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The beautiful white headstone dedicated to Charles Kingston tells the story of his son's deep love and respect. (Photo submitted by Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery)
By FRIENDS OF SILVERBROOK CEMETERY
January is when most of us spend some time in reflection. While we strain to gaze into the crystal ball of the future, we also revisit the past to see what lessons might be learned from it as we move ahead.
Family legacies are the backbone of our Silverbrook Legacies. By looking at our history, through the eyes of those who once lived and worked here, we learn much.
A winter’s walk through Silverbrook might lead you to pause at the Kingston family plot. At first glance the site may not strike you as all that much different than others and then you see it. A small marker that simply says: “Papa.”
Amid all the gravestones giving history of birth and death, decorated with symbols of faith and other allegiances, this small, very personal marker tells a more personal story than many of the rest: “Here lies a beloved father, a Daddy: Papa.”
“Papa” was Charles Kingston, a man loved by others as well.
“Resolved, That by the calling home of Bro. Kingston, the Y.M.C.A. has lost one of its most active members and that a vacancy will occur in our ranks which can be filled by none other. One who was the most forward in the organization of the association, and to whose untiring efforts the association in Niles owes its birth. Whose latest hour was spent in an effort to advance the work of the association and whose last words were those of council.”
As but a part of the “Resolutions of Respect” published by the local Y in the Niles Daily Star following Kingston’s death Feb. 13, 1887, the memorial made clear Kingston’s importance to our community. He was a prominent temperance worker who assisted in the organization of the county’s prohibition party of the day.
He became ill while serving as a delegate to the Y’s State Convention held in Grand Rapids that year. He returned home and though his illness did not seem too serious at first, it quickly became critical and he died. Charles Kingston was only 32 years old.
Kingston and his wife Anna’s little son, Danie Kingston, was only 7 years old at the time of his father’s death.
In order that his father would have a monument, young Danie went to work as a paperboy for the Niles Daily Star. The beautiful white monument tells the story and years later his love for his father was captured in a poem penned by Danie’s daughter Phena:
“For Dad
There is a monument in Silverbrook
That tells a story if we but look,
Around the base the story tells
For this little boy paid the bill.
Seven years old was the little lad
Who bought this marker for his Dad
In 1887 when his father died
The boy had a paper route he delivered with pride.
Because he wanted a monument beside the grave
Of one the doctors were not able to save.”
(Reprinted with permission of the family)
Daniel L Kingston went on to be an engineer for the New York Central railroad and remained a resident of Niles his entire life. His daughter Phena was the child destined to carry on his reverent respect for those whose lives are represented by the stones of Silverbrook.
According to her daughter, Dr. Phoebe Weinke of Copper Harbor, Mich., Phena would take her children for long walks through the cemetery pointing out the important history found there. This love of learning was carried forward in Weinke’s career as an educator.
To honor her mother’s 80th birthday, Weinke published a book of her mother’s poems, “Berry Pickings,” from which the above poem was taken. Another collection, “Bury Me At The Foot Of The Mountain,” was published following her mother’s death, Nov. 14, 1995. Both are available at the Niles District Library.
Pete Weinke, Phena’s son, still lives in Niles. We are grateful to him and his sister for allowing us to reprint their mother’s tribute to their grandfather.
There are so many stories to be told. While we can but touch on the highlights here, Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery are currently researching grants by which we might publish the first volume of these stories in an effort to be sure the history is maintained and accessible.
If you are interested in preserving our local history, Friends of Silverbrook invite you to join us Thursday at the Niles Police Complex at 1600 Silverbrook Ave. for a Community Open House. There will be a presentation on our Silverbrook Legacies.
Regular meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at the same location.
For more information on Friends of Silverbrook with regards to memberships and work days to help restore and catalog the monuments contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 E. Main St. Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455 or wskalla@sbcglobal.net; or contact Ginny Tyler at 445-0997 or SPHINX1974@aol.com.