Orange S. King was born in New York and moved to Minnesota in 1859 to work for his brother's newspaper, the State Atlas. He served in Company D of the First Minnesota and was wounded near his right eye at the First Battle of Bull Run. King and several other wounded were captured by Confederates and spent several months in Virginia and North Carolina prisons. He was discharged in 1863. In 1871, King and his family moved to Fergus Falls to establish a newspaper, the Fergus Falls Advocate, but poor health forced him to sell the paper five years later. He died of consumption in Minneapolis at age 37, leaving behind a wife and six children, aged infant to 15 years.