William King was born to Richard King, a merchant and shipowner, and Mary Black, on February 9, 1768, at Scarborough, then in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. His formal education was limited to local schools and ended when he was thirteen. He was largely self-educated. Starting as a hand in a saw-mill, he went on to open his own mill. King was employed in a variety of businesses, including as a shipbuilder, then a ship-owner. He became the largest merchant shipping owner in Maine. He became a successful merchant and a significant real-estate investor. He opened the first cotton mill in Maine, at Brunswick. He founded and was president of the first bank of Bath. In 1812, what is now known as the Stone House, King's summer retreat, was built on in rural Bath. King was a Scottish Rite Freemason and later -while he was the Governor of the State- he became the first Grand Master of Maine, elected in June, 1820 by the representatives of twenty-four Lodges which "met, adopted a Constitution, and elected officers".
Political career
King became active politically in 1795 as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party. He represented Topsham in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1795 and 1799. After he moved to Bath, he represented that town in 1804. He served in the Massachusetts Senate for Lincoln County from 1807 to 1811. When the War of 1812 began, Massachusetts made him major general of the militia, in charge of the Maine district. He devoted much of his attention to coastal shipping and defenses. He also led recruiting efforts for the regular army, for which he was made a colonel in the United States Army. In 1813 King began a seven-year effort that started with his petition to Massachusetts for separation. In 1816 he was re-elected to the Massachusetts Senate, and finally secured their approval for Maine to become a separate state, in 1818. The Missouri Compromise allowed Maine to be recognized as a state on March 15, 1820. He was shortly thereafter elected governor of the new state. In May 1821, President James Monroe named him as one of three commssioners to settle land claims from the 1819 Onis-Adams treaty known as the Spanish Claims Commission. King resigned as governor on May 28, 1821, to take the position of U.S. commissioner, serving until 1824. In 1828 he was appointed by president Andrew Jackaon to serve as Customs Collector of Bath. With the shifting of political parties, he ran once more for governor, as a Whig in 1834, but lost.
Later life
King continued as a prominent business man, investor, and ship-owner. Even though he had a very limited education, he served for years as a trustee and overseer of Bowdoin College, and as a trustee of Waterville College . He died at home, in Bath, Maine, on June 17, 1852, and is buried in the city's Maple Grove Cemetery.
