C Kingsbury, Lilburn A. (1884-1983), Collection, 1816-1983 3724 9.2 linear feet; 16 oversize volumes, 6 card files MICROFILM This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. INTRODUCTION The personal papers and collected materials of Lilburn A. Kingsbury of Howard County, Missouri. Kingsbury was an insurance agent, farmer, orchardist, bank clerk, local historian, writer, genealogist, musician, and antique collector. DONOR INFORMATION Consult the reference staff about donor information. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Lilburn Adkin Kingsbury was born 14 October 1884, to Robert Taylor and Alice Virginia Smith Kingsbury. He lived his entire life on the family farm near New Franklin, Missouri, until his death on July 1, 1983. He was a third-generation descendant of Jere Kingsbury, who immigrated to the Boonslick area of the Missouri Territory in 1816. Kingsbury attended Central Methodist College in Fayette, Missouri, for two years before leaving in 1905 to become a cashier for the New Franklin Bank. He left the bank to devote more time to his insurance business, begun in 1908, and to assist his father with the family’s apple orchards. He held memberships in the New Franklin Methodist Church, the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Boonslick Historical Society, the Missouri State Writers Guild, the Howard Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Order of Eastern Star, and the National Button Society. He was a founding member and the first president of the Cooper-Howard County Historical Society, which later became the Boonslick Historical Society. Kingsbury was a recognized authority on the history of the Boonslick area of Missouri. From the 1960s until his death, he wrote several weekly newspaper columns pertaining to local history. During the same period, he was a frequent guest speaker before historical, educational, and fraternal groups. One of Kingsbury’s most notable achievements was the recording of the tombstone inscriptions in 1937 and 1938 for every known, marked grave in over 200 Howard County cemeteries. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The historical and family records compiled by Kingsbury contain a wealth of information for genealogists, social historians, and historians of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Missouri. Nearly all of the records pertain to Howard County, Missouri, or to the Kingsbury family. Records of other families, of neighboring Cooper County, and of the state of Missouri are secondary. Because of the nature of this collection, it has been extensively indexed. In nearly all cases, however, personal names are indexed by surname only. C3724 Kingsbury, Lilburn A. (1884-1983), Collection, 1816-1983 Page 2 The Kingsbury Collection has been arranged into fourteen series according to type of material: Card Files Correspondence Family Histories Family Papers Genealogy Historical Records Maps, Plats, and Architectural Plans and Drawings Photographs Printed and Miscellany Reminiscences and Anecdotes Research Notes Speeches and Writings Newspaper Clippings Scrapbooks More complete descriptions of the series are in the folder list. The Kingsbury collection is a significant resource for anyone doing genealogical research in Howard County. The card files, family histories, genealogical records, and the correspondence series all contain helpful and extensive family records. The correspondence, historical records, and reminiscences collected by Kingsbury also offer researchers a significant collection of materials pertaining to territorial Missouri, the Boonslick region, the Civil War, social customs and rituals, religion, agriculture, business, education, the changes caused by modern technology, and the affairs of a pioneering Missouri family for more than three generations. In addition Lilburn Kingsbury was a copious and gifted correspondent. His letters are both detailed and entertaining and are of special interest to the social historian. Parts of the collection have been microfilmed for conservation purposes. Microfilmed folders and volumes are indicated on the folder list. FOLDER LIST Card Files Series Card Files 1-4 Cemetery Card Files. Record of Howard County, Missouri, tombstone inscriptions collected by Kingsbury from 1937 until his death. Includes all legible information contained on the stones for 1,971 distinct surnames located in over 200 cemeteries and burial sites. There are an estimated 12,000 names contained in this file. Arrangement is alphabetical by surname and then alphabetical by the cemetery name within each surname. A list of the cemetery names and their locations as taken from Kingsbury’s notes follows this inventory. A copy of a Howard County plat book showing the locations of the cemeteries also follows this inventory. The original plat book is in the possession of the State Historical Society of Missouri. Card Files 5-6 Historical Card Files. A collection of Howard and Cooper County, Missouri, historical notes on various topics, including obituaries and C3724 Kingsbury, Lilburn A. (1884-1983), Collection, 1816-1983 Page 3 biographical sketches. These card files are transcriptions taken primarily from the Fayette Howard County Advertiser of the 1870s through the 1890s. Most entries include the paper’s date and the page and column number. Also included are notes transcribed from other printed sources and from Kingsbury’s correspondence and reminiscences. The major topics include churches, schools, businesses, blacks, women, social customs, temperance, and the Missouri towns of Fayette, New Franklin, Roanoke, Glasgow, and Boonville. These cards are arranged alphabetically. A list of subject divisions and cross-references follows this inventory. Correspondence, 1819-1983 Series Personal, family, and miscellaneous correspondence received, written, and collected by Kingsbury. The correspondence series is arranged in four subseries. Folders 1-119 contain Kingsbury’s personal, genealogical, and business correspondence. Folders 120-188 contain correspondence between Lilburn Kingsbury and various family members and personal friends. Folders 189-218 contain the correspondence of Kingsbury family members collected by Kingsbury. Folders 219-222 contain the correspondence of the Craig, Rankin, and Snoddy families and unidentified correspondence collected by Kingsbury. f. 1-119 Personal, genealogical, and business correspondence of Lilburn Kingsbury, 1904-1983. Arranged chronologically, this correspondence consists primarily of letters received by Kingsbury and a few copies of letters he sent. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1927 to 1983, with the most from the 1930s when Kingsbury began compiling a family genealogy. Much of the correspondence from the 1970s and 1980s consists of genealogical inquiries received by Kingsbury. Also included is correspondence relating to buttons, antique collecting, and Howard County history. Correspondence relating to Kingsbury’s insurance agency and other business interests is minimal. Correspondents of note include Missouri author Ward Allison Dorrance, relatives Warren T. Kingsbury, Billie Masters, and Joida Whitten, and various officers of the Missouri Writers Guild. f. 120-188 Personal correspondence between Lilburn Kingsbury and various family members and personal friends, 1933-1983. Kingsbury kept this correspondence in a separate series, which is arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent and then chronologically within. f. 120-125 Correspondence with Lilburn Kingsbury Agnew of Great Falls, Montana, 1933-1952. Dating primarily from the 1930s, these letters contain family news, genealogical information, and reminiscences of Howard County, Missouri, during the 1870s. f. 121 Agnew’s reminiscences of a steamboat trip on the Mississippi River. f. 126-127 Correspondence from Virgil C. Blankenbaker of Virgelle, Montana, 1934- 1936. Blankenbaker became a prominent Montana rancher and state C3724 Kingsbury, Lilburn A. (1884-1983), Collection, 1816-1983 Page 4 politician. These letters pertain primarily to ranching, genealogy, Blankenbaker’s reminiscences of his youth in Howard County, Missouri, and his campaigns for the Montana State House of Representatives in 1932 and the State Senate in 1934. Included are several letters from Sidney J. Blankenbaker of Broadus, Montana, and one from Mrs. Virgil Blankenbaker. f. 128 Correspondence from Flosserfina Faller and the Philippine Leprosy Mission, Inc., 1957-1970. Faller, a victim of Hansen’s Disease, writes of the sufferings she and her family underwent at Culion Sanitarium, Palawan, Philippine Islands. Kingsbury became acquainted with the Faller family through the mission activities of the Methodist Church and helped to support them financially. f. 129 Correspondence received from Kate L. Gregg, historian and instructor at Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Missouri, 1938-1941. Also included is an outline of a Gregg speech entitled “Writing a History Paper.” The correspondence pertains primarily to Gregg’s research on the Santa Fe Trail, including the details of an automobile trip she took to trace the trail from Missouri to New Mexico. f. 130-132 Correspondence from Jean A. Gulloch of London, England, 1949-1954. Many of the buttons collected by Kingsbury were purchased by Gulloch from London shops. The correspondence focuses on descriptions of the buttons, which Gulloch purchased but also deals with family news, Gulloch’s travel plans, her views on British politics and U.S.-British relations, and food