Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, King moved to Illinois with his parents, who settled in Galesburg, Knox County, in 1880.

He attended the public schools, and Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois.

King was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1915, until his death.

He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture (Sixty-seventh through Sixty-ninth Congresses).

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress