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History of Charles Kingston



Charles Kingston (1856-1944)
Charles Kingston lived a very busy and varied life--both in business and church work.  Here is assembled his history as written by two of his sons--Clarence David and Charles William and his own story as written by himself.  The official christening certificate shows his father's name spelled Frederic.  However, most family records show it as Frederick.

History of Charles Kingston (from notes and comments by Clarence Kingston and edited by his son, M. Ray Kingston, 22 Apr 1974):
England, during the mid 1850's was in the midst of the idiotic but convulsive Crimean War, that was with Russia caused by high diplomatic error and the necessity for "saving of face" which British and French Foreign Ministers felt so important for their nations at that time.  Queen Victoria was nearly 20 years into what would be the longest reign (1837-1901--64 years long) in British history and would establish the democratic monarchy concept in England.  England had hosted the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, London, an exhibition designed to focus world attention on Britain's new love affair with, and capability in, industrial technology.
On November 9, 1856, one hundred forty miles north of London (this center of much interest in work and British affairs), in the much smaller town of Peterborough, Mary Anne Hunter gave birth to a son, who would later be named Charles.  Mary Anne Hunter's husband, Frederick Kingston, was serving in the Royal Navy in the Black Sea and the Crimea, and was absent during the event of his son Charles' birth.  Frederick returned shortly afterward, however, to see his first child and son.
While walking one day in Peterborough, Frederick recognized an old adversary, a man who had been responsible for the cruel crippling of Frederick's twin brother, several years earlier.  The man was now a policeman and in the ensuing fight the man was injured and badly bruised.  Frederick, fearing reprisals from the police, determined to leave the country.  He had long been interested in going to America, and informed his family of his plans.  Before leaving he told his wife, Mary Anne, that he would send for her and their son as soon as he obtained employment in America.
Taking a few items of clothing and other necessities he went to the coast (probably that of Boston harbor on the east coast since it was the closest port (40 miles) away from Peterborough.  On the coast he made an agreement to work as a sailor in exchange for his passage on a freighter headed for America.
By chance, some of his first acquaintances upon arriving in America, were Mormons, who were then being persecuted and who would eventually find their way to the Rocky Mountains, to join those saints who had settled there nine or ten years earlier.  Frederick joined this group and began the trip toward Utah with them.  He obtained odd jobs to sustain himself and eventually took the position of door to door salesman.  Keeping his promise to Mary Anne back in Peterborough, he sent the necessary money for her and Charles' passage to America.  Due to the lengthy time required for his travel and that required to earn and send the passage money, Mary Anne had found it necessary to work as a governess for an aristocratic family in order to support herself and Charles.  Charles was taken to his grandmother's home for care and education.  While she visited her son frequently over the years, she remained in her position as governess for the remainder of her life.
Charles started school in Peterborough and got along well for three years.  However, his third grade teacher was a typically tough disciplinarian, and one day, after finishing his arithmetic assignment, he turned his slate over and began drawing a horse.  The teacher, seeing this, demanded that he go to the head of the class where after humiliating him in front of his classmates for having drawn pictures during arithmetic, ordered and administered three cracks on his bare hands with a stick ruler.  That night he told his grandmother that he wanted no more to do with school and his formal classroom experience came to an end.
Charles' grandmother was a deeply religious woman and to get her grandson interested in the Bible would say, "Charles, I wish you would read me this....   passage in the Bible."  She would say, "my boy, you see I don't see as well now and can sleep better if you will read to me."
Charles, accustomed to this every night habit, acquired an interest in the scriptures and a desire to read other things.  As he reached his early teens he would stand outside the book store window and read the names of the books on display there.  One day while peering through the window, he decided to enter the shop and ask for a job.  The proprietor looked at him and asked what he thought he could do to justify his being paid.  Charles' answer was "....all your books need dusting and cleaning both in the window and on the shelves.  I would gladly be your clean up boy and do all the cleaning in exchange for your permission to spend my spare time reading the books of my choice."  The job was his.
As soon as he reached the required age to apply for government-sponsored job-training he did so, choosing the electrician's trade.  He started in the trade by digging holes and setting posts.  He continued at this to the age of 22.  At that time, he was sent for by the overseer at Kingscross station in London where trains arrived or left every five minutes, all controlled by black signals.  He was offered the job of overseeing and repairing this signal system.  He turned this offer down, temporarily, saying he had planned a trip to America, and that if the position was still open when he returned, they could discuss it again.
During these years he had been receiving letters from his father in America urging him to come for a visit.  Frederick hoped to entice him over and eventually convince his wife to join him as well.  During the past 20-22 years, Mary Anne's mother had belittled Frederick, calling him a deserter of his family---and had succeeded in convincing Mary Anne that it would be unwise for her to go to America where she would know no one.  Charles had heard this story many times and was convinced as well that his own father was a neer-do-well and a deserter of his wife and son.
However, he finally accepted his father's invitation, ostensibly for the opportunity of telling him how wrong he had been in having deserted his family in England, having joined the Mormon church which he had done shortly after meeting them in the east (and was, being 22 years old, a bit curious about America himself, I am sure).
It was 1879.  He booked passage to America, and from the east coast took the train west to meet and see his father for the first time.  It was September when he arrived in Morgan, Utah, and stepping off the train was a part of the weekly curiosity which the train had become to the local residents of Morgan.  This weekly curiosity attracted, among others, some of the young Morgan ladies, who would dress up for the occasion and go down to watch the unloading of cargo and passengers, if any.  This fall September day, Charles was the focus of this feminine curiosity, and elicited the disdain of one girl who offered, "he sure thinks he is smart, doesn't he?" ...promoted no doubt by the careful, erect and meticulous way with which Charles observed the greeters and carried himself (a particularly Kingston characteristic).  Another of those watching allowed he looked rather nice to her.  Mary Priscilla Lerwill Tucker was a rather meticulous person herself, both in her mental habits and in those habits related to house keeping and moral standards.  She inherited these characteristics from her mother and father, James and Betsy Tucker, themselves immigrants from England (converted Mormons as well).  They had come to America to celebrate their honeymoon and to begin a new religious and social life among the Mormon settlers in the west.  They arrived in Salt Lake City where James began a cobbler business, a trade he had learned in England.  Their first of ten daughters, Mary Priscilla was born in Salt Lake City during the winter month of January, 1862, two days after the start of the New Year.
When a group of people left Salt Lake City to settle Morgan Valley, James and Betsy went along, homesteading their own piece of land.  James continued his cobbler trade in Morgan.  He was an industrious person and with his wife were soon enjoying what was termed prosperity by the Morgan townspeople.  The Tucker family continued living in Morgan and raised to maturity a family of ten daughters and two sons.
The chance meeting on the loading platform at the train station in Morgan in 1879 between Charles Kingston and Mary Priscilla Lerwill Tucker, was to culminate 3 1/2 years later in their marriage ceremony in Salt Lake City, in the Old Endowment House, on May 17, 1883 by Daniel H. Wells.  Charles intended staying with his father through that winter and until the following spring.  During the cold winter months, he studied the Mormon doctrine.  His (reported) purpose was to find a falseness in that doctrine with which to confront his father.
A further strain must have been placed on their relationship since Frederick had married a second wife, Emma Morris, in Morgan and had children by this (at that time) "spiritually" and "legally" correct second marriage.  This second marriage must certainly have been spurred on by the apparent intransigence of Mary Anne back in England and her refusal to join Frederick in America.  These newly discovered half-brothers and half-sisters considered Charles a bit "uppity" and viewed him as an "exacting" person who displayed his arrogance toward them in attempts to encourage more "exactness" in their own habits.
At one point, Mary Anne Hunter Kingston, did make the trip to America, to see for herself.  She found her husband married to another woman with children by her, and her own son converted to Mormonism and committed to staying in America.  After such a long separation and with a rather strange (to say the least) family relationship greeting her, a totally unsophisticated frontier town with no tradition contrasted to the sophisticated circumstances under which she had been working as governess in Peterborough, who would have expected her to stay and be the second wife.  She stayed only two or three weeks and returned to England.  When Charles visited England only a few years later on his mission, Mary Anne Hunter had passed away.
One evening, after Charles had read and absorbed all that was available to him regarding Mormon doctrine and having experienced a winter with his newly found family and associates among the Mormon saints, the stake Patriarch was visiting the Kingston home.  Charles had often called on him for help in his studies, too stubborn to consult his own father (an apparently common Kingston trait).  He had the Book of Mormon in his hand when the Patriarch arrived and commented to him, that he "...just completed reading the Book of Mormon."  The Patriarch, when asking what Charles thought of the Book received this general answer "...if there is any truth in this world, it is in that book...and further, I wish to be baptized."  This beginning of conversion became a total commitment to gospel principles and Charles' faith grew along with the process of total conversion.  The English custom of beer drinking combined with five years of smoking were both abandoned as Charles accepted the word of wisdom as divine law and from that time on he abstained from both habits.
Along with his conversion came the decision to remain in America, and an announced engagement to Mary Priscilla.  He began looking for work to provide the finances necessary to marry and support a family.  This search led him to the Western Union office in Ogden, where his telegraphic and electrical experience secured an offer for employment as assistant manager of the Ogden office.  They explained, however, that it would be necessary for him to begin temporarily as a lineman in Nevada.  While this position was being arranged, English pride and Kingston obstinance surfaced and Charles explained that he had served his apprenticeship already and was not interested in digging post holes again.  This was the last time that he tried to obtain work at his learned trade.  He left for Colorado and obtained work as a mule driver for an ore wagon.  This mule trip was one day long from the mines to the railroad station.  While working in this mining camp, it was necessary to keep his faith rekindled and at times to defend his Mormon religion and the standards it required.  This defense, at times, was physical in nature requiring fists and muscle as well as intellectual strength.
After acquiring the necessary funds for a stake in life, Charles and Priscilla were married.  The rites were performed on May 7, 1883 in the Salt Lake Endowment House by President Daniel H. Wells.  They purchased a place in Croydon Canyon above Morgan, and with milk cows, chickens, and small farm, made their start.
While Charles' knowledge of farming was limited, Priscilla having been raised on a farm gave them together the knowledge and strength to get along on the farm for a time.  After a few years, however, they decided on a business venture and rented a cafe and rooming house in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  Charles ran the cafe and Priscilla the rooming house.  Help was obtained from a cook who had emigrated from China to America.  Before going to Rock Springs, Charles had been called on a mission for the church and went to England to serve this mission.  He was ordained a Seventy by Seymour B. Young 19 Oct. 1884.  By this time Charles and Priscilla had two children:  Charles born in Croydon 26 June 1884, and Hazel born in Morgan 26 May 1885.  Priscilla was pregnant with the twins, Florence and Bessie, when Charles was called on his mission to England.  Having little or no financial support, Charles made his way through the first part of this mission with dedication.  While there, and absent from his wife, two poignant events ocurred.  His and Priscilla's second child, Hazel, died September 30, 1887, and three and one half months after, January 15, 1888, Priscilla gave birth to twins.  When word of Hazel's death reached Charles in England he recorded in his journal, "...I was heartsick and wanted to leave for home, but I received a letter from my dear wife saying, "...complete your mission, I will take care of everything here.  This gave me new courage."  While he completed most of his mission before returning home, he was still deficient in the eyes of some authorities who demanded that he return the small sum contributed to him by the church for passage home from England.  After some discussion and persuasion from Charles, these demands were dropped.  While in Rock Springs, he served as councilor in the bishopric.
Intrigue and adventure stirred him again when many people were called to settle Star Valley, Wyoming.  Leaving Rock Springs, the family went to Grover, Wyoming, where they homesteaded a piece of ground and built a log cabin.  Farming was again attempted, and it is recorded in early history that he succeeded in ripening the first crop of grain raised in Star Valley.
Priscilla was a bit lonesome there, however, without any of her family, and they invited Emily, her sister, and Gibson Condie to join them, dividing their land in Grover, each shouldering their share of responsibility.  Also from Morgan, William Kingston, Sarah Kingston Taggart, and Lydia Kingston Cranney came to join them.  Here their families were raised in a beautiful valley with green meadows, plenty of clearwater springs, pine trees, and the mountain varieties of plants and trees,  Summertime there was a glorious experience.  But, again the farm was not interesting enough by itself, and Charles opened a store in Auburn, Wyoming, across the valley from their home in Grover.  He was appointed Postmaster there and operated the first post office in Auburn.  People from across the valley travelled there to shop.  Eventually, he decided to move his business to Afton, more in the center of the valley.  At Afton, he had many requests from farmers to trade groceries for butter, churned on their farm, with old dashertype churns. The butter's quality was varied and there was no demand for it elsewhere in the Valley.  Charles decided to produced a uniform product and to market it where there was a demand.  A convert who had recently emigrated from Denmark and with experience in Danish creameries was brought in to help.  At a cold spring east of Afton, they worked all the butter over getting out the extra buttermilk, adding the proper salt content and produced a uniform product.  Charles travelled to Rock Springs, Diamondville, and all the small towns along the Union Pacific Railroad and established a market for the butter.  He is credited with having established the first creamery in Star Valley, as crude as it was.  Many commercial creameries have since been added in Star Valley and many millions of dollars realized by the farmers there.
He was ordained a High Priest by George Osmond, 13 Aug 1892.
While in Star Valley, he was appointed a United States Commissioner for the Western District by U. S. District Judge Riner.  Most of the early homestead and other land entries were made through his office.  This led to another appointment in 1898, when he was appointed Registrar of the United States land office in Evanston, Wyoming by President William McKinley.  He served (2) four year terms, and was appointed for a third term by President Theodore Roosevelt.  He served only one year of this term, as he had three boys growing up and wanted them raised on the farm where they could learn to work.
During the late 1800's the LDS Church was attracted by the possibilities of the Big Horn basin as a potential colonization project.  Charles was requested by Apostle A. O. Woodruff to investigate.  He went to Big Horn in November, 1898, and met William Cody (Buffalo Bill), who had developed an irrigation project including a canal and considerable land and had offered it for sale.  Charles inspected the Cody land package and determined that it was not in the best interest of the church to purchase it.  Instead he located another area, checked the irrigation potential, found it satisfactory, and upon returning reported to President Lorenzo Snow, with eight of the apostles present, at which meeting a colonization company was organized with Apostle A. O. Woodruff as president and Charles Kingston, as Secretary.  The following May, 100 families moved into the country of the Big Horn, settled on the land and built a 30 mile long irrigation canal.  There are many thriving communities derived from this early settlement.
Having free transportation over the railroads of Wyoming, he was set apart by President Snow to visit the settlements along the Union Pacific lines to hunt out church members in the sparsely settled regions and persuade them to become identified with the wards and branches.  During this time, he named the town of Lyman, Wyoming, in honor of Francis M. Lyman, who was a close friend and whom he considered one of the great men of his generation.
In 1905, he purchased a 160 acre farm in Ammon, Idaho, at a cost of $35.00 per acre.  He moved his family there and continued to work in Evanston until he served a full nine years.  Upon arriving in Ammon, he spent a few months on the farm, but again, accepted the manager's job in a small store owned by several townspeople.  His pay dropped from $250.00 per month in Evanston to $85.00 per month as store manager.  He remained there until 1910.  Priscilla was by this time the mother of 3 sons and 8 daughters.  In addition to young Charles William, born June 26, 1884, Hazel, who was born May 20, 1886, (then deceased), and the twins, Florence and Bessie, born January 15, 1888, there were now Richard, born in Star Valley, April 21, 1891, Estella, born June 5, 1893, Lillian, Grover, born February 26, 1895, Clarence born Grover, March 26, 1897, Mary, Evanston, born December 27, 1898, Luella, Morgan, Utah, born March 24, 1901, and Priscilla, Evanston, born July 14, 1903.
In 1910, their doctor informed the family that Priscilla's health was such that she would not live more than a year in Idaho.  His advice was to take her to a better climate and where the water was softer.  With this move, he said, she might last five more years.  Charles travelled to Utah that same week and purchased a farm in Taylor, in Weber County.  Mother Priscilla was taken to Farmington to Aunt Bertha Spackman's.  Her health began to improve at once through the good care and better climate.  When the move from Idaho was completed (June 5, 1910), she was brought back to her family where she continued to improve.  In Taylor, Priscilla began a turkey business and all summer long would walk over the farm checking on the turkeys, their eggs, and the hatching of the new poults.  She outlasted the doctor's dire prediction by 24 years more than the time he had divined.
Priscilla's contributions to the family were great ones, providing the stability necessary to balance what was certainly the nomadic, restless, development and pioneer nature of her husband.  To do this would have been enough, but added to this was the birth of 11 children, their care, training, education, and in some cases, their death.  In her early life as always, she was active in the Church, working in M.I.A., and as a teacher of the religion class.  While in Ammon, Idaho, she was president of the Relief Society, and after moving to Taylor, was active in the Relief Society there.
Her main role was as a home-maker and one who was always helping the sick.  When Richard was a boy of nine years he had a bad siege of pneumonia.  After the doctors had done everything at their disposal, and had told the child's parents that he couldn't last for more than 24 hours, Charles went to the cemetery to find an acceptable burial spot.  Priscilla said she wasn't ready to give him up and stayed at this bedside continually using her remedy of hot packs to his back and chest, praying for him through the night.  Richard recovered.
With her home remedies, she helped not only her family, but everyone in the wards where she lived as part of her Relief Society work.  On one occasion, when her granddaughter, Maxine, was very ill, Doctor Rutledge from Kaysville was called.  He examined her and said he would like to call in Dr. Smith, a child specialist, as a consultant.  Priscilla arrived while the doctors were in the kitchen trying to decide what was wrong with the child.  She at once said the child had pneumonia and immediately began her hot packs care.  When the doctors came in they said she had diagnosed correctly and that her treatment was correct.  The child grew better within a few hours.  In another instance, Rufus Lewis, Viva's cousin, had a very sick child.  Priscilla was credited by the Lewis family for having saved the child's life.
She was a real Tucker in handling money.  She stretched dollars and in their later years saved money from the turkey business and bought investments.  The money from her savings was the retirement that carried her and Charles over their unproductive years, as there were no government pensions available in their time.
Priscilla had a deep love and appreciation for her family.  Aunt Bertha Spackman, who nursed her back to health in her home in Farmington, was always credited by Priscilla for her recovery.  Annie Clarke and her three children, Elizabeth, Leola, and Marion, spent the summer with us and were considered as part of our family, while Jim Clarke was trying a mining venture in Nevada.  Likewise, Rose and Charlie and their two oldest children, Sylvan and Clella, staying in Priscilla's home in Ammon, Idaho while awaiting their property transfer.  They were treated with respect, love, and dignity while in her home.
Charles again abandoned the farm to be Secretary Treasurer for the Federal Land Bank, organizing the first branch in Weber County and later in Morgan.  He retired from this position on his 80th birthday.  Priscilla passed away at the age of 77, Charles living on for five more years, alone with his children and grandchildren until passing away on July 19, 1944.  At the time of his death he and Priscilla were survived by sons, Charles W., Richard J., and Clarence D., and by daughters, Estella Holley, Luella McFarland, Florence Nielsen, Lillian Fisher, and Mary Olson.  He then had 51 grandchildren and 39 great grandchildren.  Also surviving him and Priscilla at that time, were the following half-brothers and half-sisters:  William Kingston, Malad, Idaho; Jack Kingston and Mrs. Sarah Taggert, Smoot, Wyoming; Mrs. Frank Cranney, Salt Lake City; Mrs. James Peterson, Morgan, and Mrs. Lou Poulson, Paris, Idaho.  Charles and Priscilla are buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.
The legacy left by Charles and Priscilla Kingston seems to be one of love and consideration for all people, combined with a great sense of industry and committment to life.  Their children and grandchildren include wide ranging talents including doctors, writers, artists, engineers, pilots, farmers, electricians, skilled craftsmen, architects, businessmen, and many others.  All these descendants seem to share Priscilla's deep concern and respect for their fellow men as well as a tolerance for their different views, combined with Charles' "restless" industry for doing, creating, and organizing.
The recollection of one of Charles' grandchildren may serve to illuminate his philosophy.  He said to this child of ten years, a few days before his death, while handing him a copy of a small, very worn Bible,..."When dealing with other people, I've found it wisest to listen to them and hear them out before offering your own comments to the situation.  This gives you the advantage of knowing more of them than they do of you, and you can then make the most out of each situation through a clearer understanding of their goals and feeling."  And he added, releasing the Bible,..."reading is the most important talent to develop, because this is the only way to discover the success and failures of other men...My greatest sadness is to see children who will not read."
Charles Kingston, by his son, Charles William Kingston,
mailed to Joseph Grant Stevenson, 3 Nov 1962:
Charles Kingston was born in England Nov 9, 1856.  His father was there in the army in Russia during the Crimean war.  When his father came back to England, he went into the fish business and as usual the war was followed by a depression and he found himself in debt because he could not collect from poor unemployed people whom he had trusted so could not pay his own debts.  The father stowed away on a ship and came to America and to Utah to keep out of jail.  For this reason his mother Mary Annee Hunter had to go to work to support herself and her baby and only son Charles.  Mary Annee's father, William Hunter was crippled having received a bullet wound in the ankle while fighting in the battle of Waterloo.  So Charles Kingston was raised by his grandparents, William Hunter and his wife while his mother worked as a maid servant in the home of one of the Royal families.
The boy Charles Kingston sold papers and worked at other common jobs until he grew up to a young man.  When he became a telegraph operator and electrician and even made a workable telephone, a sample of which he brought to America and which I played with when I was a small boy.
The longing for his father caused him to come to America in the hope that he could persuade his father to return to England and reunite with the Church to which he had belonged and leave the terrible Mormons whom he had joined.
A number of times his father had sent money to his mother to come and join him in America and when she failed to come, he married another woman whom we called Grandmother Morris.
When Father joined the Church, he sent for his mother who came to Utah but she soon became dissatisfied and went back to England.  Father was anxious to preach the restored Gospel to his relatives in England, especially his mother so he asked to be sent on a mission to his old home.  He reached his old home the day after his mother had died and was buried.
My eldest sister died while my father was away and twin sisters were born.  Father often told me that his uncle Dick said to him more than once, "Charly I don't believe in your religion, but I want you to consider my home your home while you are in England."
One of the many miraculous experiences he had while he was on his mission traveling without purse or scrip was while he was walking from one town to another.  A man, a perfect stranger, came out of a house and handed him a few pieces of small change.  Further down the road there was a body of water that had made a small lake from rain that had fallen during the night and a man was there in a boat ferrying people across.  Father counted the change the man had given him and found just enough to the penny to take him to the other side.
When he came home from his mission I asked him to take me with him back to England and he said, "I will take you to Rock Springs instead."  I thought Rock Springs, Wyoming was as far away as England.  Father and mother rented a hotel and mother ran the hotel while father ran a dray wagon and sold and delivered hay and grain.  Lifting sacks of grain and bales of hay all day made his muscles as hard as nails.  Besides this he had become a good hand with the boxing gloves before he left England.
While in Rock Springs three things happened that I shall never forget.
I was standing by the window one day and a freight train was on the track not more than ten feet from our front porch.  I saw a drunken man crawling underneath one of the cars.  The train started up with a jerk and I saw the wheels cut the man's head and right arm off and both of his feet.  I was so horrified that that gruesome scene was enacted many times after that in my dreams.  
The second remembrance was on Thanksgiving day.  There was a boy my own age that I had played with day after day and although he was only four he could use all the swear words in the English language, as effective as any man and I had learned a lot of it from him.  I came in the house this Thanksgiving day while my mother was putting the dinner on the table.  I climbed up in the rocking chair and started rocking back and forth.  I could just reach the two knobs on the top of the chair and I pushed the chair farther on the heels of the rockers each time until it tipped over backwards and I fell on my face and got up with a bloody nose.  As I stood there I cussed that chair with all the cuss words I could think of up to that time.  My mother had never heard me say one word she could object to.
She picked me up and gave me a good spanking and put me to bed and made me stay there until the next morning without dinner or supper.
I can still remember looking out of the bedroom doors where I could see all the good things on that Thanksgiving table.  My mother impressed me with the fact that I had committed one of the gravest sins by taking the Lord's name in vain.  This lesson stayed with me the rest of my life.
The third scene was one Sunday noon after Sunday School.  Father and mother were each carrying one of my twin sisters home and I was holding my father's other hand.  When we went in the kitchen door the chinese cook said, "Oh, Mr. Kingston don't go in there pointing to the dining room.  Two bad men in dare.  One throwed de beef steak and hit me in the face."  Father and mother put the two babies in the bedroom leading off the kitchen on the bed and mother grabbed father's left arm and said please daddy don't go in there.  I still clung to father's hand.  Father shook mother off by saying, "You stay out of this.  I'll handle it."  When Father entered the dining room, he said, "What's the matter gentlemen?"  The heavy set man said, "We'll show you what's the matter you Mormon S. of a B."  And he picked up a heavy glass tumbler from the table and threw it at father's head.  Father ducked the tumbler and ran for the man.  In the meantime I ran to the farther corner of the room and sat there with my back to the corner scared stiff.  While father was running after this man, he threw a heavy case knife at father which he also managed to duck.  Then the fire works started.  Father had this big fellow messed up with so many hits to the face and head that he couldn't ever hit back.  Then the little fellow came up from behind and hit father on the head with a big heavy hardwood chair.  Father turned around and cut him on the chin knocking him down and that was the end of the fight.  These men both went up to their room.  I remember the big man coming down the stairs and into the room where father was standing.  The big man said, "I am very sorry Mr. Kingston that we made you any trouble.  We heard in Denver that there was a Mormon joint in Rock Springs and we decided we would come and clear out the place."  You've made it hard for me because I won't be able to appear on the stage for about three weeks or more.  I'll have to cancel my appointments in the shows we have arranged ahead in other towns.  These men were strong men, weight lifters, Indian clubs and dumbell experts and other feats of strength.  He said, "it wouldn't have been so bad if you had not cut me up so bad."  
We lived in Rock Springs two years then moved to Grover, Wyoming where father started a store.  He moved this store to Auburn across Salt River to the West.  In this town my brother Richard was born the next spring.  Grandmother Morris come and lived with us during this time.  We moved to Star Valley in the year 1890.  Father sold his store in Auburn to Henry Harry Harrison and moved back to Grover where father filed on 480 acres of land where he built a home for his family.  He taught school the first winter in Grover.  He afterwards got the job of United States Land Commissioner for the Star Valley area.  He became president of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations in the Star Valley Stake which he filled with distinction.  In the year 1896 he got an appointment from President Wm. McKinley as Register of the U.S. Land Office in Evanston, Wyoming.  He was also chosen second councilor to President John M. Baxter of the newly organized Woodruff Stake.  During this time he was called by President Lorenzo Snow to secure a tract of land and water rights for a Mormon colony that decided to settle in the Big Horn Basin.  He secured 35,000 acres of land under the Carey Act and he arranged for the titles and water certificates for the settlers.  They offered him his choice of any quarter section of land he might want.  This 160 acres of land would have made him a rich man.  However, he told these people he did not want the land but he wanted to make his work a free gift to the project and to the church.  So he refused to take one cent of pay for his services.
Another time a certain rich man offered him ten thousand dollars in gold if he would decide a contest case this man had filed against a poor settler to take away the land he had homesteaded.  Father told this man the case could be decided on its merits.  If the settler had not lived up to the law the rich man would get the decision.  He decided the case in favor of the poor settler.  There was a valuable vein of coal that the rich man was mining that extended under the poor man's homestead that was worth many times more than the ten thousand dollars.  At this time father had lost a lot of money in the sheep business and ten thousand dollars would have paid all his debts and left him a good share in the bank.
About 1904 father bought a farm in Idaho, 160 acres of land with full water rights for $5,000.00.  A few years later he sold this farm for $90.00 an acre.  With this money he got from the sale of this farm he bought a farm in Ogden.  In Ogden he went into the Abstract business.  If a poor person came to him for an abstract and asked him about pay he would charge from 3 to 5 dollars.  Much less than the amount charged for this same work.  He also was an agent for the Federal Land Bank and secured farm loans for farmers in the Ogden area.
Mother was five years younger than father, but she died five years earlier at the age of 77.  Father came to the mine and lived with us about three weeks.  This was when Minerva was a baby.  He called her his little sweetheart.  When mother was sick just before she died her daughter, Bessie, who had died in 1930 came to see her.  Mother asked Bessie if her time had come.  Bessie said I will go back and find out and if its your time I'll come back and get you."
A few days before father died he sent a telegram for me to come and see him.  When I got to Horace's and Estella's home where he was staying at the time he said, "Well, Charley I feel so foolish about sending for you.  It was nothing.  I just blacked out for a little while then came to and now I'm alright again.  I know how very busy you are at the mine so I hope you will forgive me for sending for you.  "That's alright," I said, "I should have visited you long ago, but I kept putting it off so I'm glad that something come along to jar me in coming at last."  I think it was two days later that he passed away."

A TESTIMONIAL by Charles Kingston
(Published in Andrew Jenson's LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:331)

At the instance of the leader of our stake, I am writing a testimony which I delivered in the 10th Ward, Weber Stake, that the youth of Zion may, peradventure, receive benefit from the same.
I came to Utah with much prejudice in my heart.  I had been taught that Mormonism was the greatest fraud perpetrated upon the world.  My father had joined the church when I was but a child, causing his own mother to become estranged; she refused to join hands with him in Mormonism.  My father emigrated shortly after joining the church and when I became 22 years of age, I left my home in England and crossed the waters to join him.  I left a good position with one of the leading railroads in my native land.  Therefore, when I reached this pioneer community in America in 1879, and found a hard severe winter -- so severe that live stock were dying for want of food -- I began thinking that things were rather tough.  I was used to a very active life in England, but now could find no employment whatsoever except feeding my father's cattle.  So unaccustomed was I to this sort of life that I felt that I was buried above ground, as it were.  However, I was very fond of reading which seemed the only thing that kept me alive.  When the good Saints found I was reading Mormonism, they just swamped me with Mormon literature.  I was glad of this for two reasons; it gave me sufficient reading material, and then it seems that I had a desire to find out the untruth of Mormonism so I could show my people the error with which they were connected.  Never for one moment did I think that this could not be done.  The Book of Mormon was my main weapon of assault.  I read it with much care, making comparisons with the New Testament, of which I had an elementary acquaintance.  As I proceeded in my investigation, I discovered I was gradually drinking in the truths of that great book.  Having finished the reading, I laid the book on the table and said, "Well, I have finished the reading of it."  There happened to be present at the time an aged prospector from Park City, a very wicked profane man.  He said, "Well, what do you think of it?"  I then raised my right hand high above my head and said, "If there is any truth in this world, it's in that book."
Soon I found myself defending the work before apostates and others who opposed it.  Notwithstanding, I had no desire to join the church.  I even refused to attend meetings, but one day I met a man who was a member of the church and whom I had known in England.  He, after much persuasion, prevailed upon me to attend a meeting at which Elder Smith preached.  It was a Mutual Improvement meeting and Wells was the first speaker.  His talk had no impression whatsoever upon me; it seemed to convey nothing of value to me.  Elder Smith being the second speaker preached on the Word of Wisdom, and every word he spoke sank deep into my heart.  I found myself, as it were, lifted above the earth and in a new world.  I went home that night -- laid my pipe and tobacco on a shelf and said, "That is all I will have of you."  I didn't ever take it down again.  From that day I have endeavored to live up to the ideals and the high standards of the Church of Christ.
Three months after that meeting (on his 23rd birthday -- 9 Nov 1880), I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church by Bishop Albert D. Dickson.  Soon thereafter a number of the good Saints gathered at my father's house that I might read to them.  I chose the account of our Lord's trial before Pontius Pilate.  My heart went out to Him in that tragic hour.  I said to myself, "Would you have deserted Him and left Him alone to the cruel rage of those wicked men who damned for His death."  I said, "Never would I have forsaken Him."
I went to my bed that night with that impression upon me.  I know not how long I lay but of a sudden I found myself in a large stone enclosure built of black lava rock, without a roof upon it.  It was so dark that I could find no way out.  I decided to call upon God to deliver me out of that darkness.  I knelt down and prayed most earnestly for some time; then a light came over the building.  I heard the air cut, and seven heavenly beings descended and stood around me, so close I could have touched any one of them.  They were dressed in white flowing robes, one, who seemed to be the leader held in his right hand a two edged sword pointed upwards.  Not one of them spoke to me and soon they ascended and went away as they had come; and I found myself on my bed very wide awake.  I told no one of this for some time; however, after several months I went to the Patriarch of the Stake and requested that he give me an understanding of this visitation.  He said, "My boy, that is easy.  The Lord was showing you how he had brought you out of darkness into light.  The sword you saw was the "Sword of Truth" spoken of by Paul.
I married a fine LDS girl and we kept the Word of Wisdom all our days.  We lived together 50 years or more and 95% of our children are following in our foot-steps.  It seems to be part of their nature to keep the Word of Wisdom.

Memory of Marilynn Kingston Stevenson

One strong memory I have of Grandpa Kingston was hearing my father, Richard, tell of the time he was called to administer to him.  Grandpa was very ill and not expected to live, and Richard blessed him that he would get well.  
The next morning Richard was called again to his father's side.  Seeing that he felt much stronger, Richard expected his father to thank him for the blessing.  Instead he was told "Don't you ever again bless me to get well.  My wife is waiting for me on the other side.  I have done temple work for over 5,000 people.  I know that my work for them is not done till I look all of them up and see if they have accepted the Gospel."
After reading the history of Charles Kingston, I hope the reader now has a better understanding of this great man who left a great legacy for his posterity.  

CHARLES KINGSTON (1856-1944)
(from the Ogden Standard Examiner, Sunday, May 21, 1933, p 2B)

"Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kingston of Ogden celebrated their golden wedding anniversary May 17, when a program was given in the Taylor Ward recreation hall.  All of the living children and many of the grand children were in attendance.  Mr. and Mrs. Kingston were married May 17, 1883, in the Salt Lake Endowment House.  Mrs. Kingston was formerly Miss Mary P. Tucker of Morgan.
Eleven children have been born to them, eight of whom are still living:  Mrs. Charles W. Kingston, Mrs. Jesse H. Nielson, and Mrs. Bruce Olsen, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Richard J. and Clarence Kingston, and Mrs. Horace Holley and Mrs. Abram McFarland, Ogden; Lillian Poulter of San Francisco.
Mr. Kingston has filled several important Church and civic position:  United States Land Commissioner in Uintah county, Wyo., appointed by U. S. district Judge Riner; Register of the U. S. Land office at Evanston, Wyo. for two terms, appointed by Pres. William McKinley, the appointment being reaffirmed by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt at the assination of President McKinley.
While register of the land office he was requested by Elder A. O. Woodruff, in behalf of the Church, to go into Big Horn county in northern Wyoming and look over certain lands with a view to establishing a Mormon colony there.  While on this inspection trip William F. Cody "Buffalo Bill" heard of his activities and sent for him making an unsuccessful attempt to sell him a large tract of land and irrigation canal.  His report to the Church authorities was favorable and a colony was established.  
The first year of the colonies' stay was not very successful and they found themselves facing winter badly in debt and with very poor prospects of surviving the winter.  Again Mr. Kingston was sent to the colony and on learning the plight of the people induced a railroad to resume operations on a grading and give the Mormon settlers work for all available men and teams.  This incident was the means of saving the colony.  The district is now a flourishing section.
Mr. Kingston's Church activities have been many and varied.  He served as stake president of the M. I. A.; as High Councilman in the Star Valley stake; second counselor to the president of Woodruff stake; counselor to bishop of the Rock Springs ward, president of high priests quorum of the Bingham stake; High Councilman, and president of High Priests quorum in the North Weber stake.  He was also stake genealogical representative in North Weber State for 12 years.
While in the stake presidency of the Woodruff stake he gave the name Lyman to the town that now bears this name, in honor of Francis M. Lyman.  This name was suggested at the request of Bishop Samuel Brough, it being necessary to rename the town because of a duplication on post office records, the former names being Owen in honor of A. Owen Woodruff.
Mrs. Kingston has been a loyal mother of eleven children, which speaks for itself."
The obituary for Charles Kingston in The Deseret News, Thurs., July 20, 1944, p 7 as follows:  "Death Claims West Leader, Charles Kingston Was Active Churchman.  Ogden--Charles Kingston, 87, well known member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, retired secretary treasurer, of the Weber and Huntsville-Eden National Farm Loan Association and former U.S. registrar of Evanston, Wyo., federal land office, died Wednesday at the home of a daughter Mrs. Horace Holley, 368 8th St. Ogden.
He was born at Peterborough, North Hamptonshire, Eng., Nov. 9, 1856, son of Frederick and Mary Anne Hunter Kingston.  He arrived from England Sept. 23, 1879 and settled in Morgan, Utah.  He married Mary Priscilla Tucker in the Salt Lake Endowment House with Daniel H. Wells performing the ceremony.
He has held many important civil and church positions.  He filled a mission in England, and upon returning he moved with his family to western Wyoming, where he was appointed U.S. commissioner.
Most of the early homestead and other land entries were made through his office.  He was the first postmaster in Auburn, Wyo.  It is recorded in the early history that he succeeded in ripening the first crop of grain raised in Star Valley, Wyo.  He is also credited with starting the creamery business in Star Valley.  He also had extensive land and livestock holdings in western Wyoming.  He was appointed registrar of the United States land office at Evanston, Wyo. by President William McKinley, serving for two four-year terms.
He was requested by Elder A. O. Woodruff to investigate the Big Horn Basin as to its adaptability for colonization.  Later a colonization company was organized with Elder Woodruff as president and Charles Kingston as secretary.  The following May 100 families moved into the country and settled on the land as recommended and built a 30 mile long canal.  There are many thriving communities under the project now.  He later engaged in the abstracting business in Ogden.
He was an active Church worker holding many important positions and at one time was set apart to visit the wards and branches along the Union Pacific Railroad.
He named the town of Lyman, Wyo. in honor of Francis M. Lyman, a close friend.  Mr. Kingston served as bishop of the Rock Springs Ward, as first counselor to the president of Woodruff Stake, superintendent of the M. I. A. in Morgan Stake, chairman of the first high council and superintendent of Mutuals in Star Valley Stake, as high priest president, in Bingham, Ida. stake, and was a member of the high council of North Weber Stake.
Surviving are the following sons and daughters, Charles W. Kingston, Salt Lake; Richard J. and Clarence Kingston, Mrs. Stella Holley and Mrs. Luella McFarland, Ogden; Mrs. Florence Neilson, Berkeley, Calif; Mrs. Lillian Fisher, Yerrington, Nevada, and Mrs. Mary Olson, Iona, Ida; 51 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren, and the following brothers and sisters, William Kingston, Malad, Ida.; Jack Kingston and Mrs. Sarah Taggert, Smoot, Wyo.; Mrs. Frank Cranney, Salt Lake; Mrs. James Peterson and Mrs. Lou Poulson, Paris, Ida.
The obituary for Charles Kingston in The Deseret News, Sat., July 22, 1944, p 10 as follows:  Charles Kingston, Ogden-Services for Charles Kingston, 87, prominent Churchman, retired secretary-treasurer of the Weber and Huntsville-Eden National Farm Loan Association and former registrar of Evanston, Wyo., who died Wednesday, were to be conducted Saturday at 2 p.m. in Ogden Twenty-second Ward Chapel by M. B. Fox, former bishop of the ward.  
Burial will be in the Ogden City Cemetery.

CHILDREN OF CHARLES & MARY P. KINGSTON

Charles William - born 26 June 1884 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah - married to (1) Vesta Minerva Stowell; (2) Amanda Lavenda Newman; died 29 Nov 1975.
Hazel - born 20 May 1886 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah; died 30 Sep 1887.
Florence Ruth - born 15 Jan 1888 at Morgan, Morgan, Utah.  Married (1) Jesse Hans Nielsen; (2) Almon Dell Daniels Brown; died 24 Jan 1981.
Betsy Valate - born 15 Jan 1888 at Morgan, Morgan, Utah.  Married Charles Henry Owen; died 24 May 1931.
Richard James - born 21 Apr 1891 at Auburn, Uinta, Wyoming.  Married (1) Minnie Eliza Jensen; (2) Donna Estella Child; died 8 Oct 1971.
Estella Lucile - born 5 June 1893 at Grover, Uinta, Wyoming.  Married Horace Holley; died 29 Sep 1971.
Lillian - born 26 Feb 1895 at Afton, Uinta, Wyoming.  Married (1) Ephraim Poulter; (2) John Gordon Fisher; died 6 Dec 1976.
Clarence David - born 26 Mar 1897 at Grover, Uinta, Wyoming.  Married Viva Witt.
Mary Elizabeth - born 27 Dec 1898 at Evanston, Uinta, Wyoming.  Married (1) Bruce Milford Olsen; (2) James Paul Reed; (3) Ira Oliver Fisher.
Luella Agnes - born 24 Mar 1901 at Morgan, Morgan, Utah.  Married Abram Mattson McFarland; died 28 July 1967.
Priscilla May - born 14 July 1903 at Evanston, Uinta, Wyoming.  Married Vernon Oborn Maw; died 2 Dec 1925.

CHARLES KINGSTON (1856 - 1944)

1856 Nov 9 Born at Peterborough, Northampton, England
1879 Crossed the ocean on the steamship, "Wyoming"
1879 Sep 23 Arrived at Morgan, Utah
1880 Nov 9 Baptized by Bishop Albert D. Dickson (Richville Ward, Morgan Stake)
1880 Nov 9 Confirmed by Bishop Albert D. Dickson at Morgan (at home) 
1883 Jan 7 Ordained an Elder by James H. Mason  
1883 May 17 Endowed in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City
1883 May 17 Married and sealed to Mary Priscilla Lerwill Tucker by Daniel H. Wells
1884 Oct 19 Ordained a Seventy by Seymour B. Young (35th Quorum of Seventy)
1885 A teacher in the South Morgan Ward (for several months)
1885 Stake clerk for two years (Morgan Stake)
1886 May 12 Certificate of Citizenship issued by the First Judicial District Court, Salt Lake City
1887 May 20 Set apart for mission to "Europe" (England) by John W. Taylor
1888 June 6 Returned from his mission to England (Missionary Register, Book B, p 94, #89)
1888 Moved to Rock Springs, Wyo. (there two years)
1888 First Counselor to Joseph Soulsby (Rock Springs Branch, became a Ward 16 May 1892)
1890 Moved to Grover, Wyo.
1892 Aug 13 Ordained an High Priest by George Osmond (Star Valley Stake organized)
1892 Aug 13 Set apart as a member of the High Council (Star Valley Stake)
1894 Chosen to preside over the Stake Young Mens MIA
1897 June Appointment as Register of the U.S. Land Office by Pres. William McKinley; served 8 years
1897 Set apart by Pres. Lorenzo Snow at Coalville to special mission to visit scattered saints in Wyo.
1898 June 6 Second Counselor in Stake Presidency (Woodruff Stake organized 6 June 1898) John W. Baxter (Pres.), Encyclopedic History, p. 961
1901 Nov 14 Sealed to Mary Anne Wass in the Salt Lake Temple
1905 Moved to Ammon, Idaho (160 acre farm)
Appointed first Postmaster at Auburn, Wyo.
1906 Nov 3 President of High Priests Quorum (Bingham Stake organized 9 June 1895) Charles is #122 (121 page 12)
1907 Appointed registrar of U.S. Land Office at Evanston, Wyo.
1910 June 5 Moved to Taylor, Weber Co., Utah
1912 Mar 24 High Council (North Weber Stake) HDC, WR f pt 1, p 757
1914 Mar 22 President of High Priests Quorum (North Weber Stake) HDC, WR f pt 1, p 49
1917 July 15 Set apart by Patriarch Levi J. Taylor as Stake Genealogical Representative (North Weber Stake) - served for 12 years
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