Christ King never thought he would reach the century mark, but that's just what he did this week.

"You let the good Lord run it for you. He knows. Your time is set," King said.

King has been fairly healthy throughout his life. He has had a few broken bones and cataracts, but nothing life-threatening.

His long life could be in the genes. One of King's brothers lived to be 98 and his father lived into his early 90s.

Born on Oct. 14, 1909, near Bareville, King was the third of 14 children of Daniel S. and Hannah Blank King. Three brothers, Enos, Reuben and Levi, are still living, as are two sisters, Miriam Stoltzfus and Katie Smoker.

King attended the one-room Mt. Pleasant School until age 16.

After finishing his schooling, King went to Oregon to work during the Great Depression. He also worked near Iowa City, Iowa, for a while, harvesting wheat.

He met his wife, Rachel — who was a young widow at the time — at the Amish Church's young people's parties.

The couple shared the same birthday and were married in the early 1930s. Rachel died in 1995. They had no children.

King purchased his first farm outside of White Horse in 1941. He sold it nine years later and moved to Salisbury Heights the following year.

King then worked as a carpenter, hiring his own crew.

"I owe my life to (King)," said carpenter Dave Esh of Kinzers. "He was such an influence to me."

Esh's parents and King and his wife were good friends, so King hired Esh as part of his crew. That started Esh on his own lifelong profession of carpentry.

The last 15 years of his career, King worked for Amos Stoltzfus doing "trimming and fancy work," including making spindles and handrails for Upper Octorara Presbyterian Church in Parkesburg. He also had his own cabinet shop.

King retired from carpentry when he was in his 80s.

King said there have been big changes from the way farming and carpentry were done in his early years and what is done today.

When they made hay, they took a dump rake and a horse rake and made a row, putting the hay in piles by hand. Now hay is made into bales, he said.

Corn was cut by hand because they didn't have a harvester then. They threw it into loose piles and loaded the wagons by hand. Now a machine brings in the corn, he said.

The worst part, King said, was when they had to clean out the stables, putting the manure into a manure yard. Then in the spring, "we got a wagon and threw it on the wagon by hand. We drove it to the field and unloaded it by hand. I didn't like that."

Later, they got a manure spreader. "That was good," King said.

King said when he started carpentry work he had to sharpen and use hand saws. "Now they have electric saws," he said. "It's all power — air or electricity."

After living alone for several years after his wife died, King moved in 2001 to White Horse and now lives in an apartment attached to his niece's home.

King enjoys knitting scarves. He made a loom from a foot-long block of wood with two rows of nails. He winds the yarn around them to knit. King has sold some of his creations in Intercourse.

For years, King also put 2,000-piece jigsaw puzzles together, laminated and framed them to sell.

For his 100th birthday, King was given a ride in an 1800s doctor's buggy that he had once owned but sold at auction a number of years ago to Esh.

Esh said that when King saw the buggy, he kept saying, "I never thought I'd ever ride in the carriage again."

Esh said King normally has trouble getting in and out of vehicles, but not that day — he hopped right into the buggy.

lvaningen@lnpnews.com