John William King

Due to the serious illness of his father and the large number of siblings, it was necessary for John William to go to work while in his early teens to support the family. He followed his father into the carpentry trade while also farming. At the approximate age of nineteen, he was accepted into the Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC, a former federal agency of the United States, established in April 1933 as part of the New Deal Program of Pres. Franklin Roosevelt. The agency was created by the U.S. Congress for the conservation of the natural resource of the country - timber, soil, and water - to provide employment and training for unemployed young men as long as the depression lasted. At first the agency was officially known as emergency conservation work, but when Congress extended the period of operation in June 1937, the popular name CCC was made official. While the CCC was in operation, it provided for the enrollment of unemployed and unmarried men between the ages of 17 and 23 who were U.S. citizens. Members received a base pay of $30 per month and lived in work camps that were generally operated by the Department of War. While the agency was in operation, about 2 million men received employment on projects that included such work as reforestation, construction of fire-observation towers, laying of telephone lines and development of state parks. Ethel Kirkpatrick said that her brother John sent home $25 to his mother and kept $5 for his needs.