468 KING, THOMAS STAER. 



While the President was residing in Mr. Hop- 

 per's house at Washington, awaiting the refit- 

 ting of tho White House, Mr. King was his con- 

 stant companion, residing in the same house 

 with him. This friendship probably suggested 

 the appointment of Mr. King to the Collectt>r- 

 ship of New York. 



As a public man, Mr. King had won a high 

 place by his steadfast integrity, frankness, and 

 purity of character. Singularly just, he had 

 always also been singularly firm, and taking 

 positions carefully, had held them against all 

 influences. In Congress he was a calm and re- 

 liable legislator, feeling deeply the responsibili- 

 ties of his office, and acting on the questions 

 presented with great conscientiousness after 

 patient examination. He had the high honor 

 of speaking in the Senate of the United States 

 the first plain word which told the Southern 

 leaders that if they chose war, war they should 

 have. 



In mind, temperament, physical constitution, 

 and experience, he was not well fitted for the 

 vast, intricate, and perplexing duties of his last 

 office. Burdened with immense direct respon- 

 sibilities, overborne by politicians and office- 

 seekers, straining every nerve to give to each 

 relatively petty case the care and attention de- 

 manded by the greater, conceiving a false idea 

 of the extent to which he was financially in- 

 volved, Mr. King was rapidly and fearfully ex- 

 hausted in the Collector's office. Upon a con- 

 sultation with a few intimate friends, he had 

 determined to. call in Dr. Brown of the Insane 

 Asylum to examine his case, but upon the day 

 appointed for the investigation, in 'the early 

 morning he procured a bag of shot of twenty- 

 five pounds weight, which he attached to his 

 person by a cord, and proceeding to the Hobo- 

 ken ferry boat, sprang into the river while 

 crossing. Diligent search was made for his 

 body, bat it was not found. 



KING, THOMAS STAGE, an American Unitarian 

 clergyman, author, and orator, born in New 

 York, December 16, 1824, died in San Francisco, 

 California, March 4, 1864. His father, Kev. T. 

 F. King, was a Universalist clergyman, of very 

 decided ability, but died in the prime of life ; 

 and Thomas, at the age of twelve years, while 

 fitting to enter Harvard College, found himself 

 the principal support of his widowed mother 

 and family. From the age of twelve to twenty 

 he was constantly employed either as a clerk or 

 schoolmaster, studying theology at every leisure 

 moment, and in September, 1845, he preached 

 his first sermon in Woburn, Mass. The next 

 year he was settled over his father's former 

 charge, in Charlestown, whence he was called 

 in 1848 to tho Hollis Street Unitarian Church, 

 Boston, where he preached with great accept- 

 ance and a constantly increasing reputation till 

 April, 1860, when ho accepted the call of the 

 Unitarian Church in San Francisco, to become 

 their pastor. He had acquired, meantime, a 

 very high reputation as an eloquent and effective 

 lecturer, and had every year, from 1845 to 1860, 



KNIGHT, JONATHAN. 



addressed large audiences in all the Northern 

 States. On his arrival at San Francisco he en- 

 tered at once upon his duties with a zeal and 

 energy which won the hearts of the people. 

 Every man found in him a brother and friend, 

 and ere long he was as thoroughly identified 

 with California interests as if his whole life had 

 been spent there. His congregation increased 

 in numbers and power with great rapidity ; but 

 he was a preacher for the whole city and State, 

 and crowds hung upon his eloquent utterances 

 and his bold, earnest words. When the war 

 commenced, he found California in a hesitating 

 position. Southern interests and Southern 

 views were strong, and it would have required 

 but little effort to have carried the State over 

 to the South. Mr. King flung himself into the 

 breach, and by his eloquence and earnestness 

 saved the State ; and when the Sanitary Com- 

 mission was organized, he first set in motion, 

 and through the next three years pushed for- 

 ward the efforts in behalf of the sick and 

 wounded soldier, till he had the happiness of 

 knowing, before his death, that California had 

 contributed more than six hundred thousand 

 dollars for that noble object. His labors in 

 this cause, added to his pastoral duties, were 

 too severe for his strength, and in March, 1864, 

 he was attacked with diphtheria, and died, 

 after a very brief illness. Mr. King published, 

 in 1859, "The White Hills, their Legends, 

 Landscapes, and Poetry," and subsequently, 

 several discourses and addresses. 



KNIGHT, JONATHAN, M. D., an American 

 surgeon and professor of surgery, born in Nor- 

 walk, Conn., September 4, 1789, died in New 

 Haven, Conn., August 25, 1864. His father, 

 Dr. Jonathan Knight, after serving as surgeon's 

 mate in the army of the Eevolution, settled in 

 Norwalk, and practised there for nearly fifty 

 years. His mother was the daughter of Dr. 

 Asahel Fitch, of Beading, Conn. Young Knight 

 prepared for college under the tuition of Rev. 

 Matthias Burnett, of Norwalk, and entered the 

 Sophomore class in Yale College in its last term, 

 May, 1806, graduating September, 1808, giving 

 the Latin salutatory at the commencement. 

 For the next two years he taught in Norwich 

 and New London, and in September, 1810, was 

 recalled to New Haven as tutor. He occupied 

 this position one year, but his predilections, 

 alike from his own taste and from hereditary 

 bias, for the medical profession were strong, 

 and having already commenced the study of 

 medicine, ho attended two courses of lectures 

 in the University of Pennsylvania, in 1811-'1S, 

 being at the same time a private pupil of Dr. 

 Rush. He was licensed to practice by tho 

 Connecticut Medical Society, in August, 1811, 

 and received the honorary degree of M. D. from 

 Yale College in September, 1818. He com- 

 menced practice in New Haven in April, 1813, 

 and the same year was appointed Professor of 

 Anatomy and Physiology in the newly organ- 

 ized Medical Institution of Yale College. His 

 first course of lectures was given during the win- 



