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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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KINGSTON, PAUL (1852-1945)

KINGSTON, PAUL, lumber contractor and church-man; b. English Settlement, 29 Dec 1852, s/o Samuel Kingston and Mary Curry; m. 1882, Mary Ann Crowe, d/o Cornelius Crowe and Ann Dolan, of Sevogle; d. Newcastle, 27 Mar 1948.

Paul Kingston came of age far up the Northwest where his grandfather of the same name had settled in 1826 after immigrating from Co. Cork, Ireland. He attended the public school in that remote district when it was taught by Donald Bell, a veteran teacher of North Esk parish, and by the Newcastle teacher John Hamilton, who would sometimes take a school at a distance from home.

As a young man, Kingston was a skilled riverman, and in the early 1870s he worked on the last square timber drives on the Miramichi. When the Intercolonial Railroad was being built he was hired to haul stone with his team of horses. He was later a teamster with George Burchill & Sons. Around 1900 he began to take lumber contracts for Burchill's, which involved hiring men and horses, erecting lumber camps, and supervising river drives. He continued contracting until he was nearly ninety years old, and despite many hardships and setbacks, he achieved financial success.

Being one of the most affluent Catholic residents of the Northwest, Kingston was able to advance a loan at no interest to help with the construction of the new St Thomas Church at Red Bank in 1907, and he was one of the main financiers of St James Church at Sevogle in 1911. He took an interest in community affairs as well and was elected as a county councillor for North Esk parish in 1912. An account of his life and of the history of the Kingston family, entitled Miramichi Woodsman, was published by his son-in-law George Brooks Johnson in 1945.

Kingston and his wife, Mary A. Crowe, had twelve children, most of whom were well educated and occupied successful positions in life. Their daughters Anna, Margaret, and Suzanne Kingston were nurses in the United States, and their son C. Louis Kingston was a physician there. An older son, Cornelius F. Kingston, was a lumberman at Trout Brook and a soldier in World War I. He was later commissioned in the militia and served a term as commanding officer of Company B, the Newcastle field battery. He and his wife, Catherine O'Shea, had a highly talented family of fourteen children, which included three priests, a medical doctor, and an engineer.

Sources

[b/m] Kingston family hist. [d] Commercial World 1 Apr 1948 / Arbuckle; Leader 17 Jan 1964


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