LESLIE LYNCH KING, SR.

'Leslie Lynch King, Sr.' (July 25 1886 – February 18 1941) was the biological father of U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Contents

Biography

King's Son

Problems

After The Birth

Later Marriage

Other Information

Death

References

Biography

King was born in Chadron, Nebraska and married Dorothy Ayer Gardner on September 7 1912. The couple moved into the Victorian mansion of King's parents Charles Henry King and Martha Alicia Porter King at 3202 Woolworth in central Omaha, Nebraska.

King's Son

Their son was born on July 14 1913 at 12:43 AM CST. His birth name was Leslie Lynch King, Jr., a name he was to legally keep until 1935 when he changed it to Gerald Rudolph Ford in honor of his step-father.

Problems

According to Associated Press reports, Leslie King, Sr. was abusive and had a drinking problem. Ford later described his father as having frequently hit his mother.^[1] James M. Cannon, the executive director of the Domestic Council during the Ford administration, has written that the future president's father threatened Dorothy Gardner King with a butcher knife a few days after their son's birth and announced his intention to kill her, their son, and the baby's nursemaid.^[2]

After The Birth

Sixteen days after the birth, Ford's mother took him to the Oak Park, Illinois, home of her sister Tannisse and her husband Clarence Haskins James. From there, she moved to the home of her parents Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer Gardner in Grand Rapids.^[3]
On December 19 1913, an Omaha court granted the divorce of Ford's birth parents. His mother married Grand Rapids businessman Gerald Rudolff Ford on February 1 1917. They were to call their child Gerald Ford, Jr., although he was not formally adopted and did not legally change his name until 1935 when he changed it to the Americanized version of ''Gerald Rudolph Ford''.

Later Marriage

King married Margaret Atwood in Reno, Nevada in 1919. They had three children: Marjorie B. King (1921 - April 8 1993); Leslie ("Bud") Henry King (March 28 1923 - December 2 1976); and Patricia Jane King (born 1925).^[4].

Other Information

Ford was not aware of his actual parentage until shortly before turning fifteen in 1928. He met his biological father, whom he described as a "a carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son," while working at a restaurant in his senior year in high school in Grand Rapids. They had a superficial conversation, and King, who had never paid child support, handed him $25. It is believed that the two had no further contact.^[5]

Death

King died on February 18 1941 in Tucson, Arizona, he was 54-years-old, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California in the same cemetery as his parents. Margaret remarried in 1949 to Roy Mather.

References

1. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ford-Nebraska.html
2. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/essays/ford.html
3. Gerald R. Ford Genealogical Information - University of Texas
4. University of Texas Ford Geneology
5. Nebraska - Born, Ford Left State As Infant - Associated Press - December 27, 2006