Foreword
Now that he is dead and gone, it cannot do much harm to his memory to say that his time might have been better employed in weightier labors. He however was apt to ride his hobby his own way ... though it did now and then kick up the dust a little in the eyes of his neighbors, and grieve the spirit of some friends for whom he felt the most deference and affection.
From: Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle
This book, Hobby Horse Rider, was really written by my bachelor uncle Lilburn Adkin Kingsbury. He was born October 14, 1884 at Fairview, the Kingsbury home built by slave labor about 1834, in the heart of Missouri's historic Boonslick Country. From his parents he inherited the orchard/farm and lived there until taken to the hospital shortly before his death on July 1, 1983.
As a young school boy, Lilburn began to write letters. This became a life-long hobby. Many of his relatives and friends with whom he corresponded found his letters so enjoyable they couldn't bear to destroy them. Many of these found their way back to Lilburn. In the 1930s he began to retain carbon copies of letters written to family and friends. This accumulation of more than 3,500 pages which he gave me just before he died, describes many of his hobby horse rides.
I have attempted to link a number of his interests together in a connective time sequence interspersed with some of his humorous, often shrewd observations and philosophical comments about the outlandish behaviors of himself and the people he interacted with during his long and busy life. These captured with poignance some of the joys and tragedies of his family and the Boonslick country.
My links are italicized. The excerpts are from Lilburn's letters, speech manuscripts, articles for organizational journals and bulletins, newspaper articles and columns.
Some of his relatives and friends did indeed say, "His time might have been better employed in weightier labors." They thought he should pay more attention to the Fairview orchard/farm, to his insurance business, and to church and community activities. After some years of trying to change him, they accepted him as he was.
The versatility and wide range of his talents brought him the admiration and respect of all who knew him. Boonslickians came to address him affectionately as "Mr. Lib." By the time he was 75, he had become a "living legend." He was the subject of many magazine and newspaper articles with headings such as: "A Living History Book." "Writes it Like it Was." "Mark Twain of Mid-Missouri," "Country Gentleman" and "Howard County Historian."
In a sense, Lilburn's letter-writing was the lead horse in his hobby horse stable. In writing to many people at home and abroad, he spiced his writing with amusing anecdotes about his pursuit of other hobbies, such as:
• Music - a very important part of his life
• Collecting antique furniture
• Establishing Fairview as a show place
• Collecting early American glass, china and lustreware
• Collecting bottles, jugs and clocks
• Exploring Howard County graveyards and compiling vital statistics and epitaphs from early pioneer graves
• Compilation of folklore songs and stories
• Collecting buttons
• Developing genealogical records
• Talking to clubs and organizations
• Writing articles for journals and bulletins
• Writing newspaper articles and columns
It is my hope you will find the reading of my uncle's hobby horse rides a joyous experience. I like to think that in your imagination, you'll gallop along on many of his rides through the back roads and paths of his beloved Boonslick Country.
Warren Taylor Kingsbury
Tempe, Arizona, 1998
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