We are looking for descendents of or information about Thomas M. (Merritt?) KING, his wife Laura Tibbets KING, or his natural daughters, Nellie King RAY and Grace King WILLIAMS. We do not know if Laura was the mother of Nellie and Grace. We do know Thomas and Laura ADOPTED Horace Stewart ROWE KING (my g-grandfather). We are merely trying to establish if the adoption was made by family or outsiders.

We also have several pictures of these families dating back to late 1800's, early 1900's of which we would be willing to share copies or digital scans. These people were important enough to my great-grandfather that he kept as many photos of them as possible. My grandmother remembers "Grandma Laura and Grandpa TM" fondly.

Thomas Merritt "TM" KING - b. ?, died sometime after 1910. Family history states Thomas and Laura gave the land to build the Dow Valley School. (we believe we have early pictures of this school). We have no names of parents or siblings on T.M.

Laura TIBBETS KING - b. ?, died sometime after 1910. Laura had one known sister, Libby Tibbets CHAMBERLIN. Other "relatives" for which we have photos are Ernest TIBBETS, Cozier TIBBETS, Cozier "Roper" GREGORY, Roy GREGORY, Ralph Adelbert TIBBETS, and several others.

Nellie KING RAY - b. probably before 1888, d. ?, Husband's name ? RAY. Know one son was named John L. We have a portrait photo of Nellie, a family group picture of the Ray family, and a portrait photo of John L. as a teenager.

Grace KING WILLIAMS - b. probably before 1888, d. ?, Husband's name ? WILLIAMS. Know one son was named Orion and another son named Jeffrey or Jeff. We have a picture of Grace's family (her, husband and sons), two or three portrait photos of Orion and one photo of Jeff.

Gregory Family - We have no birth or death dates on these gentlemen. We do know that Cozier married a sister or cousin of Laura Tibbets. One photo refers to Cozier as Laura's Cousin "Roper." Photos of these gentlemen (we have several professional portraits and candids) always show them decked out in "Cowboy" gear and usually with their horses. One photo of Cozier in his senior years shows him getting his horse to perform a trick. We also have a photo of a horse named "Ponca" dated 1897 with the name J.M. Rice on it that may have belonged to one of the Gregory men.

We would appreciate any information on these families. Again, there may be no "blood ties" here. We are trying to establish whether TM or Laura were related to Horace ROWE KING'S natural mother and father, Hiram ROWE and Annie LECK ROWE, in order to continue to trace Annie LECK.

We do know that TM King left his land near Allen Kansas to Horace, but that Nellie and Grace disputed the claim and won. We are interested in learning more about these families and their histories.