Robert R. King, Wiley King and Margaret Adair King of Little Greenbrier Cove, Sevier County, Tennessee (McLean, VA: American Society for Genealogy and Family History, 1997), 132 pages. $15.00.

Wiley King - Wiley King was born in February 1793 in South Carolina, probably the first child of Nathaniel King and Elizabeth Runyan King. The family moved to Tennessee about 1804. [This volume provides a summary of the information known about the ten children of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Runyan King.] Wiley married Margaret Adair, the daughter of William Adair and Margaret Ferguson Adair, probably in Sevier County and probably about 1825. (Almost all Sevier County records, including marriage records, before 1856 were destroyed by a courthouse fire in March 1856.)

Wiley King and his family are reasonably well-known because in 1853 he purchased land at Little Greenbrier Cove, Sevier County, in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He build a log home on this land, which was almost completed by the time of his death in 1859. The home is still standing today. His youngest daughter and her family subsequently acquired the home, and five of their unmarried daughters (Wiley's granddaughters) remained in that home until the last one died in 1964. This history of Wiley King and his family is the most complete account of his ten children, who lived in Sevier and Campbell Counties in Tennessee and in Sullivan and Linn Counties in Missouri.

The Wiley King Property in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park - The history deals with the land transactions involving the parcel of land at Little Greenbrier Cove which was purchased by Wiley King - its previous owners, and the subsequent legal transactions involving the property after his death, including a law suit between members of the family over the disposition of the land. Included are 12 historical photographs taken between about 1916-1919 and 1965 showing the Wiley King home, and Wiley's granddaughters who lived there at these times. These pictures are from the Library and Archives of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

The Impact of the Civil War on the Wiley King Family - One chapter of this history is devoted to the impact of the Civil War upon the family of Wiley King. Although the state of Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, East Tennessee was an area of very strong pro-union sentiment, and this was evident in the involvement of the sons and sons-in-law of Wiley and Margaret Adair King. They had ten children - five sons and five daughters. Of their five sons, four served in the Union Forces during the Civil War, and two died while serving. Of their five daughters, three had spouses who died while serving with the Union forces during the War. Including subsequent remarriages of their daughters, Wiley and Margaret Adair King had seven sons-in-law, of whom six served int he Union military forces. In total, Wiley and Margaret Adair King had twelve sons and sons-in-law. Ten served with the Union forces during the War. Five of those men - half of those who served - died while in the military.

The Children of Wiley King and Margaret Adair King - The family consisted of ten children who married and at least 73 grandchildren, of whom 18 were grandsons who carry the King name. This volume discusses each of these children of Wiley and Margaret King and their children. A brief sketch of each of the children is as follows:

1. Mary Ann King [McFalls]. b. about 1825 in Sevier County, Tennessee. She m. 1846 to James Alexander McFalls, son of Arthur and Mary Roberts McFalls. They were the parents of eight children, all born in Sevier County, Tennessee. James Alexander McFalls was killed in action during the Civil War. Mary Ann King McFalls d. 1897 in Sevier County, Tennessee. Children remained in and around Sevier County, Tennessee.

2. Lewis Nathaniel King. b. about 1827 in Sevier County, Tennessee. He m. about 1848/1849 Eva Rosanna Maples, the daughter of Abijah Maples and Elizabeth McMahan Maples. They were the parents of at least five children. He d. 1876 in Sevier County, Tennessee. Eva Rosanna Maples m. (2) Tom Walker in 1876. Children remained in and around Sevier County, Tennessee.

3. Charles Wesley King. b. about 1829 in Sevier County, Tennessee. He m. (1) about 1848 probably in Sevier County, Tennessee, Elizabeth Cotter/Colter, the daughter of William and Hannah Cotter/Colter. She d. between 1856-1860 in either Sevier County, Tennessee, or Sullivan County, Missouri. They were parents of five children. He m. (2) in 1860 Martha Ann Cleeton in Sullivan County, Missouri. They were parents of eight children. His thirteen children lived and married in Missouri.

4. John Nicton King. b. May 1831 in Sevier County, Tennessee. He m. about 1851 probably in Sevier County, Tennessee, Nancy Elizabeth Nations, the daughter of John and Kissiah Nations. They were parents of ten children. Between 1860 and 1870, he moved with his family to Campbell County, Tennessee. The family later lived a few miles away in Whitley County, Kentucky. He died after 1900. The children lived in and around Campbell County, Tennessee, Whitley County, Kentucky, and Gibson County, Indiana.

5. Nancy E. King [House / Nations]. b. 1833 in Sevier County, Tennessee. She m. (1) in 1856 in Sevier County, Tennessee, George E. Houser, son of Jacob and Mary Houser. He died of sickness while serving in the Union forces during the Civil War. They were the parents of three children. She m. (2) in 1866 in Sevier County, Tennessee, Green B. (Greenberry) Nations, the son of John and Kissiah Nations (and the brother of Nancy Elizabeth Nations, who married John Nicton King, the 4^th child of Wiley King). They were the parents of three children. The six children lived in Sevier County, Tennessee, and in Linn County, Missouri.

6. James Sylvester King. b. 1838 in Sevier County, Tennessee. He m. in 1859 in Sevier County, Tennessee, Louisa M. Cotter/Colter. They were the parents of two children. He died in 1862 of sickness while serving in the Union forces during the Civil War. It is not known if Louisa M. Cotter/Colter King remarried, but she and the children moved to Knox County, Tennessee, in the 1860s.

7. Wiley Valentine King. b. 1838 in Sevier County, Tennessee, the twin of James Sylvester. He m. in 1860 in Sevier County, Tennessee, Caroline B. Cotter/Colter, who was probably the sister or cousin of his twin brother's wife. They were the parents of two children. He died in 1862 of sickness while serving in the Union forced during the Civil War. Caroline B. Cotter/Colter King did not remarry, and she and the children moved to Knox County, Tennessee, in the 1860s.

8. Mary Elizabeth King [Reagan]. b. 1840 in Sevier County, Tennessee. She m. in 1859 in Sevier County, Tennessee, Daniel Wesley Stephen Reagan, the son of Daniel Wesley and Nancy Ogle Reagan. They were the parents of eight children. She d. 1897 in Blount County, Tennessee. The children were all born in Sevier County, Tennessee, and most of them remained in that area.

9. Sarah Malinda King [Harden / Walker]. b. 1842 in Sevier County, Tennessee. She m. (1) in 1859 in Sevier County, Tennessee, William Calvin Harden. He was killed in action in 1864 while serving in the Union forces during the Civil War. They were the parents of two children. She m. (2) in 1866 in Sevier County, Tennessee, William Walker, the son of Thomas Walker and Eliza Jane Myers. They were the parents of six children. The family moved to Sullivan County, Missouri, after 1881, and most of the children as well as the parents remained in the state of Missouri. She d. in 1914.

10. Margaret Jane King [Walker]. b. 1846 in Sevier County, Tennessee. She m. in 1866 in Sevier County, Tennessee, John N. Walker, the son of Thomas Walker and Eliza Jane Myers. (He was the brother of William Walker, who married Margaret Jane King's sister Sarah Malinda King.) They were the parents of 11 children. After their marriage, they moved into the Wiley King home at Little Greenbrier Cove, with Margaret Jane's mother, and they subsequently purchased the property there. Five of their six daughters never married, and they remained in the family home until the last of the unmarried sisters died in 1964. Margaret Jane King Walker d. in 1909. The children all remained in and around Sevier County, Tennessee.