James Albert King

James Albert King was the father of Martin [Luther King Sr.] and paternal grandfather of civil rights leader Martin [Luther King Jr.], A. D. King, and Christine King Farris.

Early life

James Albert King was born in 1864 to an Irish American father Nathan King, and Malinde, a freed African American slave. Nathan King has been variously recorded to have been born in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Ireland. In 2010, DNA testing on James's great-grandson, Martin [Luther King III|Martin III] by 23andMe confirmed that the King's family Y-chromosome lineage originated from Ireland. King married Delia Linsey in 1895, and they both worked as sharecroppers, in Henry County and Clayton County in Georgia, and then Stockbridge, Georgia where they settled and where their son, Michael was born in 1899.

Later life

King struggled with alcoholism, and disapproved of his son and wife attending church. When his son Martin became involved in an altercation with a white property owner the family went into hiding for a period. King died in 1933.