Joseph Estabrook was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire to Hobart and Ann (Hyde) Estabrook on December 7, 1792. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1815 and entered Princeton to pursue a career in the ministry, but a throat affliction forced him to abandon this calling. He became a teacher instead and began working as the principal of Amherst Academy in 1817. When the school was reorganized as Amherst College in 1821, Estabrook became a professor of Greek and Latin. Throughout his time at Amherst, he was known as something of an eccentric, using snuff prodigiously and shocking the townsfolk by firing a gun on Sunday. Estabrook married Nancy Dickinson (1806-1846) in 1823 and the couple moved to Staunton, Virginia in 1824. Here, Estabrook served as the principal of a school for girls. He came to Knoxville in 1834 as the President of the Knoxville Female Academy and became the President of East Tennessee University in 1840. He remained in this position until 1850, when he resigned to found the Salt Works at Oliver Springs, Tennessee. He married Angelina Matilda Wiley (born 1834) on April 9, 1853 and the couple had one son, Joseph Jr., who died in a fall at the age of 13 months. Joseph Estabrook died on May 18, 1855 in Knoxville and was buried next to his son. Both were moved to the Oliver Springs Cemetery in 1888.

Joseph Linn King was born in about 1811 in Tennessee. He graduated from East Tennessee College (later East Tennessee University and finally the University of Tennessee) in 1829 and went into business as a dry goods merchant in Knoxville. He married Catherine King (about 1820-1892) on May 29, 1834 and the couple had seven known children, three of whom survived their father. King became a member of East Tennessee University's Board of Trustees in 1840 and served until 1862 when he was removed due to his Confederate sympathies. He was also involved in local politics and economic development, serving as Knoxville's mayor (1846-1847) and on the Blue Ridge Railroad's controlling board (1852-1857). He purchased the Montvale Springs Hotel in 1863 and added a ten-pin alley, a shooting gallery, a billiard room, a bar, and croquet grounds before selling it in 1876. King moved to Atlanta, Georgia several years later and died there on March 12, 1900 at the age of 90. At the time of his death, he was East Tennessee University's oldest living graduate.