Rev. Charles A. Kingsbury was born at Chestnut Hill, Mass., Nov. 16, 1839, and died in this city Nov. 23, 1893. He was educated in the public schools of Newton, Mass.; was a graduate of Williams College, and of the Union Theological Seminary, in New York. His first pastorate was in Marion, Mass., where he remained nearly six years, when he was obliged to leave on account of failing health. After spending some months in Colorado, he was called to church in West Winfield, N. Y., and continued there for some years, when ill-health again compelled him to leave the work he loved so well, and which he was never again able to resume.
After three years of out-of-door life in his native place, he was attracted to Southern California, and, after many months of careful investigation throughout the region, he decided upon Redlands as a home, which choice he never regretted, and often expressed himself as having found “just the right place.” He was, from the first, deeply interested in municipal, religious and educational affairs. He was a member of the board of trustees of the city, a trustee of the Redlands school district – the principal school in which now bears his name; a trustee of the Union High School district, and a member of the Y. M. C. A. “As a conservator of the public good, his strict integrity and intelligent appreciation of the city’s interests, gained him the implicit confidence of all. As a citizen and friend, his ready sympathy and rare christian character gained him a place in the hearts of many, who will remember him for the good he has done.” His widow and son survive him. The latter is in Harvard College, class of 1899.
(Source: Illustrated Redlands, 1897, p. 28.)
