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Hon. John Alsop King was educated in Harrow, England, and Paris, admitted to the bar, and practiced law in New York City; served in the War of 1812; Member of Assembly; Secretary of Legation and Charge d'Affairs at Court of Saint James; Member of Congress; President of Syracuse Convention in 1855 when the Republican Party was formed; Governor of the State of New York, 1857-1859; and member of the Peace Conference of 1861.

—Weygant, The Sacketts of America

KING, John Alsop, (1788 - 1867)

KING, John Alsop, (son of Rufus King and brother of James Gore King), a Representative from New York; born in New York City January 3, 1788; attended Harrow School, England, and also studied in Paris; returned to New York City; studied law; was admitted to the bar; served in the War of 1812 as lieutenant of Cavalry; engaged in farming near Jamaica, N.Y.; member of the State assembly 1819-1821; served in the State senate from 1823 until his resignation in 1825; appointed secretary of the legation at London in 1825; Chargé d’Affaires June 15 to August 5, 1826; again elected to the State assembly in 1832, 1838, and 1840; delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1839 and 1852; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1851); resumed the practice of law; Governor of New York in 1857 and 1858; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856; member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; died in Jamaica, Long Island, N.Y., July 7, 1867; interment in Grace Church Cemetery.

[Hon. Charles King] was educated at Harrow School in England, and in Paris, France. Leaving Paris he entered the banking house of Hope & Co., in Amsterdam, Holland. Returning to America in 1806 he became connected with the famous banking house of his uncle, Archibald Gracie, to whose daughter he was subsequently married. His attractive personality, family connections, accomplishments, and the intelligent interest he manifested in educational, literary, military, financial and political affairs, speedily gave him marked prominence. In all important public movement or prominent social gatherings of his time in New York City, the records of which have been preserved, his name appears. In 1813 he was a member of the State Legislature. For many years he was director of the Bank of New York. Before, during, and after the War of 1812, he labored to increase the efficiency of the militia organizations of New York County, serving on the staffs of brigade and division commanders, and holding commissions in every rank from Lieutenant to full Colonel. From 1827 to 1845 he was first associate and later principal, editor of a commercial paper called the New York American, and for several years after 1845, one of the editors of the Courier, and Inquirer. From 1806 to 1824 he was a trustee of Columbia College, of which in 1849, he became President. During the following 14 years his time and energies were successfully employed in raising the effectiveness and standard of what is now New York City's great University.
Just previous to 1863, President King's health showed signs of breaking, and Mrs. King having about that time come into possession of a legacy of one million dollars, from her deceased brother, Nicholas Low, Jr., Mr. King resigned the presidency of Columbia and spent the remaining years of his life in Europe.

—Weygant, The Sacketts of America

[Hon. James Gore King] began his studies in a private school near London, England, studied the languages in Paris, France, and was graduated from Harvard, in America, in 1810. He then studied law for a year but did not seek admission to the bar. In 1813 he was married to Sarah Rogers Gracie, 1791–__, daughter of Archibald Gracie and his wife Esther Rogers, who was the daughter of Moses Rogers and his wife Hannah Fitch. The latter was the daughter of Thomas Fitch, a colonial governor of Connecticut.
In the war of 1812, James Gore King was an Assistant Adjutant General of N. Y. State troops. In 1815 he established the banking house of James G. King & Company., in New York City. In 1818 he removed to Liverpool, England, and entered into business there with his brother-in-law, William Gracie. In 1824 he declined the offer of John Jacob Astor, who desired to make him the head of the American Fur Company, and instead became a member of the firm of Prime, Ward, Sands & King, in New York City, which afterwards became the firm of James G. King & Sons. For several years he was President of the Erie Railroad Company, retiring therefrom in 1837. He then visited England and secured a loan of one million pounds in gold, by means of which his house was enabled to carry the merchants and banking institutions of New York through a great financial crisis. For many years he was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he, in 1841, was First Vice-President, and a little later President, filling that position until 1848, when he was elected from the Weehawken district of New Jersey a Member of Congress, and served as such from 1849 to 1851. At the expiration of his term in Congress he retired to private life, spending his remaining years at his home in Weehawken.

—Weygant, The Sacketts of America

KING, James Gore, (1791 - 1853)

KING, James Gore, (son of Rufus King and brother of John Alsop King), a Representative from New Jersey; born in New York City May 8, 1791; pursued classical studies in England and France; returned to United States; was graduated from Harvard University in 1810; studied law at the Litchfield Law School; served in the War of 1812 as assistant adjutant general of New York Militia; engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York City in 1815 and in banking in Liverpool, England, in 1818; returned to New York City in 1824 and engaged in banking, with residence in Weehawken, N.J.; president of the Erie Railroad in 1835; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1851); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1850; resumed the banking business; died at his country place, “Highwood,” near Weehawken, N.J., October 3, 1853; interment in the churchyard of Grace Church, Jamaica, N.Y.