King, Roswell, 1765-1844

Roswell King-native New Englander, manager of the Pierce Butler coastal plantations, and industrialist and businessman in Glynn and McIntosh counties-was in his seventies when he founded his namesake town, Roswell. He established the Roswell textile mills in the late 1830s and enticed wealthy coastal families to join his enterprise, thus changing the economy and the population mix of northern Fulton County. The influence of King's late-life accomplishments remains a part of Roswell's historic district. King was born in 1765 in Windsor, Connecticut, the son of Sarah Fitch and Timothy King, an accomplished weaver and a naval commander during the Revolutionary War (1775-83). Roswell settled in Darien, Georgia, when he was a young man already skilled in the construction business. He began building houses and commercial structures there and applied his expertise in the use of a regional cement-like building material called tabby, even assisting planter Thomas Spalding in the construction of his mansion on Sapelo Island. King not only became a landowner and commission broker dealing in cotton, rice, and lumber but also served as a surveyor, justice of the peace, member of the Georgia House of Representatives, and lieutenant in the local militia. His 1792 marriage to Catherine Barrington (1776-1839) in Darien produced nine children. Roswell King - New Georgia Encyclopedia http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/ (Retrieved March 25, 2009)

Thomas Spalding, noted antebellum planter of Sapelo Island, was one of the most influential agriculturists and political figures of his day in Georgia. He devoted his professional energies to the management of his Sapelo Island plantation, where he cultivated Sea Island cotton, introduced the manufacture of sugar to Georgia, and promoted Darien and the coastal area as the economic center of the state. Spalding, the only son of Margery and James Spalding, was born on St. Simons Island on March 25 or 26, 1774. He was descended from the Spaldings of County Perth, Scotland, who held title there to the Barony of Ashantilly. His mother was the granddaughter of John Mohr McIntosh, leader of the Highland clan of Scots who first settled the Georgia colonial town of Darien in 1736. His father was one of the earliest planters to experiment with Sea Island cotton, growing his first crop in 1786 on St. Simons. Spalding received his early education in Florida, Georgia, and New England and was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1795. That same year he married Sarah Leake, the only child of Richard Leake, a prominent cotton planter first on Jekyll Island and later at Belleville in McIntosh County. Thomas Spalding (1774-1851) - New Georgia Encyclopedia http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/ (Retrived January 20, 2009)

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