Leslie Lynch King, Sr.

Infobox Person
name = Leslie Lynch King, Sr.


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1886|7|25|mf=y
birth_place =
death_date = death date and age|1941|2|18|1886|7|25|mf=y
death_place =
occupation = Relative
spouse = Dorothy Ayer Gardner
Margaret Atwood
parents = Charles Henry King and Martha Alicia Porter King
children = Gerald Ford
Marjorie B. King
Leslie Henry King
Patricia Jane King

Leslie Lynch King, Sr. (July 25 1886 – February 18 1941) was the biological father of U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Biography

King was born in Chadron, Nebraska, the son of businessman Charles Henry King and Martha Alicia Porter King. His father founded several small trading towns in Nebraska and Wyoming along the railroad. He also became a banker.

In 1908 the King family moved to Omaha, where Charles and Martha King commissioned the construction of a large Victorian mansion.

Leslie King became a wool trader, probably working with his father. While one of his sisters was at college, he met and courted her roommate, Dorothy Ayer Gardner of Harvard, Illinois. They married on September 7 1912.

The couple returned to Omaha where King was working. They moved in with his parents at 3202 Woolworth in the central part of the city near Hanscom Park.

First son

Dorothy and Leslie's son was born on July 14 1913. They named him Leslie Lynch King, Jr.

Problems

Dorothy had quickly learned that her husband Leslie was abusive, short-tempered and had trouble with alcohol. A few days after their son's birth, King gestured at his wife and child with a knife and threatened to kill them. Dorothy Gardner King quickly completed her plans to leave her husband. She would not tolerate the abuse nor threats to her son's safety. [ [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/essays/ford.html "Character Above All", excerpt from essay by James Cannon on Gerald Ford] , PBS Newshour, accessed 25 Jul 2008]

Separation and divorce

Sixteen days after the birth, Dorothy King left Omaha with her son for Oak Park, Illinois, home of her sister Tannisse and her husband Clarence Haskins James. From there, she moved to the home of her parents Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer Gardner, where they had moved in Grand Rapids. [ [http://www.ford.utexas.edu/grf/genealog.htm Gerald R. Ford Genealogical Information - University of Texas] ] On December 19 1913, an Omaha court granted the divorce of the Kings, Ford's birth parents.

Four years later, Dorothy King married Grand Rapids businessman Gerald Rudolff Ford on February 1, 1917. They called her son Gerald Ford, Jr., although he was not formally adopted. Ford legally changed his name in 1935 in honor of his stepfather, and adopted the more common spelling of his middle name with "Gerald Rudolph Ford". The Fords also had three sons together.

Second marriage

King married Margaret Atwood in Reno, Nevada in 1919. They had three children: Marjorie B. King (1921 - April 8 1993); Leslie ("Bud") Henry King (March 28 1923 - December 2 1976); and Patricia Jane King (born 1925). [ [http://www.ford.utexas.edu/grf/genealog.htm#2 University of Texas Ford Genealogy] ] .

Other information

Ford's mother and stepfather did not tell him of his actual parentage until shortly before he turned fifteen in 1928. Ford described his biological father as a "a carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son." He met him for the first time when King came by while Ford was working at a restaurant in his senior year in high school in Grand Rapids. They had a superficial conversation, and King, who had never paid child support, handed Ford $25. It is believed that the two had no further contact. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ford-Nebraska.html "Nebraska-born, Ford Left State As Infant"] , Associated Press, New York "Times", December 27, 2006] Ford's paternal grandfather, Charles Henry King, took care of his grandson and paid Dorothy Ford child support until shortly before his death in 1930.

Death

King died on February 18, 1941 in Tucson, Arizona, at age 54. He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California in the same cemetery as his parents. His widow Margaret King remarried in 1949 to Roy Mather.

References