Ward's grandfather, David King, was found as a toddler wandering the streets of Baltimore during a yellow fever epidemic in which both his parents presumably died.

The store prospered and David starting investing in real estate, which built their wealth substantially over their years in Tarlton.

Understandably, Almena insisted on going along with David on his supply trips after that, carrying with her the infant Robert Quigley King as a babe in arms.

Among the cities the National Road crossed was Springfield, Ohio, where it arrived in 1836 and stopped for ten years while lawmakers argued about where it would go from there.

All of these Quigley grandchildren, their spouses and families, apparently except Eleanor, moved to Springfield, Ohio in 1831 (source in footnote says 1833).

Modern day Littleton & Rue Funeral Home now occupies the Rodgers mansion at 830 North Limestone Street, Springfield, Ohio.

David, a very astute businessman, who was already very well off, proceeded to build a significant portion of early downtown Springfield, which was known for long thereafter as "King's Row".

[10] She bought this land from Robert Quigley's grandson-in-law, Isaac Ward, who lived across the street on present-day Fountain (then Market).

Her son-in-law, famous Lutheran minister and later Wittenberg professor Luther Alexander Gotwald, happened to drop in while passing through Springfield on a train and was able to greatly comfort her during her last hours.

Gotwald wrote a loving biography of David and Almena in which he penned this moving tribute to his late father in law.

He was a most devoted husband, a firm and yet a most affectionate father, and eminently, honorable and successful, a consistent and faithful Christian, a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, and an intelligent, genial, liberal, talented and noble man in all things.

You are indebted largely to him for most of your temporal blessings which you enjoy, for without his industry, economy and business success, your lot in life would be entirely different.

He later recalled hunting for squirrels in a woods that later became the train station (now demolished) and what would be close to the location of the present Clark County Library.

The history of early Springfield mentions how much he liked to hunt, especially in the woods that later became today's Snyder Park, which would have been just down Buck Creek from his childhood home at the King Homestead.

As Almena's oldest child, Robert Quigley King soon became involved in helping his mother manage the family's real estate holdings in Springfield.

It is mentioned both in his obituary and in King family tradition that during a fire at the "whip factory", he was on a roof that collapsed, dumping him into the midst of the flames.

Family stories hold that his father received this land as the only asset of value owned by a person who owed him a lot of money as the only available way to obtain payment of that debt.

Years later, Robert Quigley King acquired another large tract of what was this time raw farm land in much closer Hancock County, Ohio, near the small village of Vanlue.

Family members state that the fact that the travels associated with the promotion of his invention took him away from the farm a lot was not something city-bred Ward considered to be disagreeable.

One time, at Eureka school house, someone went so far as to lodge a fence board between the spokes of the two rear wheels of the Kings' buggy so it would hit Ward in the head when he started out.

In cooperation with Mr. J.R. Collision, Professor J.C. Crosen, Dr. Ira Williams and others, David Ward King was instrumental in bringing a Lyceum Course (a group of men who met for regular lectures and debates on topics of interest) to Maitland.

Further, in the days before powered stone crushers, there was the additional and very arduous task of smashing much bigger rocks down to the right size for use in the respective layers.

When these convict crews worked directly on these roads, necessarily outside the walls of the prison, each man was typically chained to the next to prevent runaways.

[29] However, he did make a good living by touring the country conducting and charging sponsoring organizations for "King Meetings" in which he explained to packed houses how to build and use his road drag.

"[30] Over time, Ward conducted Good Roads campaigns in forty-six of the then-existing forty-eight states – all except Nevada and New Hampshire.

And D. Ward King, for what he's done, has pretty well earned a crown.David Ward King further widely publicized the process in a U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin #321 in 1908 under the title The use of the split-log drag on earth roads[33] He also wrote articles explaining his drag, including one that appeared in the May 7, 1910, issue of The Saturday Evening Post titled "Good Roads Without Money."

Family members point to the photo she had taken of herself in "widow's weeds" as an example of her endearing way of dramatizing events—in that case, the recent death of her husband.

[41] Robert Quigley King gave his daughter Almena Warrick and her husband Harvey the right to live in his house at 642 North Wittenberg Avenue for life.

However, at the time of his father's death, Leffler had moved back to Springfield, leaving his son, Edwin Askam King in charge of Grassland Farm.

For instance, it allowed Sears and Roebuck to start sending out its catalogues to small towns and farms and thereby vastly increase the size of its customer base.