William Harrison “Harry” Kinney and Harriet “Hattie” Crill Kinney

Knox County Ohio

My father’s grandmother was Sarah “Sadie” Kinney (Clawson), the daughter of Harry Kinney and Hattie Crill. Harry and Hattie lived their lives out in Knox County, Ohio - marrying months after Harry returned from his Civil War service. They had five children, four daughters and one son, with Sadie being the middle child.

In 2019-2020 I prepared a scrapbook with photos and information about this family, centered around many family photos of my grandmother sent by my cousin Linda Laird Bolton. While other pages in the Kinney-Sargent section center around Harry’s Kinney ancestry and the ancestry of his grandmother Barbara Sargeant Kinney - this page is designed to begin with the story of Harry and Harriet.

A second page will cover Harry’s civil war service in the 20th Ohio Regiment, and a third will include each of their five children - John Kinney, Myrtle Kinney Westler, Mae Kinney Cooper, Blanche Kinney Hair, and Sadie - and will be centered around the family photographs, supplemented with public records and newspaper articles. Descendants of four of these five Kinney siblings live to this day. That page will based on that scrapbook. The story begins with my grandmother Edna’s hand-written note about her Kinney family members, written for me ca 1966:

William Harrison “Harry” Kinney - The only child of David and Julia Norton Kinney (although Julia had an additional child through a previous relationship, a half sister to Harry, a half-sister who sometimes used the name Lydia Kinney, married John Darling, and lived out her life in Knox County).  David Kinney was the child of Nathaniel Kinney - who is detailed on other pages in the Kinney-Sargent part of this website. Harry was born on March 22, 1840 in Knox County, Ohio, likely named for William Harrison - elected President that year. He served in the Ohio 20th Regiment, Company A in the civil war. Four months afer being mustered out, he married Harriet “Hattie” Crill on December 2, 1865.

Harriet, the third of eleven children of John Crill and Sarah Murdock, was born in Wayne County, Ohio on July 5, 1842, and moved with her family to Knox County about the time of the Civil War.  John Crill is a genealogical “brick wall” to me - I do not know where he came from in Pennsylvania before he was in Wayne, Ashland, and Knox Counties in Ohio. Sarah appears to have been the daughter of John Murdock of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. John Crill and Sarah Murdock, as well as the Murdock ancestry are the subjects of additional pages on this website.

Following their marriage, Harry and Hattie lived out their lives in Knox County, Ohio - as detailed in entries below - with Hattie dying on July 2, 1911 and Harry dying on January 10, 1913. Harry and Hattie had five children:

1) Florella May “May” Kinney, born September 29, 1866 in Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio, married Seymour “Frank” Cooper ca 1889 and died October 17, 1940 in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio. Frank was born December 22, 1847 in New York, and died on November 22, 1922 in Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio. They had no children.

2) Blanche N. Kinney, born June 24, 1868 in Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio, married Charles W. Hair February 19, 1891 in Knox County, Ohio and died on April 24, 1934 in Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio. Charles W. Hair was born in November 27, 1859 in Ohio and died on May 25, 1942 in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio. They had one child.

3) Sarah Ann “Sadie” Kinney, born March 19, 1870 in Knox County, Ohio, married Allen David Clawson on January 16, 1890 in Knox County, Ohio, and died January 4, 1942 in Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois. Allen David Clawson was born May 13, 1867 in Fountain County, Indiana, and died on August 13, 1927 in Vermilion County, Illinois. They had two children - although the 1900 census indicates that Sadie had had a third child - likely a child died at birth. I have found no record yet for such a child. One of their two children was my grandmother, Edna Mae Clawson (Laird).

4) John David Kinney, born September 27, 1872 in Knox County, Ohio, married Hannah M. Burke on November 22, 1902 in Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio, and died on October 27, 1944. Hannah was born in March 7, 1871 in Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio and died on September 6, 1953 in Newark, Licking County, Ohio. They had one child.

5) Myrtle M. “Myrtie” Kinney, born on October 13, 1875 in Knox County, Ohio, married John Lonzo Westler on December 7, 1894 in Knox County, Ohio, and died on August 1, 1960 in Mt. Vernon, Knox County, Ohio. John Lonzo Westler was born on September 6, 1866 in Clyde, Sandusky County, Ohio and died on June 6, 1935 in Middlebury Township, Knox County, Ohio. They had four children.

Shown above left is a photo of Harriet Crill Kinney and shown above right is a photo of William Harrison Kinney. They were both provided by Debbie Ellison, another Kinney descendant. Below are photos of John Crill and Sarah Murdock Crill - parents of Harriet Crill. The handwritten note states that they would be grandparents of Edna Clawson Laird - but they would have been great-grandparents of Edna. I believe these photos came through Maxine Laird, my late aunt.

William Harrison Kinney and Harriet Crill Kinney Records and Images

It has been a challenge to decide how to present information on what I thought would be a simple subject. I have chosen to present the records of Harry and Harriet separately in the years they grew up with their families before they married, and then present records of Harry and Harriet’s marriage, the arrival of their five children, and their years together in Knox County until their deaths.

There was also the challenge of presenting Harry’s civil war service and pension information. His civil war service was much more interesting once it is understood where he was during the war. His Ohio unit began in Kentucky, was in Louisiana and Mississippi during the seige of Vicksburg - and then was on Sherman’s March to the Sea, ending up in South Carolina as Sherman chased Confederate General Johnston north after getting to Savannah, Georgia - Harry’s unit participated in the Grand March in Washington in May, 1865. I obtained photographs of the leadership of Harry’s unit from the Houghton Library at Harvard University. Harry’s pension file contained statements and affidavits submitted years after the war - but which were better understood in the context of the war, even though there were facts included about his post-war life. As a result, I have decided to present Harry’s civil war time in a separate page on this site.

Thus, the two sections follow - pre-war; and then life as a family after the war.

Harry and Harriet in records before their marriage

William Kinney is shown in the 1840 census with his family in Knox County as a boy in the category of under the age of five. In the 1840 census, David Kinney is shown in Berlin Township in Knox County in an entry shown below. The entry has “Berlin Township” down the left side, and David is shown with one boy under five (William H.), one man between twenty and thirty (unknown, possibly Anson Norton, Julia’s brother, shown below with them in the 1850 census), and one man between thirty and forty(David).  There is one woman between twenty and thirty (likely Lydia Norton or Lydia Kinney - Julia’s daughter by a previous relationship), and one woman between thirty and forty(Julia). Right above David’s entry are two entries for men of the same name - James Markley. Julia’s sister Sally Norton, married Henry Markley in 1824 in Knox County - and Henry was listed in the probate for a James Markley, so the Markley’s in this census were related to the Kinney’s by marriage.

William H. Kinney is shown in the 1850 census with his family in Knox County as age ten born in Ohio. In that census, David and Julia Kinney are shown in Berlin Township, Knox County just two lines from David's sister Elizabeth and her husband Phineas Breece, in an entry taken on August 5, 1850.  Both David and Julia are shown as age 46 (off by a year or two), with their son, William H., age ten.  They have holdings valued at $236, and their birth states are shown as Maryland and Connecticut respectively.  With them are Anson Norton, 38, born in Connecticut; and Lydia A. Norton, 27, born in Pennsylvania.  Anson was Julia’s brother and Lydia was Julia’s daughter out of wedlock before she married David.  Lydia was probably born ca 1820 in Indiana - those references in this census are likely not correct.

Harriet is shown for the first time in a census with her family in Wayne County, Ohio in the 1850 census. The 1850 census shows John Crill in Chester Township, Wayne County, in an entry taken on September 11, 1850.  He is shown as a miller, 35, with property valued at $4,000, born in Pennsylvania.  He is shown with Sarah, 33, also shown as born in Pennsylvania, and five children, all shown as having been born in Ohio: Lavinia, 13; Franklin, 10; Harriet, 9; William, 6; and John, 4.  All children but John are shown to have attended school in the past year. That entry is shown below right.

Below left is a listing by Sarah Murdock Crill of her children as of 1864 - which is included in the pension record of her son John, shown as “died in service”. Nine children are listed. Not listed are two more - Franklin, born in 1840 and died in 1862; and William, born about 1844 and died in July 1862. William is shown as having served in the 20th Ohio Volunteers, Company A - the same unit and company that William Harrison Kinney, future husband of Harriet, also served. William was discharged in Tennessee three months before his death.

Wm. H. Kinney is shown in the 1860 census with his family in Knox County as age twenty, born in Ohio, in an entry taken on July 26, 1860. They are listed in the Middlebury Township, Knox County, Ohio with David shown as 58, a laborer, holdings valued at $500, with the birthplace of Maryland.  Julia is shown with him at age 57, no occupation, born in Connecticut; and Wm. H. is shown as 20, no occupation, born in Ohio. Lydia has married John Darling by this time, is shown in Knox County in a separate entry, and Anson Norton - Julia’s brother - is living with them.

Harriet is shown with her family in Knox County, Ohio in the 1860 census. The 1860 census finds John Crill in post office and town of Fredericktown, Knox County, Ohio, in a census taken on July 30, 1860.  John is shown as a miller, 45, with property worth $265 and born in Pennsylvania.  He is with Sarah, 42, also born in Pennsylvania, and seven children born in Ohio, Harriet, 18, William, 16, John 13, Lucy A., 9, Margaret, 7, Jacob 4, and Samuel 2. This census entry is shown below:

William Harrison Kinney served during almost all of the American Civil War - enlisting in early September 1861 in an Ohio regiment, re-enlisting in his same company and regiment in Mississippi in September 1864, and serving until the summer of 1865. Information on his service, and from his pension, will be on a separate page on this website.

Harry returns home, Marries Harriet and They Start a Family - And Then Live Out Their Lives in Knox County, Ohio

The pension file names his marriage to Harriet Crill in December, 1865 in Fredericktown.  It lists that the record of marriage exists in a Bible.  In his civil war pension record, he is shown not to have been previously married.  The marriage record from Knox County is shown below.

Harrison Kinney is shown below in the 1870 Knox County OH census, taken on July 8, 1870, in post office Fredericktown, Wayne Township, at 29, a “com(mon) laborer”; with Harriett, 27, keeping house; Flora, 3, Nettie (other records show Blanche as Blanche N.), 2, and Sarah three months, all born in Ohio. Sarah was born the previous March and matches correctly the age listed for her and the date of the census entry.  Shown in the entry also is Harry’s mother, Julia Kinney, 67, “no occupation”, property valued at $500/$200, born in Connecticut. Julia was widowed when David Kinney died in August 1868.

Harrison Kinney is shown below in the 1880 census in Middlebury Township, Knox County, taken June 7, 1880, age 40 with his occupation listed as “works on railroad”, and Harriet's as “keeping house”.  His father was shown as having been born in Maryland and his mother in Connecticut, and all five children as having been born in Ohio.  It shows Harriet as 37, born in Ohio, with both her parents having been born in Pennsylvania.  The children listed in that census are May, 13, Blanche N., 11, Sarah A., 9, John, 7, and Myrtie, 6.

On February 4, 1885, William filed a declaration for a pension that showed he was forty-four years old, six feet tall, dark complexion, brown hair, and brown eyes.

W. Harrison Kinney is shown below in the 1890 veterans census schedule in Middlebury Township, Knox County, Ohio, taken in June, 1890.  He is shown as having been a private in the Ohio 20th, Company A.  He enlisted on August 18, 1861, was discharged on July 15, 1865, and served three years, ten months, and twenty-seven days. His post office address was shown at the bottom of this page (not shown in the edited version below) as Fredericktown, Ohio. Shown right below him is George W. Kinney, his first cousin, the son of his father David’s brother James Kinney.

In the Mt. Vernon Republican of November 27, 1895, there was "a list of all the old soldiers who live in Knox County."  On that list was Harrison S. Kinney, Levering, Middlebury Township, 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company A.

In the 1900 census, he is shown in Middlebury Township in Knox County as Harry Kinney, in an entry taken June 22, 1900.  He was shown as a stone mason, age 60, born March 1840 in Ohio with parents born in Ohio (not correct). Harriet is shown as age 57, born in July 1842 in Ohio with her parents born in Pennsylvania.  Living with them are Myrtle, 24, “a servant”, born in Oct 1875 and William, shown as “son” (he was the son of Myrtle, who was Myrtle Westler - even though it states Kinney in this entry), age 4, born in February 1896, born in Ohio with his parents born in Ohio.  The census shows Harry and Harriet married 34 years, with Harriet having had five children who are all living.

William H. and Harriet are shown together in the 1910 census in Knox County, in an entry taken on April 22, 1910 - with William H. Kinney, 70, living on “own income” and born in Ohio, with his father born in Maryland and his mother in Connecticut; with Harriet, 67, none as her occupation, born in Ohio, with both her parents born in Pennsylvania. Harriet is shown as having had five children, with five living in 1910. Shown right above the Kinneys in this census were their daughter Myrtle, her husband John, and the first two of their children, Helen and Willie. Willie is listed as “step-son” to John L. Westler.

When I was in Danville, Illinois in the mid-1990’s for a visit, Gen Clawson, widow of Paul Clawson, the son of Hoy - who was the child of Sadie Kinney Clawson - mentioned that Hoy went out a lot when young, and his grandfather would hook up either the horse or a wagon (I wish I had written it down) - so Hoy could go out whenever he wanted. The inference was that Hoy took advantage of his grandfather. Hoy was born in 1891, and would have been twenty at the time of his grandmother’s death, and twenty-two at the time of his grandfather’s death. They all lived in Fredericktown, Ohio during this period.

Death records have been obtained from the Ohio Historical Society for both William H. and Harriet Kinney.  Harriet Kinney’s record lists her date of death as July 2, 1911 in Middlebury Township at the age of 68 years, 11 months, and 27 days.  She was listed as housekeeper, and died of “apoplexy.  She was in the third or fourth attack”, with “Arterio Scherosis” being contributory.  Her husband, Wm. H was the “informant”, and her parents were listed as John Crill and Sarah Murdock, both born in Pennsylvania.

William's death record shows that he died on January 10, 1913, was a mason, died of “consumption pulmonary” and was buried in Forest Cemetery on January 12, 1913.  He was listed as “widowed” and was aged 72 years, 9 months, and 18 days.  He died in Berlin Township in Knox County.  His parents were listed as David Kinney and Julia Norton.  David's birthplace is listed on William's death certificate as Frederick County, Maryland.  William H. Kinney's death record shows the Informant as Mrs. John Westler of Fredericktown, Ohio.

The text of the obituary for William H. Kinney shown above in the Democratic Banner in Mount Vernon, Ohio on Tuesday, January 14, 1913: “William H. Kinney. Mr. William H. Kinney died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. John Westler, in Fredericktown Friday evening at 7 o’clock after a lingering illness caused by a complication of diseases. He was 72 years of age and is survived by one son and three daughters.The funeral at the Westler home Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock.Interment in Forest cemetery at Fredericktown.”

As shown in the above obituaries Harry and Harriet were bured in Forest Cemetery in Fredericktown. I show in another listing that somewhere on his gravestone is listed “Post 539 GAR OHIO”. Their grave stones are below: