Introducing Kings: A Family History
Not the usual family history book
We’re thrilled to announce the release of our fourth book: Kings: A Family History, edited by Bruce King, Patricia Grace King, and Vic King.
Kings: A Family History is a book that takes a deep dive into the ancestors and descendants of Amos, Agnes, and Martha King, from immigrant ships through frontier famines to Tidewater fishing trips. Packed with strange-but-true stories and family lore, it brings the King family past to life with heart and grit.
Includes over 130 images, including many historical photographs and documents that can be found nowhere else.
It’s available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle ebook.
Inside the Book
The book is organized in three main sections:
Roots - the ancestors of Amos King, going back seven generations
Trunk - the lives of Agnes, Amos, and Martha King, and the childhood stories of their nine children
Branches - the continuing lives and stories of the nine King siblings and their many descendants, as well as resources for further family storytelling
From Swiss persecution and pirate chases to Midwestern homesteads and Maryland outhouses, this is no dry genealogy. It’s an unforgettable mosaic of interviews, journals, letters, drama, medical mysteries, frontier disasters, pipe-smoking grandmas, and unlikely love stories.
Some Roots highlights include:
John Melchior Plank, 1767 Immigrant
Samuel Koenig & Ellis-van Creveld Syndrome
The Hochstetler Massacre
Rosa King: An Ordinary Woman In Extraordinary Circumstances
The Trunk section includes a treasure chest of true family stories, including:
Don’t Tell Daddy I Shot You
Skunk on a Unicycle
I Paid Good Money For That Bean
There are transcripts of the few surviving sermon recordings of Amos King, sheet music for some favorite family songs, and over 130 historical photos and documents.
The Branches section gives (auto)biographical sketches of each of the nine siblings and a few of Amos’ grandchildren, as well as a Write Your Own Chapter section with interview questions and guides, a genogram exercise, and other inspiring articles about the power of engaging with your family history.
About the Editors & Patrons
Three King family members served as the book’s editors, and 23 King family members donated to cover the costs of the book’s creation.
Bruce King is our family’s resident genealogist.
Patricia Grace King is our family’s published author of literary fiction.
Vic King is the jack-of-all-trades who runs Mudbound Books and got a bee in his bonnet to create this family history.
Special thanks to Damayea Hargett & Forrest Brown, Walter & Miriam King, Linda King & Greg VanBenschoten, Dan & Jeanette King, Ben & Renee Dorsey, Ladene King & Gretchen Nyce, Bruce & Patty King, Phil King & Amanda Barczyk, Wally & Kristin King, Bill King & Barbara Isdell, Rosemary King, and AJ King & Crystal Lehmanking for their patronage that helped bring this book to life.
About the Cover
Vic worked with Nathan Yoder of Yondr Studio on the timeless cover design.
The crest features a Germanic eagle and an American bald eagle, and its shield bears a chi rho and the year 1744, which is the year Samuel and Anna Koenig arrived on this continent. The frame around the edge bears icons that represent core parts of our family story: a trinity symbol for our faith heritage, a wagon wheel for migration and farming, a hammer and saw for carpentry, and an anchor for our many family memories on the water. The tree-and-leaf elements are a nod to the “fruit of generations” as well as Amos’ apple-picking seasons in his younger years and his backyard orchard in Westover.
The paperback comes in deep navy blue, the hardcover in maroon, and the ebook in hunter green:
Resource Library
In conjunction with the book, the photographs, sermon recordings, and other primary source files have been uploaded to a repository on the Internet Archive, where they have the best chance of surviving online.
There is also a Youtube playlist of the reunion storytelling sessions and other video primary sources used in the book’s creation.
“The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.”
– G.K. Chesterton