When the Civil War ended and Ephraim A. Briggs was mustered out in New York, he got married on November 16, 1866, to Helen F. Hale, a native of Maine and they moved to Kingston. He started in the mercantile business, but after eight months, he sold out and returned to New York. Three months later he came back and took up a homestead on section 34, Kingston township. He then purchased the store of F. V. DeCoster, and continued the mercantile business until 1875, since which time he has been chiefly employed dealing in real estate. Ephraim was the postmaster of Kingston from 1874 until 1886; has filled the offices of justice of the peace and the town treasurer. Otho H. Campbell came to Kingston in the year of 1866 and entered into the general merchandise trade in connection with the Whiting Brothers, a Clearwater firm. One year later he bought out his partners, and for two years ran the business alone. At the end of that time, he moved to the new village of Litchfield, and, purchased the Lake Ripley House, which he ran for two years. His son, Ernest Wells Campbell, a Litchfield lawyer, was born on November 19, 1870, in Kingston.