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David Henry King
FAMOUS GLEANER ALWAYS READY TO AID THOSE WHO WERE NEEDY Newton, Kansas, December 2--After an
eventful life of over ninety two years, “Grandpa” King, well known as “the
Gleaner” in Kansas and Texas, died here the day after Thanksgiving,
1926.
He was born in 1834 and spent his boyhood in Ohio. From there his parents, Samuel Koenig and Magdalena Kurtz, moved to
Illinois, where he made his home until he was 52 years old. Times were hard; often there were
crop failures. He had a
family of seven children to care for, and Mrs. King’s parents lived with
them for 12 years. But he
always worked hard; doing the best he could in spite of
difficulties.
In 1886, he moved to Larned, Kansas, with his family. Here again there were crop
failures and plenty of hard work.
After the death of his wife he lived with his sons a few years at a
time, sometimes keeping house for one of them, and for several years he
lived alone. While living in Kansas, he was greatly impressed by the waste of wheat in the counties where that was the main crop. There was such a large acreage that farmers did not bother about raking the fields, after the bundles were hauled off, nor did they clean up the grain around the straw stacks. In 1894, he started the gleaning which meant so much to him later. The farmers gladly gave him permission to clean up the rakings and the wheat around the Stacks. The wheat was cleaned with a hand-fanning mill. He gleaned some each year, but not until 1902 did he really make it his profession. That season his profit was almost $700. BOUGHT TEXAS FARM
In 1904, he decided to take a trip to his old home in
Illinois. So he left Newton
on April 19th, at the age of 70 years. He traveled in an open buggy with
one horse. He made his
expenses by selling books and canvassed 12 counties each in Missouri and
Illinois and 10 in Iowa. He
was gone 10 months without an accident or being molested in any
way.
While in Illinois, he paid a debt of $100 on which he had paid
interest for 24 years.
In 1907 while living with a son in Texas, he bought an 80-acre
farm. Later this was sold and
he received the money in small monthly payments. This arrangement pleased him very
much, for he wanted to be sure of plenty of money for his needs, as he
grew older, without being a burden to his children.
The profits from 90
days’ work in 1914 were $650, with the price of wheat from 65 to 90 cents
per bushel. So many farmers
were careless about husking corn, so Mr. King thought it would pay him to
glean cornfields also. In
1920, he started at this work about Christmas and in Pawnee County alone,
he made $450. He was not
selfish with his earnings, but was always ready to help anyone in need and
also helped support missions and charities of his
church. ALWAYS
READY FOR A VISIT
During the years, the “Gleaner” with his team, hand rake, shovel
and fork became a familiar figure to wheat farmers. He was sociable, always read for a
visit, and his friends were everywhere. He was always clean in his habits
and had especially good health. He often referred to himself as the
90-year old boy. The last few
years he gave up gleaning but was still active, and did a great deal of
walking, visiting friends as he went.
An interesting feature of his last years was the King Reunion,
which was started on his birthday, six years ago. It was always held on Saturday, so
the children could attend. At
the time of his death, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren numbered
118. The last reunion was
held in April 1926, at the farm home of S.B.King, near Hesston, with over
100 present. After a splendid
dinner was served, there were talks by the older members, and letters, and
telegrams from several who could not be there, were read. There was horseshoe pitching for
those who enjoy that sport and a baseball game. Pictures of the group were taken
by a photographer. These
reunions were a source of much pleasure for Mr. King.
At the time of his death he was living in Newton, with his only
daughter. He was a true
Christian, and although his hearing was impaired in later years, he was at
his place in church whenever possible. {Original written about 1924 by B.J.K.- probably Benjamin J. King?} Obituary of David H. King
David H. King, more familiarly known as “Grandpa” or the “Wheat
Gleaner”, was born near Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio, April 28, 1834, departed
from this life November 26, 1926, at the ripe old age of 92 years, 6
months, and 29 days. And
truly as quoted in Job 5:26 he had come to his grave in a full age like as
a sheaf of corn cometh in, in his season.
At the age of eight years “Grandpa” moved with his parents to
Marion County, Illinois, later to Tazewell County, Illinois, where he grew
to manhood. On April 3, 1895
he was united in marriage to Barbara Zook near Bloomington, Illinois. Together they lived in Illinois
until February 1886, when they moved to Pawnee County, Kansas, where
Mother passed away in September 1891. Since Mother’s death, “Grandpa”
has traveled quite extensively making at least fifteen thousand miles in
his cart, or his buggy, and in so doing he satisfied his natural bent for
visiting and also was able to pass many an otherwise lonely hour; being
naturally sociable and desirous of visiting he had many friends in at
least twenty counties in Kansas and ten or more states besides
Kansas. Being a poor man and a hard worker nearly all his life, he could not break the habit when he reached the age at which most men retire and about sixteen years ago started something where he could be in a class strictly by himself, that of gathering up wheat after the threshing machine had left a setting and wasted the golden grain as he thought by carelessly leaving too much on the ground. And his surmising proved true; as he gleaned enough during the years he kept at it to make a rather enviable salary for a man of his years. And while he was more successful in making a little money in his later life than he had been earlier, he did not forget to satisfy his lifelong ambition of wanting to help those less fortunate and gave to worthy causes a large tithe out of his earnings.
Not only has “Grandpa” lived to a ripe old age and worked and
traveled as few of his fellows have, but he has left an unusually large
posterity to mourn his loss and cherish for a long time the memory of his
friendship. Besides his many
more distant relatives, cousins, nephews and nieces, living from coast to
coast and the Canadian border on the north to the Gulf on the south, there
remain four brothers and four sisters, 82 great grandchildren, 36
grandchildren, and six children as follows: Mrs. Mary Isabelle Neuhauser
of Newton, Kansas, Samuel B. King, Hesston, Kansas, Emanuel J. King,
Hutchinson, Kansas, David S. King, Harrisonville, Mo., Benj. J. King,
Hesston Kansas, and Amos E. King, Larned, Kansas, six daughters-in-law and
one son-in-law, two children Joseph and Josephine, having gone on before
to await his coming.
During “Grandpa’s” long life he has not known much sickness. A little less than a year ago he
was confined to his room for two weeks when for a while his recovery was
doubtful, but he rallied, and while he had been quite active during
the past year, it could be
seen that he was again stricken with a hard coughing spell and was once
more confined to his room for five weeks, most of the time in bed, his
vigor gave way, and at God’s call “to come up higher” he peacefully fell
asleep at the home of his daughter in Newton,
Kansas.
One funeral service was held at the Pennsylvania Mennonite Church,
four miles southeast from
Hesston, on Sunday afternoon at 2:30. His friend of many years, Rev.
T.M. Erb, preached his funeral sermon, using as a text Job 5:26. On Monday afternoon the remains were
shipped to Larned, Kansas, and from there taken to Pratt Church, after
which interment was made in the Pratt cemetery beside his
wife.
The pallbearers at the service were six of “Grandpa’s”
grandchildren and at the final service his five sons and his son-in-law
were selected.
“Grandpa” united with the Mennonite Church in early life and
remained faithful until death.
A short time before his departure he sang one of his favorite
hymns, “I’m Going Home to Die No More,” and we believe he did.
--B.J.K. ----Reprinted April 30, 1965, from a newspaper clipping. Copyright held by the descendants of the author. We are indebted
to Kaye Osterman for this info. For a comprehensive display of the
King family tree and for additional photos, please visit her site
at
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