I have some information about John P. King's parents. They were from Wythe County, VA. John P.'s mother was Barbara Stroup, the daughter of Johann Peter Stroup (Straub) and Magdelena Wenrich. She was one of the older children of the couple. Barbara's siblings were Peter, Jr., Jacob (my ancestor), Elizabeth, John, George, Mary Ann (Polly), Magdelene (Molly), Susanna, and Margaret (Peggy). In October, 1812, in Wythe Co., VA Barbara Stroup charged a John King with being the father of her child (a son). John King was given a dismissal of the suit provided that he pay the costs which literally meant that he was the father but would not provide for the child. This John King has not been positively identified, but he was probably the son of William King (Koenig) of Wythe Co., one of the original settlers of the county. This John King died between 1816 and 1818. He predeceased his father, William who died in 1818, but was still alive in 1816. There is no official record of a marriage between this John King and Barbara Stroup and there may never have been a marriage. In August,1813, Barbara is being referred to as Barbara Phipps, wife of William Phipps, Jr. (later Fipps in Missouri) in a court summons to testify on behalf of her father, Peter Stroup, in a breach of the peace complaint that he filed against three young vandals (they had also vandalized the property of his neighbor William Phipps, Sr.). While no record of their marriage has been found, the implication of the court summons is that the county recognized that a marriage had taken place.

Later William and Barbara Stroup Phipps moved to neighboring Washington Co., VA and appear in the 1820 and 1830 census there. In 1838, they moved to Montgomery Co., MO. In the census there they appear with many children including the oldest, John King. In a book from 1876 titled "Pioneer Families of Missouri", Barbara Stroup Fipps is identified as the widow of John (or Isaac) King and as the mother of John P. King who married Sarah Stephenson. His father being identified as John or Isaac King. My guess about the statement that Barbara Stroup was the widow of John King of Wythe Co, VA either was a cover story for the sake of the son John P. King or that an assumption was made because the son was told that his father had died when he was young.

I do not know who the parents of Johann Peter Stroup were, but believe that he was from Berks Co., PA (now Lehigh Co). His wife, Maria Magdalena Wenrich, was the daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Michel Wenrich (anglicized to Venrick) originally from Berks Co., PA. They moved to Montgomery Co., VA (now Wythe Co.) by 1777. They had nine children, one son, Michael, Jr. and eight daughters: Maria Magdalena, Margaret, Eva Rosannah, Catherine, Sarah, Julia, Christina, and Susannah. Margaret married Michael Kettenring (Catron), Eva married Nicholas Darter (Tarter), Catherine married John Althans (Althance), Sarah married Christian Kettenring (brother to Michael), Julia never married, Christina married William Lanter, and Susannah married Peter Peck (Bek). Nothing more is known about Michael, Jr.