What ever became of Wilcox County poet, Sara Elizabeth King?

General Edwin Davis King

What ever became of Wilcox County poet, Sara Elizabeth King?

This was a question I pondered as I read about her poetic exploits in the Oct. 8, 1936 edition of The Wilcox Progressive Era. In a front-page story that week, published under the headline, “Recognition For Poetry Of Sara King,” the newspaper reported that she was the author of several poems that had been “complimented” by the Alabama Poetry Society. Another of her poems had been selected for inclusion in an anthology called “1936 Contemporary Women Poets of America.”

The newspaper printed two of her poems. The first was titled “Ubiguity” and read as follows:

God walks in forests where pine needles grew,
And in the tumult and motor cars meet.
He breathes thru a still world that’s wrapt in snow;
Then brings spring with its white blossoming sloe.
In the midst of the waving tall grass sweet,
In laughing curves of the ripe golden wheat,
The heart alone attuned to God can know.
Perhaps in starlit lonely mountain ways,
Or in the friendly city near a mart
In a cathedral’s light of candle rays;
Or where fantastic shadowy waves start
To break on grim shores, can the same soul praise Jehovah.
He walks in the human heart.

The other poem of King’s printed by The Progressive Era was called “Spiritual Old Age” and read as follows:

I saw you once
In the face of
An old preacher.
He needed to
Say no word.
He was a sermon.
Thru him you speak
Of turning death
Into morning.

The newspaper article also noted that King graduated from Judson College in 1911 and in October 1936 was living at 347 Magnolia Ave. in Auburn. She was a relative of one of the Judson College’s founders, General Edwin D. King.

She was also the daughter of Paul and Clementine DeLoach King and was the granddaughter of William Douglas and Rebecca Singleton King. She was also the great-granddaughter of James Asbury and Elizabeth Caroline Goode Tait and the great-great-granddaughter of Judge Charles Tait, who was the first federal judge of Alabama.

After reading the article, a number of questions came to mind. Chiefly, I could not help but wonder if the newspaper misprinted the title of the first poem, “Ubiguity.” I looked through several dictionaries (and even Googled it), but apparently there is no such word. However if the change the “g” to a “q,” you have the word, “Ubiquity,” which is defined as “the fact of appearing everywhere or of being very common.”

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find out what became of Sara King. She was not married in October 1936, but if she went on to get married, she would have taken her husband’s last name. Without knowing her married name, it is extremely difficult to search death records and cemetery archives for information about her final resting place.

In the end, I think it’s likely that Sara King still has relatives living in Wilcox County today. If so, let me hear from you, so that we can more fully document the life of this Wilcox County poet.