James Harris: Who was ‘The King of Kingsville’?

Published 6:18 pm Sunday, July 27, 2025

Kingsville, just east of Hampden Sydney College and north of Worsham, received its name per the state historical marker there because “Here before the Revolution stood King’s Tavern.”  

From my perspective, Dr. A. Tyree Finch was a true King living at Kingsville when I grew up in the village (off and on from 1943 until 2012). He was a Hampden Sydney graduate and lived out his days near his alma mater.

Dr. Finch lived on a hill overlooking Kingsville as any good King should and he moved there with his family in 1950. They lived in the old Benedict house built to specifications in the 1920s by a Sears and Roebuck plan and kit. It was the largest house in Kingsville and still is to this day. The Benedicts tried raising chickens in the long buildings on the right as you turn to go to Hampden Sydney but went bankrupt due to a chicken virus. 

The first time I met Dr. Finch was when my family was living at the old Baskerville antebellum home at Worsham.  We were temporarily there while our first and only owned home (last house, cape cod, on right coming from Farmville) was being built at Kingsville. I had been splashed by cold water at recess at Worsham School by another student hitting a mud hole with a board.

 Dr. Finch’s diagnosis was pneumonia and due to his instructions Mom (Nell Fitzpatrick Harris) did the right things and pulled me through. Another student splashed by the board was so sick (so long) that he was held back one grade.  

Dr. Finch was successful as an obstetrician at Southside Community Hospital and apparently made good money as a physician. I imagine he bought a house near Hampden Sydney because of his love for the college.

‘He had Kingsville humming’ 

Folks at Kingsville didn’t have much money, to include my family.  But before I knew it, he had invited Anne, my sister, and me to use his swimming pool and to ride his horses, Sally and Dan. I even invited some of my play mates such as Jasper and J. L. Elder from the village and Randolph Lafoon from Farmville to pool fun.

He had Kingsville humming with activity. Mark Hankins, a local landscaper, was always doing something different to Dr. Finch’s yard. I embraced the “time in action” when I would crouch down behind a tree as Mark blasted stomps out of the ground with dynamite. John and Pat Terry were kept busy with the horses, stables, and trimming grass and shrubbery.

When I had an assignment in school requiring some research, Dr. Finch readily let me in his home, hardly asked any questions about my request, and led me to his library with Encyclopedias. There were unique things about Dr. Finch’s home such as a laundry shoot to the basement accessed from the first and second floors. Once again his family hired local folks to do laundry.

One of the more inspiring things/views was when Anne and I visited Sally, his daughter. We would go up to her room and overlook Kingsville.  The village was a bee hive of activity in the early 1950’s because of the north-south tourist traffic on Hwy 15 and because interstate highways, such as I-95, hadn’t been built yet.   

Sally didn’t go to Worsham School like most of the local kids but drove her convertible back and forth to Farmville High School. Sally was quite a sight to the local males as she breezed by the gas stations (Hampden Sydney Esso and Leslie Power’s station) on both sides of Hwy 15 at Kingsville.

Nothing about someone’s affluence bothered me or my family though. Dr. Finch became the King in my mind as I dove into his swimming pool or rode Sally and Dan. Anne even rode Dr. Finch’s horses down to our house as Mom proudly looked on. 

‘I walk around the house at basically full speed’

Anne later always had a horse in South Pasadena, California, and when I visited her while in the Air Force, I would jog ahead just like I did when traversing the triangle beween Kingsville, Hampden Sydney and Worsham. What’s a few problems to hold you back such as prostate cancer, pace maker with defibrillator, and a watchman? Now I walk around the house at basically full speed because of modern medical science and good/encouraging physicians like Dr. Finch.   

My family besides access to Dr. Finch’s horses did have a pet goat, several Mallard ducks, and English Setter bird dogs so there was a pretty good balance with two and four legged pets. If I wanted to see a mule all I had to do was to visit the Elders who yearly plowed their garden with one.

Better yet we had running water (indoor plumbing) in our home which some Kingsville residents didn’t have until years later.

Diving into more Kingsville history 

No kids at Kingsville ever found the 70 French soldiers from Yorktown buried there (per the Historical Marker). Harry Baldwin, a longtime resident who survived World War II, said he and his playmates dug all Kingsville when he was growing up and never did find the graves.  

John Brinkley reports in his voluminous book, On This Hill:

“…Francis Joseph Mettauer, a surgeon with Rochambeau’s forces, brought a company of those men to Kingsville from Yorktown, practically all died of smallpox…”  p. 199n.130.

(Rochambeau was a French Lieutenant General who with Washington and 17,000 troops surrounded and forced Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown).  

“Mrs. King, the first woman to serve the college in any capacity was the widow of the tavern-keeper for whom Kingsville is named.” p. 209n137 

Yvonne Costello, with the Farmville Daughters of the American Revolution, is attempting to locate via the Virginia State Library, the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, etc. where the troops are interned.

Two physicians lived in Kingsville through the years. One, Dr. Finch, is the hero/role model in my mind. Even if the village was named after someone named King or indeed there was a King’s Tavern makes no difference to me.  Dr. Finch was a King to me and many local folks as he became the King of the Hill at Kingsville.