Sacramento County
Biographies
WILLIAM STEPHEN KINGSBURY
WILLIAM STEPHEN KINGSBURY.--A prominent
public official whose wide and valuable practical experience, together with his
exceptional training, has conspired to bring him to the front, is William
Stephen Kingsbury, who was born at Oakland, Cal., on August 3, 1870, the same
year in which Joaquin Miller went to Europe, preparatory to his making Oakland
his permanent home. The father, William Van Horn Kingsbury, was a pioneer who
came to California, via Panama,
in 1852, and tried his fortune in the mines. He married Miss Lucy Clementine
Keyes, who is still living, the center of a circle of devoted friends.
William
Kingsbury attended the public school, and pursued technical courses while also
enjoying valuable practice as a civil engineer. He entered the city engineer’s
office in Los Angeles, becoming
chief deputy and later acting city engineer, continuing there for twelve years
in all. At the Santa Cruz Republican Convention, in 1906, he was nominated on
the Republican ticket as candidate for surveyor general, and in the fall of
that year was elected surveyor general of California.
He has since been re-elected to that responsible post in 1910, 1914, 1918 and
1922, his support at the hands of his fellow-citizens, who have had every
opportunity to know his record, being the most unqualified and most
complimentary endorsement a man could wish. In national politics a Republican,
and a member of Los Angeles Parlor 45, N.S.G.W., General Kingsbury has always
endeavored to serve the state well, deeming it not only a patriotic duty but a
privilege to be highly appreciated.
General
Kingsbury was married in Los Angeles, in 1901, to Miss
Bertha B. Kane, a native of Iowa,
and the daughter of Albert E. and Anna (Rickey) Kane. A son, William Stephen
Kingsbury Jr., has blessed the union, and also a younger son, John, and a
daughter, Kathleen. General Kingsbury is both a Knight Templar and a Scottish
Rite Mason and also a member of Al Malaikah Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., Los
Angeles, and of Los Angeles Lodge No. 99, B.P.O.E. He
is especially well regarded among his fellow professional men, who fully
appreciate the honest and able administration by him of his busy and difficult
office.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 2/27/07.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page 412. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Vicky Walker.