Cornell College - Royal Purple Yearbook (Mount Vernon, IA)

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BIOGRAPHIES. REV. WILLIAM FLETCHER KING, D. D., LL. D., President of Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, was born near Zanesville, Ohio, December 2oth, 1830. His parents, James J. King, and Mariam Coffman King, were industrious, intelligent, religious, and, if we may judge by heredi- ty, of remarkable force of character. Both were of old Virginian families, and both lived to an advanced age, the father departing in the eighty-sixth, and the mother in the eighty-eighth year of life. I Dr. King is the oldest of three brothers, all of whom are graduates of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity. His brother, Isaac Fenton King, is a Presiding Elder in the Ohio Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, and twice a member of the General Conference. His brother, I-ohn Wes- ley King, is a successful lawyer at Zanesville, Ohio. 1 On the completion of his college course, in 1857, W. F. King was elected to a tutorship in the Ohio Wesleyan University. He remained there till 1862. The Faculty with whom he had been associated expressed great appreciation of his usefulness and success as a teacher. f In 1862 he resigned, with the intention of spending some time in European travel and study. Providence had other work for him to do. . He was elected to the Chair of Ancient Languages in Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, having been recommended for that place by Drs. f afterwards Bishopsj Thompson and Clark. The place ,came uusought, but, after a family consultation, was accepted. Thus he came to Iowa in 1862, and has become a part of the educational history of the state. Near the close of that college year, President Fellows died, leaving a memory still fragrant with the aroma of purity and goodness. Professor King was placed in charge of the College as acting Presi- dent, and entered upon the discharge of that duty in the summer of 1863. In 1865 he was formal- ly elected President of the College, and has remained in that relation to the present. In length of service in the same college he outranks all other Presidents of Methodist Colleges now living in the United. States. To detail the -work of President King in the educational field, would outrun the limits of this paper. It includes over a quarter of a century of toil and care. Even when taking a vacation for

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neccessary rest, the College is always on his mind and heart. This is sufficient of itself, without labored explanation, to account for his success and the success of the College. It may be added that, he has been able to surround himself with a Board of Trustees and Faculty of like mind. It is well to note also, that President King not only considers his work as important as the active Christian Ministry, but a part of the work of the active Christian Ministry. He never admits that he is not in the regular work. And thus in harmony with this idea, he never loses sight of the moral and spiritual welfare of the students under his care. He has always and constantly, both by public appeal and personal approaches, urged upon all, the religion which he has himself enjoyed. Having been himself born into the Methodist church, having been converted at the age of ten years, he has remained true to all the usages, institutions, and doctrines of the church. While not indiffer- ent to any plan of improvement, and keenly alive to whatever presents manifest advantages, he maintains through alla wise conservatism, preferriiig rather to bear the ills we have, than fly to others thatlwe know not of. A ' While never wavering in his attachment to Cornell College, President King has been in active sympathy with the Public Schools and general educational interests of the state. He has been Pres- ident of the State Teachers' Association, and has served for years on its most important committees. In the National Association he is honored with membership in the Educational Council. Thus, although retiring and modest, and unassuming, both in deportment and in character, the labors of PresidentiKing have not been confined exclusively to the College over which he presides. He was first elected to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1876, and is again a member of that body the present year. Here, as elsewhere he is not one of the most con- spicuous in keeping himself before the public eye, but is always one of the most active, efficient, and successful in practical labors. When he feels called upon to speak, he is listened to with the closest attention and with marked effect, wdaether in the Councils of the Church, or the State. He has been frequently invited to preach or lecture on special occasions, has read papers before various educational and ecclesiastical conventions, and has delivered addresses at a number of differ- ent colleges. These, as well as his Baccalaureate discourses, have been marked by a depth of thought and scholarly finish to which few men attain. He has written not a little for the periodicals of the day, but generally anonymously. He has traveled over nearly all portions of the United States, and is unusually well informedaon the resources of the country and the character of its public men. Contrary to a somewhat prevalent opinion,