Biography on horrace king

Published : September 8, Category : Field Notes. Horace King in middle life. Brigette Jones. Search for: Search.

Biography on horrace king: Horace King () was the most

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Biography on horrace king: Horace King was an

Join Our Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter today and start exploring the vibrant world of African history and culture! They built a replacement for their Columbus City Bridge between Columbus and Girard inafter an flood destroyed the original. During a time of financial difficulty, inGodwin transferred the enslavement of King to his wife and her uncle, William Carney Wright of Montgomery, Alabama.

Godwin may have done this to prevent his creditors from obtaining King. It was highly uncommon for enslavers to allow such marriages since Frances' free status meant that their children would all be born free. ByKing was publicly acknowledged as a "co-builder" with Godwin, an uncommon honor for an enslaved person. King worked independently as architect and superintendent of major bridge projects in Columbus, Mississippiand Wetumpka, Alabama Jemison would remain King's friend and associate for the rest of his life.

Later that same year, he built three small bridges for Jemison near Steens, Mississippiwhere the latter owned several mills. Despite his enslavement, King was allowed to keep a significant income from his work. Inhe used some of his earnings to purchase his freedom from the Godwin family and Wright. But, under Alabama law of the time, a formerly enslaved person was allowed to remain in the state only for a year after manumission.

Jemison, who served in the Alabama State Senatearranged for the state legislature to pass a special law giving King his freedom and exempting him from the manumission law. InKing used his freedom to purchase land near his former master. Inthe Alabama State Capitol burned, and King was hired to construct the framework of the new capitol building, as well as design and build the twin spiral entry staircases.

King used his knowledge of bridge-building to cantilever the stairs' support beams so that the staircases appeared to "float" without any central support. AroundKing formed a partnership with two other men to construct a bridge, known as Moore's Bridge, over the Chattahoochee between Newnan and Carrollton, Georgianear Whitesburg. Instead of collecting a fee for his work, King took equity, gaining a one-third interest in the bridge.

King moved his wife and children to the area near the bridge aboutalthough he continued to commute between it and their other home in Alabama. Frances King and their children collected bridge tolls and farmed at Moore's Bridge. He also continued to design and construct major bridge projects through the remainder of the s, including a major bridge in Milledgeville, Georgiaand a second Chattahoochee crossing at Columbus, Georgia.

In the s in Columbus, King purchased an enslaved biography on horrace king who would become known as a celebrated abolitionist J. Sella Martin. When King attempted to subdue Martin by flogging him, he was disappointed by Martin's resistance. King quickly sold Martin to a slave trader. As the American Civil War approached inKing, like many enslaved blacks in the Southern United States, opposed declarations of secession and was a confirmed Unionist.

After the outbreak of hostilities, King attempted to continue his business as an architect and builder, constructing a factory and a mill in Coweta County, Georgiaand a bridge in Columbus, Georgia. While working on the Columbus bridge, Confederate authorities conscripted King to build obstructions in the Apalachicola Rivermiles km south of Columbus to prevent a naval attack on the city.

Biography on horrace king: Horace King (sometimes Horace Godwin) (September

After completing the obstructions on the Apalachicola, Confederates tasked King to construct defenses on the Alabama River before returning to Columbus in There they tended the bridge and farmed until when the Union cavalry burned the span. The Civil War brought an economic boom to Columbus, and King, like other local contractors, worked for the Confederacy.

He supplied timbers and erected a major building for the Confederate navy there. The Alabama governor pressed King into service, against his will, to place defensive obstructions in the lower Alabama River. King claimed that the federal government owed him, as a Unionist, for the confiscation or plundering of his property by Union troops. Immediately after the war ended ina year after the death of his first wife, he married Sarah Jane Jones McManus, with whom he had no children.

They built bridges and various structures in LaGrange, Atlanta, and east Alabama.