KING HAS FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES

By the summer of 1850, King was heavily in debt. He had used his savings from Louisiana to pay for the seminary and used his inheritance to bring his slaves north. He learned the Free Church of Scotland was not depositing wages for him, a draft he wrote against the bank of Edinburgh lacked sufficient funds to clear. The settlement grew faster than anticipated due to the Fugitive Slave Act and he had been paying for the school supplies himself. Both King and the Elgin Settlement were known in three countries and the new settlement could not afford to have questionable credentials. King got a second mortgage for his farm, which helped but the need for funds was still dire.

Later in the year he accepted an invitation to visit Pittsburgh (which was a Presbyterian stronghold), to raise funds for the settlement. The sum of $400 was raised and King formed a close relationship with the Presbyterian congregations in Pittsburgh. Shortly, after his return to Buxton, the ladies of Allegheny City sent the "Presbyterian Library" (several boxes of books) and five Missionary Maps for the Mission School which were gratefully received.

Soon after the library arrived, the settlement received a gift that is giving to this very day. The Buxton Liberty Bell came from the Colored Inhabitants of Pittsburgh, which weighs 500 pounds and was the first steeple bell west of London. The Buxton Liberty Bell was rung at 6 a.m. each morning and 9 p.m. each evening to remind the settlers of their brethren still in bondage, and everytime a slave reached freedom in Buxton.