Roswell King

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Roswell King (1765 - February 15, 1844) was an American businessman and industrialist. King and his family founded Roswell, Georgia in the 1830s.

King was born in Windsor, Connecticut; however, he moved to Georgia when he was fifteen. His early professional life included jobs as surveyor in Glynn County, Justice of the Peace in McIntosh County, and manager of Pierce Butler's St. Simons Island estate.

In the 1830s, King moved his family to the area around Vickery Creek (referred to as Cedar Creek at the time) that would eventually become Roswell. King dammed the creek to power a cotton mill that became fully operational by the later half of the decade. The mill was incorporated as the Roswell Manufacturing Company by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 11, 1839, with Roswell's son Barrington King serving as the company president. Other people named in the act included John Dunwoody and James Bulloch

After living in temporary homes for his first years in the area, Roswell King (who had been recently widowed) moved into Primrose Cottage in 1839 along with his recently widowed daughter, Eliza King Hand, and her children. He died on February 15, 1844 and was buried in what is now referred to as Founders' Cemetery on Sloan Street in Roswell just to the north of the original location of the mill.