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In the early 1890s, hundreds of people worked to harvest the abundant timber around Edmonds. They also built railroads and roads, worked in shingle and sawmills, and helped supply much-needed lumber for the steamships and locomotives that plied the Puget Sound.
Unfortunately, many of them were seriously injured while performing these missions. However, some of the hardest working people were able to overcome their injuries, adapt and build new lives for themselves and their families.
This is the story of one of those men.
William Kingdon Jr., his wife Vadner, and their one-year-old son William Carl Kingdon first arrived in Edmonds in 1893. Initially, William worked under OC Sorensen on various logging operations around Edmonds. However, he had a team of sturdy horses and heard that horses were needed to transport the cordwood from the North Broadway area of Seattle to the pier where the wood would be used as fuel for steamers.
He and his team of horses have proven to be excellent in their efforts and have been able to expand their workload with contracts at Richmond Beach, Ynys Arden and Hidden Lake.
A year after their arrival, while William was working in Richmond Beach, the Kingdons had their first daughter, Esther Amy Kingdon.
When a work contract took him further north, William moved to keep his wife and family close at all times. As his contracts grew larger and larger, William expanded his team of horses. By the time he finished his contract in the Hidden Lake region, he had a team of seven horse teams and associated jockeys working for him.
While the family lived in the Hidden Lake area, William’s father traveled west from Michigan to live with William and his family. William Sr. was a farrier by trade and immediately helped William Jr. with his horses upon arrival.
Author’s note: At some point, William’s younger brothers and sisters, Frank, Sarah, and Lucy, also moved west to the Edmonds area. Unfortunately, there is no record of when they arrived.
In 1897, William received another large contract in the Tulalip area to transport cordwood to Edmonds wharf for steamers in the Mosquito fleet. The contract also included transporting cedar shingles to the mills that now line the Edmonds waterfront.
Sadly, in early 1898, William was seriously injured (possibly breaking his hip) while working in the woods. According to his family history written by Kingdon, Kingdon was so badly injured that he was unable to move for several weeks and was eventually transported on his stretcher to Edmonds in the late spring of 1898.
By the time they were taken to the hospital, the family had moved to a house on Sixth Avenue, where William was taken to rest. While William was recuperating, their third child, Frank Dewey, was born on May 30, 1898. Shortly after William’s son was born, William’s father suddenly died of a heart attack at the age of 69, making him the first person to be buried in an independent religious order. Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery. IOOF Cemetery is now known as Edmonds Memorial Cemetery.
Despite serious injuries and the emotional ups and downs of births and deaths in the family, William continued his logging business. In his 1899 and his 1900 Bell Street he rented a dock and used a team of horses to supply shingles to the Edmonds factory and cordwood to Puget Sound steamers. In December 1900, William and Vadner welcomed their second daughter, Ivy, May.
As his family grew, William decided in early 1902 to purchase a small grocery store at the end of Edmonds Pier with his brother-in-law, John C. Farrell. Their store was the only grocery store close to the pier. Providing prompt service to steamship passengers and crew. The next closest store was Schumacher Brothers Grocery, located four blocks from the pier at the corner of 4th Avenue and Main Street.
Author’s note: The original photo of the Kingdon Farrell grocery store at the end of Edmonds Pier could not be found in any historical archives.
For the next three years, William continued to work in the logging industry and also operated a store. During this time, his family continued to grow. Frederick Doll Kingdon was born in April 1902 and Anna Florence Kingdon was born in October 1904.
William, who now had six children and a wife to support, sold his interest in the Wharf Store to his brother-in-law in late 1904, and also sold all but one team of horses. With the proceeds, he purchased a competing Schumacher Brothers grocery store closer to the growing town center.
But William had a bigger vision than just a grocery store. Wm. Kingdon General Mercantile Store opened, stocking not only groceries but also dry goods, clothing, shoes, home furnishings, and more. Given the size of the two-story building, William was able to move his family upstairs to save money and rent out his previous home on Sixth Avenue.
Over the next two years, business continued to grow. William also offered a wide range of dry goods, clothing, and shoes, as well as hay and grain, which he personally delivered using a team of horses and wagons.
In 1906, the first cement building in Edmonds was constructed adjacent to the Schumacher Building. Once the building was completed, William moved his general store to the new space and continued to expand his merchandise. He also relocated his family to a new home near 7th Avenue and Main Street, close to Edmonds Grade School.
By the end of 1906, William had assembled two teams of horses and wagons and was making deliveries to nearby farms and factories, and on Sundays to parts of the lake area around Edmonds. Home delivery was a new concept for merchants at the time.
Author’s note: The original Schumacher grocery store was home to Chanterelle Bistro for more than 20 years, then is now the site of Makaveli’s Restaurant, and the concrete building has been home to home goods for many years.
Over the next five years, Kingdon General Mercantile became a staple in the community. However, on February 27, 1911, William suffered from acute appendicitis and was rushed to Seattle for emergency surgery. His doctors said the surgery was successful, but he died two days later.
His obituary, published the following Friday in the Edmonds Tribune-Review, read:
“William Kingdon, one of the city’s most prominent merchants, died Wednesday morning at a Seattle hospital, where he had been taken from a bout of appendicitis. Although he had experienced several attacks of the same illness over the years, he did not seem to understand the seriousness of the disease that befell him.
But when he felt his illness return last Sunday, he was persuaded to undergo surgery and was rushed to the hospital on Monday.
The entire community is shocked by the outcome, as he was in the store just last Saturday looking healthy as usual.
The deceased was loved and respected by all with whom he came in contact, and was generous to a fault. His most notable characteristic is his constant dedication and loyalty to his wife and children, and he uses all of his strengths and abilities to make them comfortable and happy. did. His greatest joy and joy was found around his family hearth, where he always spent his free time. ”
William was buried next week at Edmonds Memorial Cemetery next to his father.
William Kingdon arrived in the Edmonds area with his young family when he was only 29 years old. Apparently skilled with the woods and horses, he was able to support his growing family before being seriously injured. Never feeling sorry for himself, he changed his life and through his hard work and innovation became one of Edmonds’ most successful early merchants.
William’s eldest daughter Esther Kingdon Knowles said in her oral history that “Papa was a hard worker, a great believer in private enterprise, and always worked for himself.”
It was the determination of William and others like him that helped Edmonds achieve success early in its history despite personal tragedy.
Author’s final note:
William Kingdon was only 48 years old when he died. After his death, his wife Vadner and six children sold the store. Vadner remarried in 1916 and ran a hotel in Everett with her second husband, Leander Benner.
William’s younger brother Frank was also involved in the grocery store. He was manager of the grocery department at Edmonds Grocery and Market and later owned the store with Marty and his Otto.
William’s sister Sarah married Eugene Amidon and later moved to Oregon.
Many of the Kingdon family stayed in the Edmonds area. His eldest son, William Carl Kingdon, lived in Edmonds, died in 1964, and was buried in Edmonds Memorial Cemetery. William and Vadner’s eldest daughter, Esther Kingdon Knowles, was honored in 1991 as the longest-serving resident of the Edmonds area. She died in 1993 at the age of 99. His sister, Ivy Mae Kingdon Specht Hoff, also of Edmonds, lived to be 99 years old. She died in 1999 and is buried in Edmonds Cemetery. There are now believed to be several third- and perhaps fourth-generation descendants of the Kingdon family in the Edmonds area.
This article was researched and written by Byron Wilkes. We would like to thank the Edmonds Historical Museum, the Snow Isle Genealogical Society, the Edmonds Cemetery Commission, Larry Vogel, and the Linwood Library for their assistance.
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