Representative James Gore King

James Gore King (May 8, 1791 – October 3, 1853) was an American businessman, financier, and Whig Party politician who represented New Jersey’s 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for one term from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1851. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, and he participated actively in the legislative process as a Whig representative of New Jersey, particularly on issues of commerce and the sectional controversies of the era.

King was born in New York City on May 8, 1791, at the residence of his maternal grandfather. He was the third son of Mary (née Alsop) King and Rufus King. His father, one of the leading Federalist statesmen of the early Republic, served as the first United States Senator from New York and was the 3rd and 8th U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom under Presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams. King’s siblings included John Alsop King, who later became Governor of New York; Charles King, who served as president of Columbia University; and Edward King, an Ohio politician. On his father’s side, his paternal grandparents were Isabella (née Bragdon) King and Richard King, a prosperous farmer-merchant of Massachusetts. Among his extended paternal family were uncles William King, the first Governor of Maine, and Cyrus King, a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. His mother was the only child of Mary (née Frogat) Alsop and John Alsop, a prominent New York merchant and Continental Congressman, further anchoring James Gore King in a network of influential political and mercantile families of the early United States.

Educated in both Europe and the United States, King pursued classical studies in England and France while his father was engaged in diplomatic service abroad. He returned to the United States and graduated from Harvard University in 1810. After Harvard, he studied law under the noted jurist Peter van Schaack at Kinderhook, New York, and continued his legal training at the Litchfield Law School in Connecticut, one of the leading law schools of the early nineteenth century. Although he did not ultimately practice law as a primary profession, this legal education informed his later work in finance and public life.

During the War of 1812, King served in the New York Militia as assistant adjutant general under Major General Ebenezer Stevens, participating in the defense of New York during a critical period of the conflict. After the war, he turned to commerce and finance. He opened a commission house in New York City with his father-in-law, Archibald Gracie, a prominent Scottish-born shipping magnate, under the name James G. King and Company. In 1818, three years after establishing this enterprise, King moved to Liverpool, England, where he founded the mercantile firm King & Gracie with his brother-in-law, Archibald Gracie Jr. In Liverpool he developed a high reputation for business ability and financial probity; despite the severe financial crises of 1822, 1823, and 1824, he met all obligations and ultimately closed the firm’s affairs on a satisfactory basis. While in England he became acquainted with John Jacob Astor, with whom he formed a close friendship; Astor later named King an executor of his will and offered him the presidency of the American Fur Company, an offer King declined.

In 1824, King returned to New York City and shifted his focus more fully to banking. He became a partner in the firm of Prime & Ward, which soon became known as Prime, Ward & King, one of the leading banking houses of the period. He established his residence across the Hudson River at “Highwood” in Weehawken, New Jersey, which he purchased in 1832, thereby cementing his ties to that state. In 1834, he was a candidate for Congress in New York City but was defeated, an early indication of his political ambitions. In 1835, he succeeded Eleazar Lord as president of the Erie Railroad, then an important and developing transportation enterprise, though he declined to take a salary for this position. He served as president until 1837 and, during this tenure, traveled to London, where he secured a loan of $1,000,000 (approximately $28.7 million in 2024 dollars) from the governors of the Bank of England to American bankers, a significant achievement that underscored his stature in international finance.

King’s successful banking career and his family’s political heritage eventually led him into national office from his adopted state of New Jersey. Elected as a Whig to represent New Jersey’s 5th congressional district, he succeeded fellow Whig Dudley S. Gregory, the former mayor of Jersey City. He served in the Thirty-first Congress alongside his older brother John Alsop King, who at the same time represented a New York district in the House of Representatives. During his term, from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1851, James Gore King was a member of the Committee on Commerce, where his extensive experience in banking and trade informed his legislative work. He opposed efforts to repeal the Missouri Compromise and also opposed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, positions that placed him among those Whigs who resisted the expansion of slavery and the strengthening of federal enforcement mechanisms for the institution. As a member of the Whig Party representing New Jersey, he contributed to the legislative process during this single term in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents during a period of rising sectional tension. When President Zachary Taylor died in 1850 and Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency, King was reportedly considered for appointment as United States Secretary of the Treasury. He declined, informing Fillmore that he did not wish to serve in the Cabinet, as he planned to retire from public service and was already committed to leaving Congress at the end of his term. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1850 and was succeeded in the House by Democrat Rodman M. Price, who later became the 17th Governor of New Jersey after leaving Congress in 1853.

After his departure from Congress in 1851, King resumed his banking activities. By that time, the firm with which he had long been associated had undergone dissolution, and his financial operations were continued under the name of the House of James G. King & Son. From his base at Weehawken and New York, he remained a respected figure in American finance, though he largely withdrew from active political life in accordance with his stated intention to retire from public service.

On February 4, 1813, King married Sarah Rogers Gracie (1791–1878), the daughter of Archibald Gracie, the Scottish-born shipping magnate and early American merchant active in New York City and Virginia. The couple had eleven children, many of whom married into prominent colonial and political families, further extending the King family’s web of influence. Their daughter Caroline King (1813–1863) married Denning Duer, son of William Alexander Duer. Their son James Gore King Jr. (1819–1867), who became a justice of the New York Supreme Court, married his first cousin Caroline King, daughter of John Alsop King. Another son, Archibald Gracie King (1821–1897), married Elizabeth Denning Duer, also a daughter of William Alexander Duer. Their daughter Mary King (1826–1890) married Edgar Henry Richards in 1856. Their daughter Frederika Gore King (1829–1916) married J. C. Bancroft Davis, an American lawyer, judge, diplomat, and president of the Newburgh and New York Railway Company. Their son Edward King (1833–1908) married Isabella Ramsay Cochrane in 1858 and, after her death, married Elizabeth Fisher. Their youngest daughter, Fanny King (1836–1905), married James Latimer McLane, brother of Robert Milligan McLane, in 1859. Through these alliances, the King family remained closely connected to leading legal, political, and business circles in the United States.

King’s descendants continued to play notable roles in American public and cultural life. Through his son Archibald, he was the grandfather of May Denning King (1848–1925), who married John King Van Rensselaer, a son of Henry Bell Van Rensselaer and grandson of Stephen Van Rensselaer III, the last patroon of Rensselaerwyck. Among his great-great-grandchildren was Ellin Travers Mackay, who married the composer Irving Berlin, and another great-great-grandchild was Wolcott Gibbs, a writer and critic who was also a direct descendant of President Martin Van Buren; James Gore King’s grandson had married Van Buren’s granddaughter, and Wolcott Gibbs was their grandson. Through his youngest daughter Fanny, he was the grandfather of Robert McLane, who served as the 32nd Mayor of Baltimore, further extending the family’s influence into municipal politics.

James Gore King died of a “congestion of the lungs” on October 3, 1853, at his country estate “Highwood,” near Weehawken, New Jersey, where he had resided since purchasing the property in 1832. He was interred in the churchyard of Grace Church in Jamaica, New York. His career as a merchant, banker, railroad executive, and legislator, combined with his deep connections to some of the most prominent political and mercantile families of the early United States, made him a significant figure in the economic and political life of the antebellum era.