James King of William (WPA)

 

Peter Van Valkenburgh

  1870 - 1955 (biography)

1939  

lithograph 

16 5/8 x 11 1/2" image 

pencil signed along lower sheet edge 

about 28 impressions 

dated August 1939 on the stone, blindstamp of the California Federal Art Project in the lower right near the signature 

WPA Graphics Achenbach Collection 65.37.977 

ivory wove Warren's Oldstyle 

published 

California Federal Art Project WPA 

AFAE201 

$300.00 

James King of William (1822-1956) was a crusading San Francisco newspaper editor who was shot to death. He was born the son of William King in Georgetown on January 28, 1822, and eventually took on the name James King of William to denote his lineage. He married in 1843 and had six children but left them behind when he journeyed west in 1848 to change his fortune. He was fortunate enough to arrive in California during its Gold Rush and made his first financial success from the gold found near Hangtown. He worked in Sacramento for a short time and then opened a bank on Montgomery Street in San Francisco. After the failure of this bank, his other forays into banking had similar results. In 1855, the first edition of the Daily Evening Bulletin was published with King as the editor and he used the newspaper to campaign against corruption.

On May 4, 1856, King was shot and killed by James P. Casey, the editor of The Sunday Times after King wrote that he had served time in Sing Sing prison. James King of William was inducted into the California Newspaper Hall of Fame.