The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-11-10
BlO6RA.P PHl CAL,
THEODORE B. KINGSBURY,
A. NJ, LII. D.
All Interesting Sketch OF the Life and
LabOrs of One of North CarOlina's
Most Gifted Sons and accomplished
Literateurs and Journalists.
BY JOHN S. LONG, LII. D;
GFrom the Centenary.1

| from the Centenary.l
A marvellous man, who, against his
own will and outside of his own plans,
has accomplished a marvellous work.
A biographical sketch of him is bene-
faction to this generation, as showing
how the All-Father lays His loving
hand on the ability of a thinker, and
conducts him by paths that he knows
not, and leads him to dizzy heights
where he can best see the city of God.
Possessing vivid youth teeming with
all manner Of dreams, catching the
light of supreme beauty from afar, He
ordered his life along beaten ways,
planning History of North Carolina,
Sketch of Eminent North Carolinians,
and Biography and Criticism of
Famous Authors. As preparation
for all this, as he imagined, he became
editor of the Leisu,e Hours, Our Liz
ing and Our Dead, The Indicator,
and other literary undertakings, which
absorbed the vitality of his manhood,
but brought him no nearer to the
splendid realization of a book-maker.
Instead he has been chained down to
the editorial chair. As seeming
punishment for his literary dreams, he
has had to feed on the dry crust and
lentils of the sanctum. Side by side
with his most brilliant leader, has come
the unemployment of the proof-reader.
Hard work and plenty of it has been
his necessity. Through the dark his
tory of the civil war, at the capital events
were shaping his advent then as a
political writer. Since 1876, for nearly
thirteen years he edited the Whining
ton Star. Since 1889 he has edited
the Messenger, pressing all his gifts
into its columns. And what has been
the result of the dndesired and un-
: planned in DR.. Kingsbury's career !?
Instead of being a maker of books, he
has heen a maker of men. No man
IN this generation has SO impressed the
literary impulses of the young. His
paragraphs have spread like electric
messages to our colleges and schools.
His thoughts on literature, politics
and religion have been nuggets of solid
gold. North Carolina journalism has
been pervaded all through by his in
| fuence. The standard of literary taste
throughout the State has been raised.
And this boundless activity for i'm
perishab!e good has come from the
man who wished to trust his fame to
the making of books.
DR.. Kingsbury is now in his sixty
fifth year, and though not in robust
health, has manly porte and car
riage. There is a blending of the
poet and scholar in his we'll shaped
head and thoughtful countenance.
His father, Russell Kingsbury, came
from Connecticut to North Carolina
between 1872 and 1875, and his tai
ented son was born in the old Guion
Hotel, north of the capitol at Raleigh,
on 29th August, 1928. He was edu-
Gated at Oxford Academy, the Bing-
ham and Lovejoy schools, and the
University of the State. AS an evi-
dence of his precocious talents, two or
more of his University essays were
filed by the unanimous action of his
literary society for preservation.
1t is said that blood will! tell. And
certainly the subject of this sketch has
no reason to be ashamed Of his family.
Born and reared amid the historic
memories OF New England, the men,
bers of it, from Col. James Kingsbury,
of Continental times, have adorned
civic life and the profession of arms,
and earned for themselves high inches
in the country's history. Judge Jno.
B. Kingsbury was an ornament to the
bench, Hon. F. J. Kingsbury an in
huential factor in politics, while Gen
eral Charles P. Kingsbury and num-
Der of others won military honors.
Col. Henry w. Kingsbury married
a niece of President Zachary Taylor,
while his sister Mary was welded to
Simon Bucknez, the famous hero of
Fort Donelson, and one of the most
popular Governors of Kentucky. On
his mothers side, who was Mary S.
Bryant, of Scotland Neck, Halifax
county, the subject of this sketch is
related to the Suttons, Thompsons,
Cottons and many orther prominent
families in Eastern Carolina. But as
fortunate as DR.. Kingsbury has been
in his family relations, he owes more
to his handsoIn: and fascinating wife.
She is one Of Those rare women whose
faces are alive with tender sentiment.
Her maiden name was Sallie Jones
Atkinson, and she is a daughter of
Gen. Roger P. Atkinson of Virginia.
A descendant of the famous Richard
Bland of that prolific commonwealth,
she is connected with the Lees, Ran
dolphs, Pryors, Poytresses and May
os, and with the Littlejohns, Blounts,
Cheshires and Pettigrews of Eastern
North Carolina. Five intelligent and
attractive daughters grace DR.. Kings
bury's home, and two married sons
live close by him in Wilmington.
Truly this is an ideal household, with
scholarship, wit and popularity linked
by the tenderest confidence and ahec-
ton, glorifying every impulse of the
family circle.
DR.. kingsbury's honors have not
been Insignificant or few. But he be-
1ap - t,k o1l