Kingston Township

Kingston Township

*HE town of Kingston is the largest subdivision of Meeker county acing all of township 120 noi'tli, range 29 west, and the south half of township 121, the same range. It contains, in nil, 3-t,389.39 acres, of which 1.337 are covered with water. Much of the land is still covered by the primeval forest, a j^ortion of " The Big Woods." The Crow River, that crosses its territory from west to east, bisecting sections IS, 19, 20, 21,22, 23, 26 and 25, seems to be the boundary line between the prairie and forest, south of it being mostly prairie, and north of it timber land. Consequent upon this, the first settlements were made in the southern part of the town, many locating upon the banks of the river, and at the village of Kingston.

The first to settle in this subdivision of the county is believed to have been IMark Gates, in the spring of 1856, and he was followed shortly after by J. B. Salisbui'y, A. P. Whitney, Benjamin and Josiah Doi'man, John Fitzgerald. Patrick Flynn, A. C. Maddox, Henry Averill, Cyrus Averill, Warren Averill. Elmer Harper, AVilliam Higgins, John T. Kennison, Joseph Wej'mer, JMorris Power, Wellington Cates, B. P. Whitnej', Oliver Patch, Solomon Gi'ay, John K. Perkins, John Lowell, Byley Lyford, John Martin, Uriah Palmer, Enoch Eastman, Rufus Eastman, Robert Niles, Nelson Niles, and Scott Hutchinson.

Among those who came here in 1858. and here found homes, may be mentioned F. V. DeCoster, George Scribner, A. H. Carvill, Jefferson Carvill, and John Do^de.

The trials, tribulations and hardships endured by the pioneers of the town would fill a volume. Coming here, for the most part, without money, or the wherewitiial to live until tliey could get a crop, their endurance was severely tested. The land had to be prepared, and seed purchased before the land could be sown, ant! in many cases to get the seed was a serious problem.

town, some are in other {lortions of the county, many have moved away, and a part havejmssed to their reward beyond the grave. Their work remains, however, and it is due to the hardy pioneers of this county to remark that when they laid the foundations of society in this part of the State, they builded better than they knew, and to tiiem is due much of the development of its resources.

Enough settlers having located here, on the 5th of April, 1858, the town was duly organized, at which time the following names bore a prominent part : A. P. Whitney, J. B. Salisbury, Orrin Whitney, Benjamin Ruggles, Mark Cates, E. H. Whitney, Joseph Weymer, Joseph Dorman, S. B. Hutchins and others of the older settlers. The present officers are : Supervisors, John Clay (chairman), Andrew Anderson and Geo. W. Robinson ; assessor, Ben Apfeld ; justice of tiie peace, Walter Salisbury, and Timothy Murphy, clerk.

The first school was taught by James A. Austin, in the summer of 1857. This was undoubtedly the first in the count3\ The teacher held the school in the cabin of Enoch Eastman, which the people had fitted up for the pui'pose.

Kingston Village

tance, was, at one time, the rival and peer of the then county-seat. The location of the seat of justice at Litchfield, and the arrival of the I'aiiroad at that village, destroyed the hopes of Kingston, as well as several others, and it is now but a semblance of its former self. The town site was taken up by Albion P. Whitney, G. R. Nourse and R. P. Upton, in 1857, and surveyed and laid out that fall by a surveyor liy the name of Curtis. The plat was filed for record June 2, 1858. The village is located upon the northwest quarter of section 22, township 120, range 20.

Here the town pro])rietors put in the dam, and commenced the erection of the saw-mill in 1857, anil that institution commenced operations in July, of that year.

A stock of goods was brought hei-e during the spring of 1857, by A. P. Whitney, and the first sales were made from the los; cabin of that gentleman.

The same year the first store building was erected and a stock of goods put in by Whitney, bourse & Upton. In 1858 A. P. Whitney disposed of his interest in the concern, and shortly after the business passed into the hantls of Hines & Carmer. The next to operate the institution was Iliram Hall, who was followed by William Hall, and he by Peck, Hutchinson & Durkee. Peck k. Durkee were their successors, and were followed by Owen ct Murphy, and the establishment is now under the control of the Murphy Bros.

The other store building was erected about 1859, and in it N. C. Hines commenced the sale of general merchandise. He was succeeded by William Hall, he by F. V. De Coster, and the latter by E. A. Briggs.

The mercantile life of the village is now represented by the firm of Murphy Bros., dealers in general merchandise ; E. A. Briggs, capitalist; a blacksmith shop kept by Mr. Mahoney, and a wagon-making shop operated by Samuel Dorman.

The grist-mill was erected in 1858. by A. P. Whitney ifc Co., the foundation having been put in by (Jri'in Whitney, for them. The f(jllowing year the property passed into the hands of Hiram Hall, and was run l)y Hall & Davis, Hall k, Thompson, King & De Coster, Hall & Thompson again, and J. H. Thom]ison, successively, until it was purchased and improved by John Mattson, the present owner.

East Kingston was laid out in 1871, by Jefferson Carvill, upon the northeast quarter of section 14, and the plat filed for record January 24, 1871.

Jefferson and Dr. A. H. Carvill had, however, in 1806, taken up the mill site, and erected a dam at this place, and the following year put up the grist and saw mill, which constituted the entire business of the place. The Carvill Bros, ran the mills until 1873, when the doctor sold out to John Norgren, and for several years they were operated under the firm name and style of Carville & Norgren. Jefferson Carvill then became sole proprietor, but for the past three years the mills have been silent, they being in litigation.