Edmund W. Kingsland, President of the Provident Institution for Savings of Jersey City and one of the ablest and best known financiers in Easter New Jersey, was born in Jersey City on the 15th of December, 1839, his parents being Edmund W. and Sarah A. Kingsland. He is a direct descendant in the sixth generation from Isaac Kingsland, an Englishman from the Parish of Christ Church, on the Island of Barbadoes, W. I., and a nephew of Major Nathaniel Kingsland, of the same place. On July 4, 1668, one Captain William Sandford, also of Barbadoes, W. I., purchased of the Hackensack Indians a tract of land between the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, extending “northward about seven miles.” This purchase was made in the interest of Major Kingsland. On June 1, 1671, the Major conveyed the south half of this to Sandford and kept the north half after extinguishing the Indian title. By the Major’s will, dated March 14, 1683, he gave one-third of his New Jersey lands-about 3,402 acres-to his nephew Isaac. Isaac’s residence was at Kingsland Manor near Rutherford in Bergen County. His descendants are still numerous in both Bergen and Hudson Counties. The name of his wife does not appear.
Edmund W. Kingsland received his early educational training under the tutorship of the late William Leverett Dickenson, and subsequently attended the New York Polytechnical School, from which he was graduated with honor in the class of 1856. After completing his studies, which were designed to fit him for the practical affairs of life, he accepted a clerkship in the wholesale notion house of Lyman Cook & Co., of New York City, and remained with them until 1863, gaining a broad and accurate knowledge of business matters as well as the entire confidence and respect of his employers.
In 1863 Mr. Kingsland resigned his position as clerk for Lyman Cook & Co. and was made general clerk of the Provident Institution for Savings in Jersey City. There he soon gained recognition for those abilities which have ever since characterized his business life and which have long made him a powerful factor in local financial circles. He gradually rose by promotion and in 1888 was elected Secretary and Treasurer, which positions he filled with great energy and satisfaction until July 20, 1896, when he was elected President. In this capacity he has maintained and in a large measure increased the prestige and substantial character of the Provident Institution for Savings, making it one of the soundest and best known fiduciary concerns in Eastern New Jersey.
Mr. Kingsland is one of the leading citizens of Jersey City, where he has spent his entire life. He is public spirited, progressive, and enterprising, thoroughly identified with every project which promises advancement to the community, and generously encourages those movements that have the welfare of the place at heart. He is a member of the Union League Club of Jersey City, a man of broad and accurate learning, and universally respected and esteemed. In 1877 he married Miss Justine Bayard Blackwell, of New York City, and of their five children two are living.
Source: Harvey, Cornelius Burnham, Editor; Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, New York: The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900.