He had
come to make a home for them in Fincastle County and ran a tavern near
where Roanoke stands today.

Then Easter wrote him that his oldest son, William, had arrived in
Philadelphia and was working for a merchant. He was peddling merchandise
and liked the new country.

Thomas was delighted and eager to see his fourteen-year-old son. He
saddled his own horse and led a pony all the miles down the long Valley
trail. He passed such settlements as Staunton, Lexington, Winchester,
Hagerstown, camping out or, stopping at some settler's house over-night.
It took weeks for him to make the long trip.

The merchant in the meantime realized he had a smart salesman in William
and he made a bargain with him a few days before his father arrived. He
asked him not to work for anyone else and set a time limit for his
employment with him.

We can imagine how William felt when his father came, bringing a pony
for him to ride back to Virginia. But he kept his word. He continued to
go out with his peddler's pack on his back and his bright smile and
polite manners helped him to sell his wares long before others sold
theirs. The merchant told him he could go peddling to Virginia and that
he could leave some of his articles in his father's tavern. William did
this, leaving them at other taverns along the Great Road, too. And thus
began the early chain stores.

When the pioneers began going on farther down the Southwestern part of
Virginia, Thomas King went as far as where Abingdon stands today. He
sent William back to Ireland for his step-mother and his brothers and
sisters. William now had a little money and he inherited some from his
grandmother, so he not only brought his family over, but he paid for
several other Scotch-Irish and charged a little extra as interest until
they could repay him.

He liked the people and the lovely country around Abingdon and bought
land and built himself a home there. He went to see the salt marsh a few
miles away where Saltville is now. This land was owned by General
Russell. William urged him to develop the marsh, for at one time Indians
had come there to get salt to preserve their game. But General Russell
did not think much of the plan, and agreed to sell it to William.

The story of how he laughed, along with others, at William King when he
dug and dug and did not find the salt spring is often told. But when
William's men had dug for one hundred and ninety feet the "bottom
dropped out" and th