King, Rufus, 1755-1827

Americal political leader.

Banker and diplomat who served as delegate to the Continental Congress from Massachusetts and U.S. senator from Massachusetts and New York.

Member of the Continental Congress, Signer of the Constitution, Minister to Great Britain.

King was Massachusetts born, a graduate of Harvard College (1777), and a lawyer and politician representing Massachusetts at the Confederation Congress (1784-1787) and the Constitutional Convention. After moving to New York he served as Minister to Great Britain (1796-1803; 1825-1826) and in the U.S. Senate (1789-1796; 1813-1825) and was a Federalist candidate for vice president (1804, 1808) and president (1816).

Rufus King, American statesman and diplomat; minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain in 1796-1804 and 1825-1827.

Rufus King (1838-1924) was a banker by profession as well as a respected genealogist. The son of Rufus Sylvester and Phoebe Odell King, his New England ancestors included the revolutionary war veteran and New York State Senator Rufus King, after whom he was named. King was a founder of the Yonkers Historical and Library Association, a member of the Anthropological Society and a life member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. His ancestor William Kinge sailed from Weymouth, England in 1635 with his wife Dorothy and settled in Salem, Massachusetts. His earliest ancestor in his mother's line to emigrate to America was William Odell who settled in Concord, Massachusetts in 1639.

American statesman.

Federalist politician and resident of Jamaica.

American political leader.

Federalist statesman, New York State senator, and minister to Great Britain; originally from Massachusetts, later a resident of New York City.

U.S. Senator.

Member of the Continental Congress and of the Constitutional Convention, U. S. senator and minister to Great Britain.

Biography

Rufus King (1755-1827) American statesman and diplomatist, was born in Scarborough, Massachusetts (now Maine). He attended Harvard College, graduating in 1777; after a short interval of military service, he devoted himself to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1780.

Entering public life in 1783, as a delegate from Newburyport in the Massachusetts general court, King rose rapidly to a position of prominence in the Federalist party. He was a member of the Federal Convention, and later U. S. senator from New York.

In 1796 Rufus King was called to succeed Thomas Pinckney as minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, where he remained for eight years. Again, in 1825, just as he was about to retire from public life, King was called once more to the Court of St. James, but illness forced him to return a year later, and his death occurred on Apr. 29, 1827.