Edward Henry Kingsbury, who as general manager for the lumber and planing mill company of Andrew Little & Son for many years, occupies a prominent position in the business circles of Little Falls, was born in this city on the 16th of December, 1862, the son of Hezekiah H. and Romalda Arabella (Heath) Kingsbury. The father, the second son of John and Rhoda Cornelia (Bates) Kingsbury, was born in Ava, Oneida county, New York, in 1830, and died in Little Falls, May 4, 1874. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Battery A, or Bates Battery, First Regiment, New York Light Artillery, in which he held the rank of sergeant. He was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks and discharged from the army for disability in 1863. For many years he was in the hotel business in various places as proprietor, the hotel at Little Falls being his last enterprise of this nature. Hezekiah H. Kingsbury was married in October of 1861 to Romalda A. Heath, who was born January 12, 1836, in Little Falls, and died August 16, 1899. She was the daughter of Henry McLean and Sabina (Casler) Heath. Through her father she was a direct descendant of William Heath, who came from London, England, in the ship Lion in 1632. He was deputy for Roxbury and "an able, godly and faithful brother", says Elliot in his entry on the church record. He married Mary Bartholomew Heath, who was from Newbury, Massachusetts, and had a son, John, born August 15, 1643, who removed to Haverhill, where he married Sarah, daughter of William Partridge of Salisbury, and had a son, Bartholomew. There is no relationship shown between William of Roxbury and Bartholomew of Newbury. Bartholomew Heath, son of John, was born about 1685 and is supppsed to have been the father of Bartholomew of Sharon, Connecticut, born 1710, and died February 11, 1789. His wife was Mehitable Fuller and they had issue. Their progeny settled in New Hampshire and New York states, but can not be definitely traced until Hezekiah, grandson of Bartholomew of Sharon, born at Sharon about 1759 and died at Springfield, New York, July 18, 1823. He was a school teacher and married Dorothy McLean, who was born at Ancram, New York, December 23, 1763, and died at German Flats, New York, in 1801. Their son, Henry Heath, born at Egremont, Massachusetts, November 17, 1789, and died at Little Falls, February 21, 1875, married Sabina Casler on May 13, 1810, and they became the parents of Romalda A. Heath, mother of Edward Henry Kingsbury of this review, who is the oldest of three brothers, the others being: Charles Mortimer Kingsbury, born March 30, 1865, and married to Sadie Galliraith on December 16, 1896, resides in New York city; John McLean Kingsbury was born January 2, 1870, and spent two years in study at Cornell University, where he won a scholarship. He is now a department manager of the Allis-Chalmers Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On December 15, 1897, he was married to Minnie Esther Thume, daughter of John Jacob and Lucy (Shipman) Thume, who was born in Little Falls, April 21, 1878.
At the age of sixteen Edward H. Kingsbury embarked upon what has proved to be a highly successful business career. His education, prior to that time, had been acquired in the public schools of his native city. His first position was that of a clerk in a mercantile house, where he was employed for four years, at the end of which he left to become bookkeeper for E. B. Waite & Company, paper manufacturers of Little Falls. After five years with this company he accepted a similar position with P. W. Casler & Company, which he held for another five-year period. For several years, from 1893 to 1896, he was a member of the firm of Heath & Kingsbury, which bought out P. W. Casler & Company and conducted a general lumber and planing mill business. In 1896 Mr. Kingsbury became associated as an accountant with the Andrew Little Lumber & Planing Mill Company, now known as Andrew Little & Son. For the first nine years he was with this concern he kept its books, but in 1905 he was advanced to the position of general manager, which he has held to the present day. Mr. Kingsbury not only understands the lumber and planing mill business from "A to Z", but he is a capable executive as well, and under his management the firm has enjoyed a period of prosperity that was not even overclouded by the trying times during and succeeding the World war. Mr. Kingsbury was one of the men instrumental in securing the organization of the Little Falls Building & Loan Association in 1913, at which time he was elected secretary of the new organization. In 1921 he was chosen to fill the office of president, which he now holds. At one time he was also a stockholder and director of the Astoronga Paper Company of this city.
In spite of his many and responsible business connections Mr. Kingsbury has never been too busy to give some of his time and energy to civic affairs. His long record of almost continuous public service is one that might well be emulated by more of our prominent business and professional men. For seventeen years he was actively interested in the volunteer fire department, of which he became assistant chief engineer, serving as such for nine years, from 1886 to 1895. He is also a life member of the Tri-County Firemen's Association. From 1895 to 1897 he was assessor for the town of Little Falls, and from 1898 to 1900 was assessor for the city. He had previously, from 1888 to 1889, served as town clerk, and in 1900 he was elected mayor of Little Falls. It was during his administration as mayor that the Utica & Mohawk Valley Electric Railway was built and as mayor of the city he was influential in securing the double tracking of the line through West Main street, a proposition that was bitterly opposed at the time, but whose wisdom has since been fully established. The systematic paving of the streets of Little Falls was also inaugurated during his term of office. In 1903, at the end of his second term as mayor, Mr. Kingsbury was enthusiastically renominated for that office, but he felt obliged to decline the honor. Two years later he was appointed member of the board of public works and served thereon for two terms, or a total period of eight years. His political affiliations are with the democratic party.
Fraternally Mr. Kingsbury is an Odd Fellow and a Mason, his affiliations in the latter order being with the Little Falls Lodge, A. F: & A. M.; and the Little Falls Commandery, No. 26, Knights Templar. He is the president of the Exchange Club of Little Falls and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce. At one time he was president of the Little Falls Athletic Association and a member of the champion team sf bowlers for many years. That he is an Episcopalian in his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Emanuel Episcopal church of this city. Fishing and motoring rank high in his list of favorite recreations. Also he is an enthusiastic traveler and has taken extensive trips that have covered most of the western hemisphere, including Canada and South America as well as his own United States.
In Little Falls, on the 10th of February, 1886, Mr. Kingsbury was united in marriage to Miss Frances Orendorf, who was born in the town of Little Falls in December, 1857, and died in this city in January, 1903. She was the daughter of John and Mary Orendorf. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Kingsbury, Gladys Romalda, was born in Little Falls, November 7, 1893, and is now the wife of Lynn Everett Strough, son of Wilbur M. and May (Lowe) Strough, who was born at Salisbury Center, New York, November 22, 1890. They have a little son, Robert Edward Strough, born in Salisbury Center, February 2, 1922. Mr. Strough is a salesman for the Andrew Little & Son Company. Mr. Kingsbury was married at Thorn Hill, Canada, on October 19, 1904, to Miss Eva Cross. The daughter of James and Sarah Cross, she was born at Victoria Square, Canada, August 14, 1878. Her father was born in Derby, England, in January, 1849, and was brought to Canada as an infant in arms. As a young man he went into the Northwest Territories during the Riel Rebellion and served for two years as an aide to General Wolseley. Mr. Cross was noted as a very fine horseman. He died in Toronto, September 30, 1912, and is survived by his widow, who is living in Toronto, at the age of seventy-three. The daughter of an English agriculturist, she was born in Yorkshire, on March 1, 1851.