Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1830s

Work

Farms, shops, coal nearby

The township’s everyday base was mixed farming: wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, buckwheat, wool, butter, and cheese³. At the village corners, advertisements show stores, saddle-and-harness work, and cabinet-and-chair making⁷, while anthracite lay in a fifty-mile basin² around the valley.

Faith

Church plans and circuits

At the end of 1830, Kingston subscribers sought bids for a Presbyterian church in Kingston⁷. Methodist people on the Wyoming Circuit were also being called to meet at the Academy in Kingston⁷ about a meeting house at Forty Fort.

Law & power

Township, not borough

Kingston was still township ground because the 1831 incorporation effort failed¹. County power sat across the river: Wilkes-Barre became the county town^1,6, with courts and elections there.

In the air

Anti-Masonry at Myers’s house

Politics came directly into Kingston parlors and tavern-like meeting rooms: Democratic-Republican and Anti-Masonic meetings met at Philip Myers’s house in 1830⁷. The Anti-Masonic organizers named Henry Breece and William Johnson for Kingston⁷.

What people feared

Smallpox and rough water

Disease fear was real: a man died of smallpox in Kingston in 1830⁷, and cases were reported near Wilkes-Barre. Travel and shipping also carried risk, since river traffic faced shallow water, rocky bottom, and rapids⁴.

Home & table

New England-looking valley

An 1843 observer still saw the valley’s Connecticut stamp in white houses with green blinds² and red-painted or plain frame farmhouses². Schooling was graded by ambition and price, from $2 to $4 per quarter⁷ at the Academy.

Money

Cash and country produce

Cash mattered, but barter remained practical: cash and country produce⁷ could pay for goods. A very local price appears in 1830 when good ashes brought fifteen cents per bushel⁷.

Roads & news

Post, papers, canal talk

Kingston had its own post office⁷ by 1830, and Wilkes-Barre newspapers carried local notices, deaths, politics, and ads. The big transport news of the decade was the North Branch Canal completed to Pittston in 1834⁴.

Year by year

1. 1830Kingston Township was reported with 1,549 inhabitants, including 12 foreigners not naturalized and 8 free Black residents. here⁷
2. 1830Smallpox killed a man in Kingston and several cases were reported close to Wilkes-Barre. here⁷
3. 1830Anti-Masonic and Democratic-Republican organizers held county political meetings at Philip Myers’s house in Kingston. here⁷
4. 1831An attempt to incorporate land around Kingston Corners as a borough failed in the Pennsylvania legislature. here¹
5. 1834The North Branch Canal reached Pittston, giving the Wyoming Valley a much better route for coal, lumber, and farm produce. nearby⁴
6. 1837The Panic of 1837 shook banks, credit, and prices across the United States, news that would have reached Kingston through papers and merchants. the country
7. 1838Pennsylvania adopted a new state constitution that restricted the vote to white freemen, a political change affecting every township. the country
8. 1839The First Opium War began between Britain and China, part of the world news carried in American newspapers. the world

Pictures from the time

What the sources say

• In 1831 citizens sought to incorporate limited land around Kingston Corners, but the bill failed and borough incorporation did not occur until November 23, 1857. inferred¹
• Kingston Township lay in the Wyoming Valley and was one of Luzerne County’s original Susquehanna townships organized in 1790. inferred⁶
• Kingston stood on the west side of the North Branch of the Susquehanna opposite Wilkes-Barre, the county seat. from the sources^2,4
• The reported population of Kingston Township in the 1830 census was 1,549, including 12 foreigners not naturalized and 8 free Black residents. from the sources⁷
• Luzerne County grew from about 27,379 people in 1830 to 44,006 in 1840, an increase an 1843 account attributed largely to the opening of coal mines. from the sources²
• The Wyoming Valley anthracite basin was described in 1843 as a long trough four to five miles wide and about fifty miles long, underlying the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys. from the sources²
• An 1843 description of the Wyoming Valley noted villages with tall spires, shaded streets, neat white houses with green blinds, and country frame houses painted red or left wood-colored. from the sources²
• Within the later borough limits, Peter Grubb’s grist and saw mills stood on Toby’s Creek from 1790 to 1807 and were taken down in 1826. from the sources⁵
• On December 30, 1830, subscribers advertised for proposals to erect a Presbyterian church in Kingston, with plans available at Ziba Hoyt’s residence. from the sources⁷
• In 1830 a select school at the Academy in Kingston charged $2 per quarter for reading, writing, spelling, and elementary arithmetic; $3 for grammar, geography, history, and higher arithmetic; and $4 for classics, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and chemistry. from the sources⁷
• Advertisements in 1830 name Kingston businesses including Elias Hoyt & Co., Cahoon & Laning’s new store, Edward Crosthwaite’s saddle and harness manufactory, and John W. Little’s cabinet and chair manufactory. from the sources⁷
• A list of letters remaining at the Kingston post office was printed on October 1, 1830, showing that Kingston had its own post office in the decade. from the sources⁷
• In September 1830 both a Democratic-Republican delegate meeting and an Anti-Masonic and Republican meeting met at Philip Myers’s house in Kingston. from the sources⁷
• The October 1830 Anti-Masonic meeting chose Henry Breece and William Johnson to represent Kingston in forming an Anti-Masonic ticket. from the sources⁷
• Smallpox was present around Kingston in 1830: a man died of smallpox in Kingston, and the newspaper reported several cases within a short distance of Wilkes-Barre. from the sources⁷
• As across Luzerne County before the canal, Susquehanna transport depended on lumber rafts, flatboats, and Durham boats and was dangerous because of shallow water, rocky bottom, and rapids. from the sources⁴
• The North Branch Canal, begun at Northumberland in 1828, was completed to Pittston in 1834 and made transportation easier than older river traffic. from the sources⁴
• The later 1850 agricultural census for Kingston Township recorded wheat, rye, corn, oats, wool, potatoes, buckwheat, butter, and a little cheese, which fits a mixed-farming landscape likely continuous from the 1830s. from the sources³
• In 1830 a Kingston advertiser offered fifteen cents per bushel in cash for good ashes delivered to his residence. from the sources⁷
• In 1830 a Kingston schoolmaster’s tuition notice accepted cash, while a nearby store advertisement accepted both cash and country produce for goods. from the sources⁷
• Luzerne County had courts and county elections after its creation, and Wilkes-Barre rather than Forty Fort in Kingston became the county town. inferred^1,6
• The first railroad entry into the Wyoming Valley did not occur until 1843, so Kingston in the 1830s was not yet a railroad village. from the sources⁴
• No online source found in this quick search gives a complete street-by-street map of Kingston Corners in the 1830s. not known

Sources

1. History – Kingston Borough. Kingston Borough
2. Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania: Luzerne County extract. Genealogy Trails, 1843
3. Luzerne County - 1850 Census Data. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1850
4. Historical Sketch of Luzerne County. Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine, 1977
5. History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, Pa., Part 94. LDS Genealogy, 1880
6. Kingston Township, Luzerne Co., Pa.. Luzerne County PAGenWeb
7. 1830 Susquehanna Democrat. Wyoming County Historical Society, 1830

Kingston in other decades

Nearby, about the same time