James Kingsley (b. Jan. 6, 1797, Canterbury, Connecticut; d. Aug. 10, 1878) was an attorney and mayor of Ann Arbor from 1855-1856.

Attorney James "Honest Jim" Kingsley, who came to Ann Arbor in 1826, was the first member of the Washtenaw County Bar, a probate judge, and a member of both the territorial and later the state legislature, as well as Ann Arbor's second mayor and a regent of the University.

He married Lucy Ann Clark in 1830; she died in 1856. Three children are Mrs. C. A. Chapin of Ann Arbor, and James and George Kingsley of Paola, Kansas.

Kingsley Street is named after him.

Sources

• James Kingsley: Ann Arbor District Library
• History of the University of Michigan, By Burke Aaron Hinsdale Published by the University of Michigan, 1906; p. 182
• Chapman, p. 263
• http://oldnews.aadl.org/node/103778