Family:William King and Rachel Petty (1)

None of the Internet sources that give a marriage date of 12 Mar 1809 for Rachel Petty and William King give any justification for this date. In general, there are few marriage records from Stewart Co. in that time period to help us. However a record of the marriage is found in the George and Lydia Petty Bible. Obviously, it was recorded after the fact, as the Bible it is recorded in was not printed until 1816 ("Printed and Sold by John Holbrook, 1816."). 1809 is not an unreasonable marriage date for a husband b. 1786 and wife b. 1791, but some doubt is created by the 7 year gap until the oldest child born in 1816. (Though we don't know if older children may have died young - there are at least two mentions of a "George Ann" in various documents pertaining to this family - in one case it is clearly intended to refer to William George, being the third of three heirs and William George not named, but the other case is not so clear. Still, no document ever shows four children in this family, leaving room to think than any mention of George Ann really was intended to be William George?)

Regardless of the date, several deeds and probate documents confirm the fact of this marriage, such as a deed of gift by George Petty to his grandson William G King, or probate documents saying that the widow of William King married John Boyd combined with George Petty's will identifying his daughter Rachel as the wife of John Boyd.

The 1820 census for the household of William King shows just two boys, which would be John Rhodes King, and Henry B. King. The third son, William George King, was b. 1823. Despite some websites giving this couple more children, these three are all that are named on various probate document (though the spelling and exact names do vary some: see the comments above about George Ann). They are clearly named in a suit entered by their mother [Stewart County Circuit Court Minutes 26 Mar 1829], i.e., "John R King Henry B King & Wm G King by their [next?] friend Rachael King vs. The heirs at Law of John King Dec'd". Or in Stewart County Will Book D, #335: "Bond by John H Petty for interest by Kay, Bayliss & Co. due to John R. King, William King, Henry B. King, heirs of William King".

1. ↑ McGee, Barbara Petty; Jim Petty; and C. Diane Baxter. The Petty papers : a genealogical research quarterly newsletter. (Salt Lake City, UT: J.W. Petty)
   10:1:48.
2. ↑ George and Lydia Petty Bible.

   Rachel King & William King was Married March 12th 1809.