He was of English descent, and among his first ancestors coming to America was John King, of Edwardstone, Suffolk, England, who, in 1715, was the first settler on a tract of land in what was then the Colony of Massachusetts.

[2] He attended Westfield State University and then studied law under his brother, Henry King in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

In 1823 he traveled with his brother, Stephen Clay King, to practice law in Waynesville, Georgia.

They had ten children who survived to adulthood, including a son, John Floyd King.

[4] King accepted an appointment in California as tax collector for the Port of San Francisco under President Millard Fillmore.