The King Family History

These pictures are of me, my father, Henry J. King, and his father, Christian K. King. We Kings are descendants of Samuel Koenig, whose name was later changed to King.

H. Harold Hartzler compiled a two volume account of the descendants of Samuel Koenig. While I respect Hartzler for his work in a very difficult task, two things make these books very difficult to like. First, the numbering system he used to identify the people he included is at best a very difficult system to use. While he offers an explanation of how the system works, it is still very hard to make sense of. Second, he has many people set in the wrong family, with my some of my siblings included in that. Finding one's siblings listed in someone else's family throws the whole thing out of kilter, killing the desire to use the books at all.

I want to illustrate the numbering system Hartzler used for clarification of this dilemna. To do this I will quote from the Introduction, Volume 1: "I am using a numbering system based on the order of birth of the children. Thus the number 5-4-2 designates the second child of the fourth child of the fifth child of the immigrant Samuel Koenig. . . . . .I will illustrate this system with my own number: 212191. Thus I am the first child of the ninth child, of the first child, of the second child, of the first child of the second child of the immigrant. I now illustrate by combining names with numbers beginning with my father John M. Hartzler #2-1-2-1-9, who was the ninth child of Barbara King #2-1-2-1, who was the first child of Jacob L. King #2-1-2, who was the second child of John King #2-1, who was the first child of Jacob King #2, who was the second child of the immigrant Samuel
Koenig."

Did you follow all that? Every person listed in these two volumes is done in that fashion. And so you have page after page of paragraphs of numbers based on the child of so and so, who is the child of so and so, etc. Fortunately Hartzler has an alphabetical index of names with their corresponding number making it possible to find people that way. For the record my number is 2-3-7-5-1-6, making me the sixth child of Henry King, the first child of Christian K. King, the fifth child of Christian S. King, the seventh child of Samuel King, the third child of Jacob King, the second child of the immigrant Samuel Koenig. Now you know my pedigree.

One of my cousins gave me this set of books last week, and at first look I wondered why I had said I would like them. But I suppose when I get older and wiser I'll be glad I have them. They're something I can always pass on to the next generation, providing someone will want the books.

These people were probably not all "pilgrims on the way" but many of them were, as I remain a

Pilgrim on the way