Bucks County PA Archives Biographies.....Preston, William K., Rev
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joe Patterson, Patricia Bastik & Susan Walters Dec 2009

Source: History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania; edited by 
J.H. Battle; A. Warner & Co.; 1887
Warwick Township


   WILLIAM K. PRESTON pastor Presbyterian church of 
Hartsville, or Neshaminy church, P.O. Hartsville, was born 
the 27th of October, 1852, his parents being John T. and 
Sarah A. (Kent) Preston.  He is of English descent.  John 
Preston, the progenitor of the family in America, came from 
England to Virginia in 1741, and there the succeeding 
generations of the line of our subject resided until his 
grandfather and his family removed to southern Indiana.  
From there John T., with three brothers, removed to 
Louisiana, and thence to Natchez, Miss., where he carried on 
the mercantile business and from there removed on account of 
ill health to southern Illinois in 1852 and commenced 
farming, which he followed until his death in 1861.  His 
widow resides in Waldo, Florida.  William K. spent his early 
life on the farm and began his education in the Washington 
seminary, Ill., where he prepared for college.  In 1872 he 
commenced teaching, which he continued four successive 
terms.  In the fall of 1876 he entered Wabash college, Ind., 
from which he graduated in 1880.  He then became principal 
of the academy at Newtown, Ind., which position he held one 
year. In 1881 he went to Princeton Theological seminary, 
from which he graduated in the class of 1884.  He was then 
settled over a church in Fort Penn, Delaware, where he 
commenced in January, 1884, as supply, continuing until May, 
1885, when he began his pastoral duties in the Neshaminy 
church, where he was installed June 4, 1885.  He was 
examined, licensed and ordained by the Newcastle presbytery 
April 15, 1884, and was installed in his pastorate at Fort 
Penn, Del., June 5, 1884.  He was married October 14, 1884, 
to Miss Mary G. Ferguson, of Princeton, N. J., daughter of 
William G. and Sarah B. Ferguson.  He is a member of the 
Masonic order and also of the Phi Gamma Delta, a college 
fraternity.  The trustees of Wabash college, at their annual 
meeting June 14, 1887, conferred upon him the degree of 
Master of Arts, the second degree in course.