King Family History & Genealogy

History

The name King has been around for a long time. Known as Conroy in Ireland and given the name King after Conroy immigrants came to the USA. The King family has a lot of branches. The main roots come from Ray, Roy, and Rex, as well as Shaw which all mean King in different languages. In the Irish city of Gelway the surname of King or Conroy was quite common, and it predates back before the Norman Invasion of England and back to the middle-ages. 
One of the first to settle in North America was Rufus King, and he was one of the founding fathers who signed the Decloration of Independance. Many others followed over time from England, Scotland, and Ireland to seek religious freedom, to find a new career, to get away from war and conflict, or just to get a fresh new start in a new nation.
One popular branch of the King family married into the McCoy family in Pike County Kentucky. Mary (McCoy) Farley had married a Joseph King and had a son James Patrick McCoy King. They moved to Saint Louis Missouri to avoid the Hatfield McCoy feud. The McCoy genes have a rare genetic disorder called Von Hipple Landau diease that causes tiny tumors to grow on the brain and organs of the body. It leads to anger problems and mental illnesses when they grow on the brain, and it might have been a factor in the feud. There is also a genetic disorder in the King DNA that causes mostly boys to be born and very rarely a girl to be born, so the King name is passed on a lot because mostly boys are born. The so called "King's Curse" of having all boys or mostly boys has lead to the King name being spread around the world.
Some of the Kings are related to the Norman Kings of England, they were overthrown by the Saxon Kings and took the King name after marrying into the King family. This allowed a Galt or French ancestry into that branch of the King family. Some of the Kings married nobels from Germany were the name Koeing is used, the German word for King. When they immigrated to the USA, the name was translated into King. Having the surname of King, does not mean one is of royal ancestry, it was a surname given to men who acted like a King, or served a King or royal family, or who earned a title of King in a tournement as a Knight or part of the Crusades, or who looked like a King and thus named. The King name is very common and tracing a King ancestry can be confusing as people have the same first, middle, and last names but are different people. You will find geneology boards with people asking for information on realtives in the King family by name, and most go unanswered and some are answered and they have the same names but different birth dates and dates of deaths.
Some of the Kings in the USA hid from Census takers by giving out only initals, and sometimes the wrong letter initial for the first name because they took a 'nick name' to hide from family members or other people. They would also give the wrong age, sometimes and older age, sometimes a younger age. In Saint Louis there was a Census that was burned in a fire, and it was 1890 when a lot of Kings moved to Saint Louis. So that branch is next to impossible to trace back past a certain date. Plus a lot of people had their names legally changed to King so it sounded better.

Name Origin

The meaning of the last name of King means a ruler, a leader, or one who served a king or royal family. In some Christian meaning it means "anointed one" as in one anointed by God that serves God and reports directly to God and Jesus Christ (The Christ, or The Anointed One who is KIng of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Hosts of Hosts) rather than use the title Christ, the words Ray, Roy, Rex, Shaw, Conroy, King were used instead. These titles became surnames. It should be known that Christ is a title, and the last name of Jesus was not Christ but Christ is used. That Jesus Christ is considered The Christ, like God is considered The God or The Lord, the one above all others most high that Kings report to and are given power by God. That men were given a title of Christ, Lord, etc, but it was considered blasphomy so the titles of King were used instead to avoid offending God.

Spellings & Pronunciations

King may be spelled as Koeing, Kong, Kang, Corwyn, Conroy, depending on what language is used. It is also possible to be mispelled and mistranslated as different words.

Nationality & Ethnicity

The King country of origin is known as the United Kingdom or UK now. There are three main branches of the King family, one in England, one in Ireland, and one in Scotland. Those of Irish, Scottish, or Scotch-Irish origin may have red hair or carry the red hair gene. Others have black or brown hair, and in some rare cases have blond/blonde hair.  The Nationality and Ethnicity of King traces back to the United Kingdom and England, Scotland, and Ireland. Some of the King family married into different nationalities and ethnicities but the original family is traced back to the UK.

Famous People named King

Stephen King, the best selling author of horror books, had his father leave his family and he cannot trace his heritage back to the other Kings. He can only trace his mother's side of the family, Pilsberry.
Gerald Ford, Vice President and later President was born a King and adopted and his name changed from Leslie Lynch King, Jr. He is considered one of the first of the King famiily to hold the title of President.

Early Kings

These are the earliest records we have of the King family.