King Calendar
January 26, 1820
W.D. Williamson, an advocate for Maine statehood, wrote to Rufus King to express his opposition to efforts to join Missouri and Maine statehood in the same bill:
On the great question we are, I believe, all willing to have Maine prohibited in the strongest terms from slave-holding, and we are about as willing to risk the untried consequences of sovereignty, separate from the confederation of the States, as to have slavery indelibly graven on the frontlet of that bill, which shall make Maine a member of the great American Empire.
February 14, 1813
Rufus King wrote to Christopher Gore:
I shall probably pass the next winter at Washington; the changes of men, as well as measures are so complete, that there will not be a single member of the Senate except myself, who belonged to that Body during the time of Genl. Washington.
March 6, 1816
Rufus King in 1816 was nominated by the fading Federalist Party both for the office of President and for the Governorship of New York.
Mary King wrote with the latter news to her son Edward, not yet 21 years old and living in Ohio:
Lest you should not have timely notice of this event, I will take it upon myself to announce it - that is his [Rufus King's] nomination for Governor of the State of New York! Don't laugh, I beg.after mature deliberation he has yielded a reluctant consent.
April 19 1822
John Alsop King writes to his father:
I observed today that the apricot tree on the West side of your house was in blossom.
May 8, 1800
Rufus King was already wishing for a country house and farm
while he was Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James:
...My
family is at a pleasant house we have at about 9 miles from town [London],
and the preference we give to it over the town, is constantly recalling my
project of a farm &c. I must have a farm.
June 5, 1820
Rufus writes to Christopher Gore, bemoaning the fact that in
his 4th year at Harvard, Frederick King will not be studying the Classics,
but instead science and math:
I discard the pretension that we are all to
become Chemists; few, very few, of the Great Statesmen of old or modern
times were even Mathematicians: in saying this I do not depreciate the
Sciences. I honor. learned Chemists, tho I believe while we have smatterers
in abundance, we have no man who deserves to be considered learned in this
Branch.
Studying science paid off --Frederick became a well-respected
physician.
July 8, 1823
Rufus writes to Edward King in Ohio:
Whatever Ohio may do
respecting the Presidency, I earnestly hope.that she may be unwilling to
imitate Illinois in the attempt to introduce slavery. If it be little
excusable.to do nothing in States where slavery exists to mitigate it, and
altogether to omit the measures which may gradually and finally abolish the
same, what are we to say.to the efforts of the slave States to introduce
slavery into States in which it never existed?
August 16, 1822
Upon learning of Edward's candidacy for Congress, Rufus
writes to him:
For my own part I take less interest in Congress than
formerly; and think seriously that it.more to my Comfort to stay at home
than to.pass my winters at Washington.
September 26, 1818
Much of Rufus King's correspondence relates to his
farm, including the crops planted and fertilizers used:
...sowed wheat& Timothy seed on Gracie Field.Horse manure 64 Loads on 1/3 next road& Barnyard hog pen manure 146 loads on remaining 2/3 .
October 28, 1805
In what may be his first letter from Jamaica, Rufus wrote,
We came hither about a week since, and as the weather has been
favourable.we have sent a servant or two to town to prepare our house and
expect to follow them in 8 or 10 days.
November 21, 1805
Rufus King purchases King Manor. He notes in a letter to
his sons that:
the house is not fashionable, but convenient, the outhouse
good.
December 7, 1819
John Adams wrote to Rufus King, addressing Rufus King's
speeches on the subject of the expansion of slavery:
I have rarely if ever, met, a stronger proof to the Nation of having in her
Councils, Men of great sagacity and long experience in public affairs. As
far as my Memory serves me, the facts you have stated are perfectly correct.
I believe there was not another Member in Congress, capable of developing
their history in detail, with such precision.
