William King Easley^1.

The first member of the Easley family to come to the state of South Carolina, was Robert with his wife Mary Allen, who moved to the state from Virginia.  The exact date of their arrival is not known but in 1786 they bought a tract of land of 100 acres, extending along George's Creek to the Saluda River.  Here they made their home and this land remained the Easley Homestead through several generations.

One of Robert's sons was John Allen whose wife was Elizabeth King. They occupied the family home which had been named River Side. There were six children in their family. The second son was William King, who was born January 28, 1825.

The children attended private schools, the first of which was taught by Mr. Charles McGregor of Charleston. This school was known as the "New Hope Infant School" and was located about one mile from River Side. In describing the school in later years, William King Easley said that his brother became initiated in the rudiments of spelling and arithmetic, that he was initiated in the mysteries of juvenile mischief, and became an expert climber of trees for birds' nests and was not a mean hand at marbles.

In his youth, William King Easley developed a great love for literature. He had a wonderful memory and it was said that when a boy of sixteen, he memorized the fifteenth chapter of Exodus in fifteen minutes. He was a student of science and history as well as law and was considered a fine classical scholar, although he was not a graduate of any college. He was admitted to the bar when quite a 
young man.

He went to New Orleans for the purpose of practicing his profession. When yellow fever became an epidemic in the city, he returned to South Carolina and opened an office in the Pickens County Court House. After a few years he moved his office to Greenville but retained his home in Pickens County. He was elected to the state Legislature from Pickens County. He was instrumental in helping to organize the State Militia and was made the first Adjutant General of the State. From that time he was known as General Easley.

William King Easley was one of the signers of the Ordinance of Secession and his name with that of R. E. Thompson of Walhalla is inscribed with the names of the other signers, on the walls of the State House at Columbia.

When the war came on he raised a company of cavalry in Pickens and Greenville Counties and was received into the Confederate Army at Charleston, with the commission of major.  After serving a short time he was forced to resign his commission because of typhoid fever and he returned to his home.

In 1865 he again was elected to the State Legislature and took a very active part in the affairs of the state. In 1869 or 1879 he represented Pickens County in the State Senate.

The Legislature of the State chartered and franchised the building of the Charlotte and Atlanta railroad, giving the counties the right of bond themselves to help build the road. This charter was in the form of a bill and passed the lower house of Representatives and went to the Senate. It appeared on the face of it that the railroad would be built from Charlotte through Spartanburg, Greenville, Anderson, Athens and on to Atlanta.

Senator Easley got the Senator from Anderson to agree to something like the following: as an amendment to the charter; "Provide that the said railroad shall be constructed or built north of the headwaters of Eighteen-Mile Creek."

This provision made it impossible for the road to be built further south than it is. Eighteen-Mile Creek starts from a spring in the city limits of the town of Easley. For this work of getting the road through this section, the people of the little town that sprang up there named it Easley.

General Easley married Caroline Sloan of Pendleton, South Carolina. There were nine children in the family. The oldest was John Allen Easley of Greenville. Their summers were spent at River Side but during the winter they lived at Greenville. General Easley was never a strong man and during the latter years of his life his health became very poor, having been impaired by long hours of study. His custom was to remain in this office till late hours.

He died in 1872 after a few days of illness in the city of Atlanta, where he had gone on business for the railroad. His wife died a few months earlier, leaving eight children, the oldest of whom was then a lad of seventeen.  At this time his younger brother Samuel Allen Easley, moved from South 
Carolina to Texas, taking with him several of his brother's orphaned children.

Although General Easley was only forty-seven at the time of his death he had a reputation as an orator, many of his speeches being on political subjects of the time. He was also an artist and a musician, his favorite musical instrument being the violin. Among his private writings were many of his speeches, also interesting accounts of the family's early life in the State.   He talked much of his childhood in Pickens County. He also wrote beautiful descriptions of the mountains, forests and hunting in the country. 

His untimely death was mourned by his many friends, one of whom was S. S. Crittendon, who wrote of him, "Endowed by nature with rare gifts of mind and oratory which he cultivated with the ardor of a student and inspired by noble ambition, he quickly rose to the top of his profession. Possessed also of noble and generous principals, he had the faculty more than anyone the writer had ever known, of attaching to himself, by hooks of steel, the friends with whom he associated." ^1.

The biographical information about William King Easley was contributed by King Ables who is the owner of the self published book (by J.D. Easley) that the information was taken from. Mr. Ables was born in Austin, TX, in 1960. He earned a BA degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas in 1982.  He is currently a software developer, technical writer and a self-employed IT consultant.

King Ables' father was L. Robert Ables, son of Elizabeth Easley Ables, who was a daughter of Robert Easley, who was a son of William King Easley. This makes him the great-great grandson of William King Easley, and his namesake.