My Genealogy Hound

John Kingston. A good name results from a lifetime of upright and useful citizenship, and when it is said that one has a name without reproach among his fellow men, no ordinary compliment is paid. In sketching the life of Mr. Kingston, this statement is made without a tinge of flattery. He was born in Philadelphia, Penn., September 11, 1837, and is a son of John and Mary (Emerick) Kingston, also natives of the “Keystone State.” The father was a cabinet maker by trade in early life, but in later years abandoned this occupation and gave his attention to real estate. John Kingston was reared and educated in Philadelphia, and began mercantile life in a wholesale dry goods house of that city. In 1856 he immigrated to Missouri, and became connected with the firm of J. M. Wilson & Co. at Sarcoxie, Jasper County, continuing in this occupation until 1861, when he joined Col. Craven’s command as a private, participating in the battles of Wilson’s Creek and Lexington. In the fall of 1861 he was commissioned a lieutenant of Company A, Eleventh Missouri, Confederate States Army, and was at the battles of Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Helena, Ark., Pleasant Hill, Jenkins’ Ferry, and was discharged after the surrender of Gen. Kirby Smith. On his return home he farmed until 1868 when he opened a grocery and provision store in Granby, and in 1870 he accepted a position as salesman in the store of the Granby Mining and Smelting Company. In 1873 he was transferred to the smelting department, and in 1877 became general superintendent, a position he still holds. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and a man of fine business capacity. January 15, 1858, Mr. Kingston married Mrs. Mary A. Hughes, whose maiden name was Williams, and by her is the father of two sons: John W. and Charlie D. Mrs. Kingston was previously married to William P. Hughes, of Howard County, Mo., who died in 1852 while on his way to California. He was the father of two children: John, a resident of Oregon, and James H., who now is doing business in Granby.