Martha's Vineyard Museum

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Biography/Historical Note

Scope and Content Note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Descriptive Summary

Repository	Martha's Vineyard Museum Gale Huntington Research Library 59 School Street P.O. Box 1310 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-4441
Call Number	RU 422
Creator	Florence family
Creator	King family
Title	Florence and King families papers
Date [inclusive]	1848-1875, undated
Extent	2 boxes + 2 oversize folders (1.103 cubic feet)
Language	The materials are in English.
Abstract	The collection includes sermons and notes of the Reverend John D. King (1822-1908), as well as correspondence between King and Florence family members, including: J. D. King, Mary H. King, Ortheman Dexter King, Augusta (King) Florence, and George A. Florence. In addition, there are four of Augusta King's diaries and sheet music composed by George Florence.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions to access.

Use and Reproduction Restrictions

Requests to reproduce material from this collection should be directed to the library's staff. Reproduction fees may apply.

Acquisition Information

The bulk of this collection was a gift of Mrs. George R. Robinson in 1989 (Accession no. 1989.038). The Memorandum of Text was purchased by the museum in 1932 (Accession no. 1932.030). John D. King's 1852 scrapbook and autograph book was the gift of Beulah T. Callaghan in 1976 (Accession no. 1976.018).

Custodial History

The materials donated by Robinson, (Accession no. 1989.038), were found in the attic of her home on Dempster Park in Oak Bluffs. The cottage, originally known as Oak Haven, was built by John D. King in 1869. King's books were found in the Callaghan home at 7 Siloam Avenue in Oak Bluffs.

Publication Information

Martha's Vineyard Museum

Gale Huntington Research Library
59 School Street
P.O. Box 1310
Edgartown, MA 02539
(508) 627-4441

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Joyce Cooper in October 2013 with assistance from Insley Julier. Finding updated by Joyce Cooper in October 2014 with assistance from Lara J. Ullman. Finding aid machine-encoded by Nathaniel Janick in November 2014.

 Creation of this finding aid was sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Biography/Historical Note

John Dudly King was born in Leicester, Massachusetts in 1822 to John King and Sophia (Green) King. He had two sisters Augusta (1805- ) and Sally (1810- ). In October of 1842 John married Mary Hobbs Stetson (1821-1905) in Charlton, Massachusetts. They couple had five children: Mary Augusta, Ortheman, Mabel, Charles, and Nellie. J. D. King became a "licensed exhorter" in 1845. As an itinerant preacher his family moved often and he was frequently away from home. During the 1850s and 1860s much of King's travel was in the greater Hartford, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, areas.

In the early 1860s King made trips to preach at the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association in Cottage City, (later Oak Bluffs), Massachusetts, where he became active in the community. By 1870 a group of Methodist businessmen joined together to form the Vineyard Grove Company out of concern over the manner in which the area was developing. The Vineyard Grove Company's aim was to purchase property in the Highlands, bordering the Camp Meeting property, to protect it from encroaching commercial interests. J.D. King was appointed agent for the company and made his home in the Dempster Park area of the Highlands. His cottage, built in 1869, was called Oak Haven. In 1872, King established a Sabbath School at the Methodist Camp Meeting in Vineyard Grove. From 1879 to 1881 and again from 1887 to 1890, he was a revival pastor in Edgartown, Massachusetts. Both a clergyman and a scientist, he was appointed Director of the School of Microscopy at the Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute and taught microscopy in 1887. In his later years King became a resident of Oak Bluffs, where he married Emily F. Gardner Folger of Nantucket in 1906. John D. King died in Oak Bluffs in 1908.

Mary Augusta King, called Augusta, was born in Leicester, Massachusetts on October 26, 1843. As a teenager, Augusta King moved frequently with her family, living in New London, Connecticut, in 1859; Manchester Station, Connecticut, in 1861; and later attending boarding school in East Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1862. In 1863 she was in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, before joining a traveling acting troupe and marrying George A. Barrows in Newark, New Jersey, in September of that year. Shortly after marrying the couple changed their last name to Florence. George and Augusta Florence left the troupe in October of 1863 and settled near New Bedford, Massachusetts. Augusta (King) Florence gave music lessons and sang in concerts. George A. Florence wrote original music scores and played violin in the concerts. George and Augusta Florence continued to visit the King family home in Oak Bluffs and, in 1874, they built the Florence Dining Hall in the Vineyard Highlands. The business venture was short-lived. By 1880, Augusta Florence changed her name back to Mary A. Barrows and was working for a corset company. In January of 1882 she married for a second time to Sidney S. Hicks, son of Thomas and Juliette Hicks of New Britain, Connecticut. Mary Augusta and Sidney Hicks resided in New Bedford. The year of Mary Augusta Hicks' death is unknown.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains sermons, a notebook on biblical texts, a scrapbook, an autograph book, musical compositions, diaries, and correspondence belonging to members of the King and Florence families. John D. King's pastoral writings include five of his sermons and a notebook entitled, Memorandum of Texts, containing his notes on bible passages. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings of articles King collected for potential sermon topics. The autograph book has notes and bible passages from friends and family. Also included in the collection are letters King wrote to his daughter, Augusta (King) Florence.

Augusta King's diaries were written in the early 1860s, during her late teenage years. They paint a picture of a young girl's life; going to teas, making dresses, social outings, and her brother and friends going off to war. Her correspondence is primarily from her mother Mary H. King, dated 1866-1872. In addition, there are two concert programs featuring George and Augusta Florence and a composition book of original music scores by George A. Florence.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by material type and therein in loose chronological order. Correspondence is filed by recipient.