King County wasn’t named for Dr. King, but renamed | Letter

While perusing your website, I came across a headline (Martin Luther King’s county, announcing the new Seattleland podcast) and an error in fact. Namely, that King County was named for the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior. He was a Doctor of Divinity and the full title should be used on first reference. “Dr. King” is acceptable on second and following references.

More accurately, King County was renamed in honor of Dr. King.

The history of King County is thus: “King County (Washington) was named 76 years, 11 month before the birth of The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. King County was named in December, 1852, in honor of the man elected to be the 13th Vice President of the United States under Franklin Pierce.

William Rufus deVane King was the only bachelor Vice President. His term was from the election of 1852 until his death on April 18, 1853. He was the first to take the oath of office in a foreign land, at Havana, Cuba. He died before serving as Vice President.

The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr was born on Jan. 15, 1929.”

It is fine to honor the Reverend Doctor King, but to miscast, misstate and revise the facts of history tends to irritate self-professed history geeks such as myself

James Sackey

Boerne, Texas

(former Snoqualmie resident)