The banking interests of Chadwick are in the hands of as able financiers as are to be found in Carroll county, if not in the State, and as a consequence the monied affairs of this locality are in excellent condition. The Bank of Chadwick is fortunate in having connected with it a person of the experience and ability of Charles M. Kingery, whose long association with this institution extends over a period of more than twenty years. Mr. Kingery was born at Mt. Carroll, Ill., October 27, 1869, a son of David and Elizabeth Kingery. David Kingery. now deceased, was a farmer, and his life is treated of at length elsewhere in this work.
Charles M. Kingery was educated in the public schools of Mt. Carroll, Mt. Morris Business College, and the Davenport, Ia., Business College. The first fourteen years of his life, he spent on his father's farm, following which he spent two years at school, and then for six years was clerk in a grocery store. He did not scorn small beginnings, but sawed wood, and was first chore boy about the grocery store. He then drove a delivery wagon, and having learned the business from the bottom, became clerk in the establishment of Lichty & Stakmiller of Mt. Carroll, which firm he served faithfully until entering the Bank of Chadwick as clerk and bookkeeper, December 1, 1891.
On November 14, 1894, Mr. Kingery was married to Eda Mary McLaughlin, daughter of D. N. McLaughlin, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Kingery became the parents of children as follows: Helen L., who was born October 16, 1896; John D., who was born July 29, 1898; Robert H., who was born September 20, 1904; and Sarah Elizabeth, who was born March 30, 1910. Mr. Kingery is a Knight Templar and Shriner, and very active in Masonic circles. The Republican party holds his fealty, and he served for seven terms as mayor of Chadwick. giving the city an able, businesslike administration, and inaugurating many much needed reforms.
In addition to his beautiful home in Chadwick, Mr. Kingery owns a fine farm in Carroll county, and is a man of substance. His comprehensive knowledge of the banking business, and practical application of it, have made him one of the lenders in financial circles in Carroll county, and he is often called upon to give advice and material assistance in the carrying out of large enterprises looking to the bringing into Chadwick and the surrounding country, new capital, which will further develop its resources, and add to its general wealth and importance.
source of biographical sketch (verbatim transcription): "Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Carroll County", 1913, pages 824 - 825