B. R. KING, M. D., born near Leighton, Ala., in 1836, is a son of Oswald and Martha (DeLone) King.

The senior Mr. King was born in North Carolina in the year 1785; came to Alabama with his parents at the age of seventeen years, and died in 1876. He was a well educated man, a thorough instructor, and one of the leading citizens of the county. He taught school when quite young, and also was a successful planter, in which avocation he accumulated a large fortune. He reared a family of eleven children, of whom we make the following mention: Edward II., deceased; Robert, a planter; B. R., our subject; Burchert, planter; Margaret F., wife of F. Hubbard; the rest of the family died at an early age. The King family came originally from England.

The mother of our subject was also born in North Carolina, and was a daughter of Capt. E. B. DeLone, a native of Virginia, and of French Huguenot ancestry. Capt. DeLone came to Alabama in its early history, located at Huntsville, where he became an extensive trader, and thence removed to Arkansas, where he died before the war.

The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, and received his education at La Grange college, from which institution he was graduated. He also attended a military school at Marietta, Ga., ten months. About 1857 he began the study, of medicine with Dr. Kumpie, and was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1861. Immediately after his graduation he located in the practice of his profession at Leighton. In 1863, he entered into a contract with the Confederate Government as surgeon of the Thirty-fifty Alabama Regiment, with which command he served about two years. He then acted as Surgeon of Warren’s Battalion for a short time.

After the war, Dr. King settled at Leighton, where he has been engaged, more or less, in the practice of his profession ever since. He also conducts a large farm. He stands high in the estimation of the community, and is regarded by the profession as one of the most skillful physicians in Northern Alabama.

[SOURCE: Northern Alabama Historical and Biographical. Illustrated.  Smith & DeLand, Birmingham, Ala. 1888. pp.105 -106.]