Archives West Finding Aid

Volney King was born to Thomas Rice and Matilda Robison King at Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on 11 March 1847. His family emigrated to Fillmore, Utah, in 1851 where he spent most of his childhood and adolescent years working the family farm. He also spent time learning telegraphy in Salt Lake City and tended the telegraph office in Cove Creek. King's adult years were dedicated to his family, his church, and his civic responsibilities.

King was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1856. His service to his church began at an early age. He was ordained a seventy of the 42nd Quorum on 22 December 1866. Just over a year later, he was selected to help lead a group of LDS pioneers from Laramie to Utah. He had married his first wife, Carlie Lyman, on 15 May 1871, but it ended in divorce just days later. King relates in his diary that she was "dissatisfied at what I knew not. I asked her reasons. She said nothing. A few days more and she had rejected the house I had prepared for her." He also served a mission to England from 1873-1874. He met his second wife, Eliza Syrett, while on his mission, and married her in Salt Lake City after being released from his missionary duties.

Throughout his life, King was very much involved in the LDS Church's practice of living the United Order, a cooperative order to establish community economic self-sufficiency. His diary discusses the successes and fall-backs of establishing and living this lifestyle, as well as records the transactions between those involved in it.

King was involved in may other aspects of community life, including the Young Men's and Young Women's Mutual Improvement Society and the Sabbath School. He was a favorite speaker at various functions and was called several times to manage tithing for his area. King was called many times to be a witness in court and to settle disagreements between individuals. On several occasions he was elected to civic positions within his county. He was also an avid genealogist.

King lived with his family in Southern Utah for most of his life, although they moved to Idaho in 1903 for a period of time, then returned to Utah. He and Eliza had ten children: Eliza Rosetta, Volney Emery, Susan May, Edmund Rice, Leland, Clarence, Warren, Ada Delilah, Claudius Melvin, and Lawrence. All but Clarence, Warren, and Claudius survived to adulthood. Volney King died on 30 January 1925 in Teasdale, Utah.