Calvin Kingsley

Calvin Kingsley (8 September 1812 – 6 April 1870) was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church elected in 1864.

Birth and family Kingsley was born in Annsville, Oneida County, New York, US, the first child and eldest son of Oren (Jr.) and Margaret (Buchanan) Kingsley. His family were of early Connecticut history. Calvin's parents were not members of any church. He was converted at the age of 18 in the Methodist Church of Ellington, New York. His parents later were converted because of his witness, ultimately sending two sons into the ministry (including Calvin's brother Alanson Kingsley, who is a great-great-great grandfather of singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift).

In 1841 Calvin married Delia Deborah Scudder, the daughter of Captain Marvin and Deborah (Boughton) Scudder. In 1844 Rev. Kingsley successfully debated someone of the Universalist faith. He was ordained an elder in the M.E. Church in 1845. He returned to teaching mathematics at Allegheny (1846–55), becoming vice president of the college in 1855.

Rev. Kingsley's final assignment before election to the episcopacy was as editor of the Western Christian Advocate (1856–64), He was buried in Beirut in the Prussian Protestant Cemetery, where the Methodist Church erected a monument in his memory.

Selected writings The Resurrection of the Dead, a vindication of the literal resurrection of the human body; in opposition to the work of Professor Bush, 1847. Sermon in Original Sermons of Pittsburgh, Erie and W. Va. Conferences, William Hunter, Editor, 1850. Round the World, Letters and Observations on Europe and the East, published posthumously, 1870.

Biography Hunter, William, a sketch in Lives of Methodist Bishops, Flood and Hamilton, 1882.