John King and Dinah Doe

St Martin's Church, Little Waltham, Essex
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Wayland Smith - geograph.org.uk/p/7173888

John King married Dinah Doe, daughter of Henry Doe and Elizabeth Stones, at St Martin's Church, Little Waltham, Essex on 20 Nov 1810.

John and Dinah had four children: 

1. John King bap. 7 Apr 1811 in Little Waltham, Essex
2. Elizabeth King bap. 21 Mar 1813 in Little Waltham, Essex
3. James King bap. 14 Jan 1816, died aged 1 and was buried on 20 May 1818, both events at St Mary & St Lawrence, Great Waltham, Essex
4. George King bap. 5 Jul 1818 in Great Waltham, Essex

Elizabeth's baptism record lists her father's occupation as Labourer.

There is a record of the burial of John King, aged 47 (b. 1790), in Great Waltham, Essex, on 22 Feb 1837, at the end of the reign of William IV.

In 1841, Diana (sic) King (50) Servant and her youngest son, George King (20) Servant - ages rounded - were employed in the household of Robert French (60), Farmer, in Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex.

In 1851, Diana King (64) widow, was still a General Servant in the household of Robert French (71) Farmer of 310 Acres, employing 12 Labourers, at Bulls Lodge, Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex (Grade II Listed Building).

In 1861, Diana King (73) widow, born in Great Canfield, Essex, was living at Wakerings Farm, Great Leighs, Essex with her daughter, Elizabeth King (46) and son George King (43) Agricultural Labourer.

Dinah King died, aged 83, in 1869 J Quarter in CHELMSFORD Volume 04A Page 111 and was buried in Great Leighs, Essex.

It is worth noting that in 1881, George King (65) Agricultural Labourer and his sister, Elizabeth King (68) were living together, both still single, in Little Waltham. Elizabeth King died, aged 88, in 1900 M Quarter in CHELMSFORD Volume 04A Page 383. George King died, aged 94, in 1915 M Quarter in CHELMSFORD Volume 04A Page 884. Neither ever married.

Andrew Ephire King and Annie Jones

The former St. Luke's church
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Jonathan Thacker - geograph.org.uk/p/5436811

Andrew Ephire King (b. 10 Nov 1894), Chief Yeoman, United States Navy, son of Joseph Damos King and Josephine Martel, married Annie Jones (b. 30 Sep 1890), only daughter of Nicholas Jones and Ellen White, at St Luke's Church, Cork, Ireland on 18 Aug 1919. Witnesses were Frederick Joseph Lee and Nelly Jones. The couple met in 1917, wrote their daughter, Margery, later "... when Dad was on one of the destroyers sent by the US Navy to patrol the south coast of Ireland and convoy supply and troop ships to English and French ports." Later, "When Cork became "out of bounds" to the crews of the US Fleet when the Sinn Féiners attacked them, Dad asked Mum to come down to Rushbrooke / Queenstown to visit him. In this way, Dad became acquainted with Nellie and the rest of her family, often going to Rushbrooke for tea when he had a few hours liberty when his ship was in port." 

From Andrew's diary: April 24, 1918: "Liberty was granted today. I went ashore at 4:30 p.m. and went to see Nellie Jones. Today was her 24th birthday. She had made a chocolate cake and some cookies so we had a quite nice little tea party. I gave her a gold pendant for a gift. Novak came up about 7:30 with a fruit cake that his sister in Portland, Oregon had sent him. We had cocoa and some of the cake. Returned to the ship at 10:30 p.m."

After they married, Annie King applied for permission to depart for the United States, expecting to sail on USS President Grant on 6 Sep 1919, giving her future address in the US as 31 Chapel Street, Dover, New Hampshire.

Andrew and Annie King had three children:

1. Douglas Andrew King b. 23 Mar 1921 in Norfolk, Virginia
2. Edith Mary King b. 22 Feb 1923 in Brooklyn, New York
3. Margery Ellen King b. 6 Apr 1927 in Cork, Ireland

In 1920, Andrew King (25) and Annie King (29), were living in Duval, Florida.

In 1921, Annie King applied for a US Passport for herself, accompanied by her minor child, Douglas Andrew King.

In 1930, in Norfolk, Virginia, were Andrew E King (36), Annie King (40), Douglas A King (9), Edith M King (7) and Margery E King (3). In 1935, they lived in Portsmouth, Virginia. A record shows that on 7 Jul 1935, Douglas Andrew King (14) travelled from Cobh (Queenstown), on the RMS Laconia, arriving in Boston in 14 Jul 1935. Margery remembered them visiting the family in Rushbrooke in the 1930's.

And by 1940, they had moved out to San Diego, California, with Andrew E King (45), Annie King (49), Edith M King (17) and Marjory E King (12).

Andrew Ephire King sailed from Pearl Harbor on 7 Aug 1942, on USS Henderson, while she did service as a transport between California and Hawaii during World War II, arriving in San Francisco, California on 15 Aug 1942. He was still serving in WWII. Was he in Pearl Harbour the year before?

On 5 Apr 1945, Douglas Andrew King (24) married Daisy Mae Hadlock (19), daughter of Ivan Hadlock and Esther Smith, in Hampton, Virginia.

Margery and her mother travelled to Ireland and England, visiting Dave and Kitty in Rushbrooke, Queenie and Alice in Cork City, my grandparents in Birmingham and stayed with Marcella in Portsmouth, in 1946. Margery wrote that, "My mother had kept in touch with her cousins all through WWII while we were in the USA and was anxious to see them all again."

A licence had been applied for, for the marriage of Margery Ellen King to a Donald William Gemmel in January 1950, but this marriage never took place. Margery never mentioned this. No surprise. I always knew her as Mrs Margery Hamilton, but haven't been able to find any record of a marriage for her.

Edith Mary King married John Kenneth Crawford, in Cork, on 7 Aug 1950. Her parents went to Ireland for the wedding, and returned on RMS Franconia, leaving Liverpool on 21 Sep 1950, arriving in Quebec on 29 Sep 1950. The Crawfords had at least one son (name and birth date unknown, but thought to be still living in Ireland), as Margery often mentioned her nephew - to whom she said she had given all of Andrew Ephire King's detailed diaries.

Annie King of 28 Oceana Avenue, Ocean Park, Maine (wife of Andrew Ephire King, Retired Lieutenant Commander U.S.N.), died on 21 Dec 1950, at the Trull Hospital, Biddeford, Maine, aged 60, leaving her effects to her husband. Annie King is buried at, New Town Cemetery, Rollinsford, New Hampshire.

On 26 Sep 1953, Margery King left Cobh on the MV Britannic, presumably for her father's marriage, on 24 Oct 1953, at the Methodist Church, Plymouth, New Hampshire, to divorcee, Elma Marguerite Wyman (née Dunphy).

Andrew Ephire King, who died on 1 July 1983, Lieutenant commander United States Navy Mexican Border, WWI & WWII, is also buried in the family plot at New Town Cemetery, Rollinsford, New Hampshire.

Douglas Andrew King died on 13 Mar 2002.

We visited Margery in Ireland in 2014. Her sister, Edith, had died not long before. Margery must have died in 2016, which, sadly, we only discovered when the Post Office returned my correspondence. Her contribution to this research has been invaluable: even when the family stories she was told weren't quite true, they provided valuable clues that I continue to pursue and hope that I can also answer some of the questions she left unanswered.

See also:

• The Queenstown Patrol – the US navy in Cork Harbour in WWI
• Passport photos of women who left Cork for the US
• Ireland’s US Navy ‘war brides’
• The US Navy at Queenstown

Mark King and Anna Kritzer

London : Kensington - Hyde Park Gate
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/2112989

The three siblings, children of Wilhelm Kritzer and Flora Gleichauf: Amalia Kritzer, Karl Kritzer and Joseph Kritzer (who married my great-grandmother's half-sister), came to England to work in service, being employed in some very distinguished households. However, they were somewhat eclipsed by their aunt, their father's younger sister, Anna Kritzer (b. 1849), who could well be the inspiration for them coming to London to pursue these careers.

In 1881, Anna Kritzer (31) was Lady's Maid in the household of Hermann de Stern, described merely as a Merchant, from Germany at 4, Hyde Park Gate, Kensington. Baron de Stern (1815–1887), a member of the Stern family, originally from Frankfurt, was a German-born British banker and senior partner of the firm of Stern Brothers and one of the wealthiest businessmen in nineteenth-century Britain. His wife was Julia Goldsmid.

In 1891, Anna Kritzer (listed as 32, actually 42), was still a Lady's Maid at Hyde Park Gate. The head of the household is listed as Emily A Stern (76). However, I feel sure there are errors in this listing and that this is Hermann and Julia de Stern's daughter, Emily Theresa de Stern, born 1846.

In 1901, Anna Kritzer (47 with rebate), from Donaueschingen, Germany, was Lady's Maid to Lady Sherborne (38 - er, nope, she was 55) at Hyde Park Gate, who was Emily Theresa de Stern (1846–1905), daughter of Baron Herman de Stern, who had married Edward Dutton, 4th Baron Sherborne in 1894.

By 1911, Anna Kritzer (60 ish), now of independent means (retired) and listed as a Naturalised British Subject - for which I can find no evidence, the only record being for her nephew, Karl - was still living in South Kensington.

Then in the 3rd quarter of 1916, at 67, Anna Kritzer married, Mark King, a Bricklayer from Oxfordshire, widower, whose first wife, Elizabeth, had died in 1912. (The Kings had lived in Seymour Place, Kensington, since the 1880's.)

In the previous couple of years, Anna's nephew, Karl Kritzer, had been the butt end of the anti-German press, her other nephew Joseph had been interned as part of the mass internment of registered Enemy Alien men. Her niece, Amalia Kritzer, then in her early 40's, probably wouldn't have wished to pursue such an option, since marriage would have meant giving up her career, but I can see why Anna would find a gentleman to give her a non-German surname and, potentially, the British nationality that she was making claim to, but didn't have. Then Mark King died in early 1920, aged 68.

In 1921, there was an Annie King, Widow, claiming to be 66, but having avoided listing any birthplace whatsoever, working as a Housekeeper in a household at 60, Porchester Terrace, Paddington, London. Head of the household was a visitor, Max de Elin (70) followed by another visitor, Adda Merenberg, who was from Wiesbaden, Germany. This is just such as situation, I feel, in which we would find Anna King (née Kritzer). 

Anna King died, aged 75, in 1925 M Qtr in KENSINGTON Vol 01A Page 135.