtree 3 Alvin Smith Deckard b: January 23,1882 Gamaliel,Monroe Co,KY 3 Nora Gray Deckard b: June 13,1884 Gamaliel,Monroe Co,KY 3 Willie Ellen Deckard b: January 17,1886 Gamaliel,Monroe Co,KY 3 Clayton Deckard b: April 21,1888 Gamaliel,Monroe Co,KY ========================================================================= 1