Thomas Starr King (1824 - 1864) was a Unitarian and Universalist minister and popular lecturer. Son of a Universalist minister who served in New York and Massachusetts, he also served churches in the Boston area. He accepted a call to San Francisco in 1860 to serve the Unitarian Church. With the start of the Civil War, he lectured and campaigned successfully throughout the state to keep California in the Union and raised substantial funding for the Sanitary Commission. His was one of two statues from the State of California in the Capital Building, Washington, D.C., until replaced by Ronald Reagan in June 2009. The King statue was installed in the Civil War Grove in Capitol Park, Sacramento, December 8, 2009.

Thomas Starr King (1824-64) was born December 17, 1824, his parents, Thomas Farrington King, a Universalist minister, and Susan Starr, both of New York. T.F. King was called to the Universalist Church, Charlestown, MA in 1835, serving there until his death in September 1839. After the death of his father, Starr (as he was known in the family), had to leave school to help support his mother and five brothers and sisters. He worked in a dry goods store, then as a teacher, becoming principal of the West Medford Grammar School at age 18. He resigned this position to accept a clerking job in the Navy Yard were he had a larger salary and more time for independent study. Through self study, he mastered the requirements for entrance to the ministry.

2.5 linear feet (7 boxes and 4 folios). Digital materials : 1 scrapbook (3 parts), 1 book, and 6 photographs

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