Kingsbury, Theodore Bryant, 1828-1913

Theodore Bryant Kingsbury (1828-1913) was a Methodist minister and journalist of Oxford and Wilmington, N.C. He attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, 1848-1849. Bryant was editor of The Leisure Hour: A Literary and Family Journal before becoming a Methodist minister in 1859 and moving to Wilmington. About 1866, he left the Methodist Church to become a Baptist because of his changed views on baptism. In 1869, he left the ministry entirely and became associate editor of the Raleigh Sentinel. In 1876, he left Raleigh to become the editor of the Wilmington Morning Star, where he remained until becoming the editor of the Wilmington Messenger in 1888. After his retirement in 1902, Kingsbury continued to contribute to the newspaper community by writing weekly articles on a variety of subjects for the Raleigh News and Observer.

Theodore Bryant Kingsbury, born in Raleigh, N.C., was the son of Russell and Mary Sumner Bryant Kingsbury. His father, a native of Connecticut, arrived in North Carolina between 1812 and 1815 to settle in Granville County, where he became a farmer and merchant. Kingsbury's mother was from Scotland Neck, N.C., and died in 1836, when he was only eight.

Kingsbury studied at the Oxford Male Academy and later at the Lovejoy Academy in Raleigh. In 1848-1849, he attended the University of North Carolina, but left without graduating despite his reputation as a skillful writer. After leaving the University, Kingsbury decided to enter the mercantile business, where he stayed for the next seven years.

On 1 May 1851, Kingsbury married Sallie Jones Atkinson, daughter of General Roger P. Atkinson of Virginia. The couple had nine children. One of their sons was Dr. Walter Russell Kingsbury.

Kingsbury worked as a newspaper editor, most notably for The Leisure Hour: A Literary and Family Journal, before he entered the Methodist ministry in 1859. About 1866, he left the Methodist Church to become a Baptist because of his changed views on baptism. From 1866 to 1869, he served as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Warrenton, N.C., where he also edited the weekly newspaper. In 1868, Wake Forest College awarded him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity in recognition of his services to the Baptist denomination.

In March 1869, Kingsbury left the ministry to become the associate editor of the Raleigh Sentinel . He left Raleigh in 1876 to become the editor of the Wilmington Morning Star, where he remained until becoming the editor of the Wilmington Messenger in 1888. After his retirement in 1902, Kingsbury continued to contribute to the newspaper community by writing weekly articles on a variety of subjects for the Raleigh News and Observer . Kingsbury was highly regarded as both an editor and a literary critic, and in 1888 the University of North Carolina granted him an honorary doctor of letters degree.

Kingsbury died at his home in Wilmington on the 4 June 1913.