# Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1830s

> A small Susquehanna-side village and farming township, just beginning to feel canals, coal money, party politics, and epidemic fear.

- Place: Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (41.262, -75.897)
- Years: 1830 to 1839
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/kingston-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1830s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Kingston%2C%20Luzerne%20County%2C%20Pennsylvania%2C%20United%20States&at=41.2617,-75.8969&year=1835

## Looking around

You stand at Kingston Corners[1], not yet a borough, where an 1831 incorporation bill fails[1] and the village remains township ground. The place sits in the heart of the Wyoming Valley[6], a broad Susquehanna plain under long ridges. Roads lead toward Wilkes-Barre across the river[2][4] and north toward Forty Fort and Wyoming. Around the corners are stores, a saddle-and-harness shop, and a cabinet-and-chair shop[7]. Nearby is the Academy in Kingston[7], where schooling costs by the quarter. A Kingston post office[7] holds letters for residents and ministers. Older lanes run toward Toby’s Creek[5], where grist and saw mills had stood until 1826. The visible houses are likely white village houses with green blinds[2] or red-painted or plain frame farmhouses[2]. Beyond the village, the township’s work is agricultural: wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, buckwheat, wool, butter, and cheese[3].

## Work: Farms, shops, coal nearby

The township’s everyday base was mixed farming: wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, buckwheat, wool, butter, and cheese[3]. At the village corners, advertisements show stores, saddle-and-harness work, and cabinet-and-chair making[7], while anthracite lay in a fifty-mile basin[2] around the valley.

## Faith: Church plans and circuits

At the end of 1830, Kingston subscribers sought bids for a Presbyterian church in Kingston[7]. Methodist people on the Wyoming Circuit were also being called to meet at the Academy in Kingston[7] about a meeting house at Forty Fort.

## Law & power: Township, not borough

Kingston was still township ground because the 1831 incorporation effort failed[1]. 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 1830[7]. The Anti-Masonic organizers named Henry Breece and William Johnson for Kingston[7].

## What people feared: Smallpox and rough water

Disease fear was real: a man died of smallpox in Kingston in 1830[7], and cases were reported near Wilkes-Barre. Travel and shipping also carried risk, since river traffic faced shallow water, rocky bottom, and rapids[4].

## Home & table: New England-looking valley

An 1843 observer still saw the valley’s Connecticut stamp in white houses with green blinds[2] and red-painted or plain frame farmhouses[2]. Schooling was graded by ambition and price, from $2 to $4 per quarter[7] at the Academy.

## Money: Cash and country produce

Cash mattered, but barter remained practical: cash and country produce[7] could pay for goods. A very local price appears in 1830 when good ashes brought fifteen cents per bushel[7].

## Roads & news: Post, papers, canal talk

Kingston had its own post office[7] 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 1834[4].

## Year by year

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

## 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. (inferred)[1]
- Kingston Township lay in the Wyoming Valley and was one of Luzerne County’s original Susquehanna townships organized in 1790. (inferred)[6]
- 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 sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[2]
- 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 sources)[2]
- 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 sources)[2]
- 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 sources)[5]
- 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 sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[7]
- The October 1830 Anti-Masonic meeting chose Henry Breece and William Johnson to represent Kingston in forming an Anti-Masonic ticket. (from the sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[4]
- 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 sources)[4]
- 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 sources)[3]
- In 1830 a Kingston advertiser offered fifteen cents per bushel in cash for good ashes delivered to his residence. (from the sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[7]
- 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 sources)[4]
- 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. https://kingstonpa.org/history/
2. Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania: Luzerne County extract. Genealogy Trails, 1843. https://genealogytrails.com/penn/luzerne/1843history.html
3. Luzerne County - 1850 Census Data. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1850. https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/agriculture/files/1850/data/luzerne_county_1850_census_data.pdf
4. Historical Sketch of Luzerne County. Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine, 1977. https://paheritage.wpengine.com/article/historical-sketch-luzerne-county/
5. History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, Pa., Part 94. LDS Genealogy, 1880. https://ldsgenealogy.com/PA/books/History-of-Luzerne-Lackawanna-and-Wyoming-counties-Pa-with-illustrations-and-biographical-sketches-of-some-of-their-prominent-men-and-pioneers-part-94.htm
6. Kingston Township, Luzerne Co., Pa.. Luzerne County PAGenWeb. https://pagenweb.org/~luzerne/patk/ktwp.htm
7. 1830 Susquehanna Democrat. Wyoming County Historical Society, 1830. https://pawchs.org/1830-susquehanna-democrat/

## The same place in other decades

- [Wilkes-Barré in the 1790s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1790s/md)
- [Wyoming Valley, Luzerne County in the 1820s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wyoming-valley-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1820s/md)
- [Wilkes-Barre in the 1870s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1870s/md)
- [Wilkes-Barre in the 1880s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1880s/md)
- [Wilkes-Barre in the 1900s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1900s/md)
- [Wilkes-Barre in the 1920s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1920s/md)
- [Wilkes-Barre in the 1950s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1950s/md)
- [Wilkes-Barre in the 1980s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1980s/md)

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Wyoming, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1820s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wyoming-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1820s/md) (7 km)
- [Wyoming Borough, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1840s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wyoming-borough-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1840s/md) (7 km)
- [Pittston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1840s](https://yorehistory.com/place/pittston-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1840s/md) (11 km)
- [White Haven, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1860s](https://yorehistory.com/place/white-haven-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1860s/md) (25 km)
- [Nescopeck Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1810s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nescopeck-township-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1810s/md) (36 km)
- [East Penn Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania in the 1810s](https://yorehistory.com/place/east-penn-township-carbon-county-pennsylvania/1810s/md) (41 km)
- [Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, Pennsylvania in the 1830s](https://yorehistory.com/place/mauch-chunk-carbon-county-pennsylvania/1830s/md) (45 km)
- [Pittstown, Hunterdon County, New Jersey in the 1800s](https://yorehistory.com/place/pittstown-hunterdon-county-new-jersey/1800s/md) (109 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-11 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1830s", https://yorehistory.com/place/kingston-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1830s