The Mayflower Kings

AND THE DESCENDANTS OF RUTH FULLER FRANCISCO

                     PART FOUR

(Author's note: To find a King, you usually look for a crown. But to find the Mayflower "Kings," I had to look for a ghost named Annie Cisco...)

Pardon my lack of edits.

I.

Before we can crown the next generation, we have to deal with the man in the middle, Clark Cisco. Clark is a major hinge upon which this entire Mayflower lineage door swings. Not only do we need him, we need to be able to get from Clark to his daughter Annie Cisco King in one fell swoop to make this Mayflower line not look like the Speedwell.* We can track Clark from the bridges of Cincinnati to the butcher shops of Madison, Jefferson County, and into the dusty enlistment rolls of The Mexican-American War in 1847 and tax records, but as he fades into the late 1860s, he leaves behind a genealogical puzzle that threatens to stall our progress. In the 1860 census, a two-year-old girl named "Susan" sits in his household—yet every meager record that follows insists his daughter was "Annie." Did Clark have two daughters? This isn't just a naming discrepancy; it is a "Hearsay Wall" of its own.

Is Annie the "Susan" of 1860, or is Annie a phantom we've conjured from the ink of later pension indexes? Personally, I tend to think any young girl called Susan never was there in the first place.

Hopefully, the answer lies 600 miles away in the Great Halls of Washington, D.C. I have placed my bet on Clark’s complete Mexican-American War pension file—a document that could hold the sworn affidavits, the family Bible (fingers crossed) pages, or the birth depositions needed to help realize our "ghosts" (Clark and Annie) into proven Mayflower descendants. It is the pivotal piece of the puzzle, the missing link between the Whitehall Fullers (Mayflower or otherwise) and the modern-day, or at least the early nineteenth "Kings."

      

Above: 1860 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Madison Ward 2, Jefferson, Indiana; Roll: M653_270; Page: 158; Family History Library Film: 803270. The Conflict: This is the only official record where the name "Susan" appears. In every subsequent record, including the 1881 marriage to Robert King and the Mexican War pension index, the daughter of Clark Cisco is identified as Annie.

But genealogy, much like life, doesn't always wait for the mail to arrive. While I am hoping for the National Archives to surrender Clark's (or Annie's) secrets, the clock is ticking. The line must move forward. We are pressing on into the next generations, following the trail of Annie Cisco King through the "Kings of Tennessee" and the genealogical "dead-zones" of the late 19th century. With that pension file, we might have a map; without it, we have a machete and a very thick forest. Either way, the Cisco Kid isn't the end of the line—he (or she) are just the folks holding the gate open.

With any luck, Annie is on the other side.

II.

Well, I don't know about you, but I could use some good news. And I know I shouldn't double back to this image I've used way back in another post about Paige's family - but I think we would all appreciate seeing it again. Call it the "Mayflower bridge to Kings." (That sounds kinda catchy anyway. :) 

So we're pretty much good going forward from here. We've got "an" Annie Cisco married to "a" Robert King which we can cement to the next generation, that of their son Don Carloss King. (More on Don Carloss a bit further on) And yes, we still need more than the Mexican- American War enlistment records and pension index card to connect "this" particular Annie Cisco King to her presumed father Clark Cisco, and further, Clark to his father John, but well, we are making progress.

Remember the goal: A preponderance of evidence as "one and the same."

Now, if the National Archives and Records Administration will just hurry their asses up and get me that pension file. (No offense intended to them or to the great genealogical Gods in the sky.) I am just anxious to see them. 

We still need to polish up the facts and circumstances around Clark's wife and Annie's presumed mother, Sarah Hurley Cisco, but fortunately beyond she and Clark's Indiana marriage record any facts don't affect the pedigree line all that much. Again, the pension file will hopefully shed more light. 

As far as "this" Annie's husband, Robert King, I for one think he had very an interesting life. I think he had a sad life. The first place I spot him is in the 1880 census with wife Annie and their kids, and, in where else, Madison, Jefferson County.

Above: 1880 U.S. census, Jefferson County, Indiana, population schedule, City of Madison, enumeration district (ED) 124; Anna King; Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 January 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 288.

Now again, we've looked at this image above before. It packs a whole lot of information with it. Previously, I'd thought the Calvin Cisco listed in the house next door was Annie's uncle, or a first cousin, but this was a rookie mistake. Submitted family trees imply that this Calvin was her older brother which makes a lot more sense. I may need to track this Calvin down if the pension files don't reveal more. He is shown as "John C." in the 1860 Census for Clark's household. The corresponding ages are right on for John C. Cisco/"Susan" Cisco in (1860) alongside Calvin Cisco and Anna Cisco King in (1880) as brother and sister. There is a Madison, Jefferson County, marriage record showing "Calvin marrying Clara" in 1875, and they are married by the same guy who married Annie and Robert. As they are living next door to each other, this also solidifies the working theory that "Susan in 1860 was Anna in 1880" - and are one and the same person.

I guess the question here is kind of, "What does Anna's husband Robert King bring to the story?" You could start by saying that his (Robert's) wife Annie died young and sometime around 1890 leaving him with at least a couple of kids. It's a little hard to piece together, but  Anna Cisco King and Robert King have hop-scotched from Indiana to or near Union City, Tennessee by 1886. We know this because of the birth of their son John Harrison King. The information about John Harrison King is a huge clue to the family's movements. Check out his World War II Draft Card:

Above: United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 January 2026),

Due to the limited space here, I'm only going to reference this Draft Card as a geographical marker for the family of Robert and Annie, and mention also that Robert Harrison King moved to Sacramento, and is buried only a few miles away from where I live making this story of the Mayflower Kings a very geographically (if not serendipitous) close connection for me also. I should mention that John Harrison's sister, (and Annie Cisco King's daughter) Florence King Stewart, was born in Kentucky in 1888 (per her Indiana death certificate) and that BOTH John Harrison King and Florence state that their mother was Anna Belle Cisco.

 

Above: Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, Indiana; Death Certificates, 1900–2017; Year: 1976; Roll: 05; Certificate for Florence Jane Stewart. Accessed via Ancestry.com. Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

This is important to note because Annie died shortly after Florence was born in 1888 for reasons unknown. Annie Cisco King may have died in Kentucky as there seems to be a reverse migration by Robert and Annie Cisco King from Tennessee back to Indiana. Indeed, Robert Wilkens/William King is all over the place, from Indiana to Alabama, with Annie passing away at points yet unknown. Robert remarries as his 2nd wife, Grace Cordelia Feagler, at Marion County, Indiana, July 20, 1891. Robert and Grace have another couple of kids together, and then Robert's luck gives out again about Grace passes away. Widowed twice, Robert tries marriage a 3rd time with Rose Feagler, Grace's younger sister with whom he also had children. The relationships here are complex and convoluted. 

Above: Bicknell, Grace Vawter. The Vawter Family in America: With the Allied Families of Branham, Wise, Stribling, Crawford, Lewis, Glover, Moncrief. Indianapolis: Hollenbeck Press, 1905, p. 149

As if things weren't intertwined enough with the lines leading to the next generations, Robert's wives, the sisters Grace Cordelia Feagler King's and Rose/Rosa Feagler King's mother's maiden name was also "King." If submitted family trees are to be believed, this implies that Robert Wilkens/William King not only married sisters but may have married one of his cousins - twice.

Above: 1900 U.S. Census, Morgan Co., Alabama, ED 143, roll T623_35, p. 7A, Ancestry.com. Not shown here is R.W. King's profession as "Foreman at a Spoke Factory" which corresponds to the earlier census record.

 

Above: Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, Year: 1929, Roll: 02, Certificate for Robert W King, Ancestry.com.

You may be asking yourself why I am laboring over Robert W. King, and his other wives, and or his other children since he doesn't effect the line directly. I'm doing so for two reasons, (1) to give evidence of the children of Anna Belle Cisco King, and to do so for one of the most important part of this line to Paige. That is the first child of Anna Belle Cisco King and Robert W. King who I mentioned earlier in the post. 

He is, Annie Cisco King's and Robert King's first son, is Don Carloss King, a man seemingly named after a Spanish prince!

          

III.

Remember, the goal is to always prove "one and the same." I need to be able to "cement" Don Carloss King into the family. The confusion arises in that Don Carloss (spelled with two ss's) is absent from the family or Robert Wilkens/William King by 1900, and that he is often referred to as "Carl King," or later as "D.C. King." (The 1890 census was destroyed by fire making it nearly impossible to track anyone around that time frame.)

Above:   U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Tennessee, Roane County, Draft Card K for Don Carloss King, Ancestry.com.

 

Fortunately, in the case we have Don Carloss' death certificate and it does name his parents. So yes, following Robert King's family, and clarifying where Don Carloss fits in with his siblings and his father's three wives may seem like genealogical and generational over-kill. Nevertheless, I still want to be certain that I have the right Robert King and the right Annie Cisco,and not some random kid named "Carl" in the census records. Hey, it's way too easy to get two people with the same name who marry and give their kid the same name as the other two. 

            

Anyway, I think we're good on our boy Don Carloss.

Above: Tennessee, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1965, Hamilton County, Year: 1944, Certificate for Don Carlos King, Ancestry.com.

 

Moving further down this line of Mayflower Kings will require a new pedigree chart from Old Henry and Ruth. I need to correct Don Carloss's name, note the variation in spellings and correct the "call names" for some of the others. I think too that while "Old Henry" is more than notable in his own right, that once we circle back to Ruth Fuller and reiterate the preponderance of her Mayflower connections that the new pedigree chart should begin with her as "primary" and connect further to the gang from 1620.

We gotta give that girl her due!

  

Aside for now, I think the line holds - pending a review of Clark's Mexican-American War pension records - and another review of Ruth Fuller.

 

We can take a look at Don Carloss's daughter, Edith King Haley, in a subsequent post. The more contemporary lines leading from Edith to her descendant Paige have, aside from better footnotes, already been reviewed and are solid in terms of documentation.

From Edith King Haley forward, this chapter of Paige's Mayflower "Kings" comes to a close. It's time to circle back.

To be continued.

END

 * The Speedwell was the leaky companion ship to the Mayflower that failed to make the 1620 crossing. In genealogy, it represents a "broken line" or a theory that takes on water and stays stuck in the harbor.