William King (1823-1903) was a Philadelphia druggist and worked in the oil business, first as a jobber and then as a refiner.

He was born on August 5, 1823 in Gloucestershire, England to Thomas King (1795-) and Susannah King (1798-). When he was a boy and his family settled near Claymont, Delaware. King returned to England where he got his early training, after which he came back, and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1851.

King first opened a drug store, but later began to manufacture camphene until the Pennsylvania oil fields were opened, when he entered the oil business, first as a jobber and then as a refiner. In 1876, he sold his refinery to the Standard Oil Company, but continued with his son in the wholesale oil jobing until he retired in his early eighties.

King was the oldest director of the Eighth National Bank, and was at one-time director of the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company. Additionally, he served as president of St. George Society, vice president of the Medico-Chirurgical Hospital, treasurer of the Albian Society, a Knight Templar, and an Odd Fellow.

On March 8, 1849, King married Catherine Lunan Tonnele Foster (1828-1920), daughter of Nathan Foster (1787-1861) and Azubah Cone (1788-1859). They had eight children. King died January 2, 1903 in Philadelphia.

Edward S.Townsend is likely Edward Sanford Townsend (1844-1913), a druggist in Philadelphia and Delaware. He was born November 25, 1844 to Edward Townsend (1823-1887) and Maria Day (1818-1891). He married Ida Amelia (1847-1934). The couple had two children.

Townsend was a clerk employed by Thomas F. McFadden (1871-1940) in Philadelphia. In 1910, he was charged and fined for selling morphine without a physician's prescription and without the sale being registered, as required by law.

Townsend died August 10, 1913 in Philadelphia, but is buried in Providence, Rhode Island.