I'm a gray headed guy who came here looking for info on missing family members.

My dad started my search back in the 1960's when we went off from Kansas to Indiana to meet his Uncle Francis Marion Kinsey whom he had never known or even heard of until shortly before our trip. Typical dad, we pulled in, Dad introduced himself as a nephew, and 'viola', we spent a couple days with Uncle Francis and Aunt Stella. No warning, no coordination, just "We're here, and we're related." That was Dad.

Ancestry and FindaGrave websites have helped me answer questions Dad raised, like; where did his Uncles go, what happened to them? He knew the death of his grandmother when his Uncles were young caused the family breakdown and for the boys to be "farmed out" to others.

Another question that bothered Dad was 'who were his Grandfather's family?'
I know most of that now. William & Mary Kinsey turned out to be the great-grandparents, and they moved to Kansas but I have no answer why the family didn't seem to have connect, even if they lived within miles of each other at times.

I have made a few contacts of second cousins over the years, sometimes just by making phone calls on cold windy winter days.
Unfortunately, Dad died in 2002 before I could provide these answers.

My biggest question, was what happened to John Wesley Kinsey's wife Anna Elizabeth (Holdereed) Kinsey? (Updated April 2014)
Family stories supported by my census research indicates she died in Dec 1890, leaving five young boys, which John Wesley Kinsey farmed out four. The boys never knew all of their brothers and that was our "Kinsey mystery". Through the census documents I have followed where they went, who they went with, and it dovetails nicely with the few stories we heard growing up.

Supposedly the J.W. Kinsey family lived in the Joplin Missouri area a few years before and at the time of Anna's death. The family believes that three of the boys were born in the Joplin area. That is not what was reported on census and draft reg forms except for the last boy Francis Marion Kinsey. I suspected Anna died in child birth but I find no evidence of Anna or an infant Kinsey death there.

April 2014, as my older sis picks through the decades of boxes from mom's home, we discovered a document that indicates Dad did know where his grandmother died; Avilla Missouri, and is most likely buried in the Brethren cemetery just out of town. Years and years of research, and there it was, among the dusty mementos.

William Kinsey moved from Indiana and was in the NE area of Kansas at the same time a couple of the J.W. Kinsey boys were born nearby, my family stories indicate there was no interaction, and in fact, none of the family knew who J.W. Kinsey's father was.

I'm a gray headed guy who came here looking for info on missing family members.

My dad started my search back in the 1960's when we went off from Kansas to Indiana to meet his Uncle Francis Marion Kinsey whom he had never known or even heard of until shortly before our trip. Typical dad, we pulled in, Dad introduced himself as a nephew, and 'viola', we spent a couple days with Uncle Francis and Aunt Stella. No warning, no coordination, just "We're here, and we're related." That was Dad.

Ancestry and FindaGrave websites have helped me answer questions Dad raised, like; where did his Uncles go, what happened to them? He knew the death of his grandmother when his Uncles were young caused the family breakdown and for the boys to be "farmed out" to others.

Another question that bothered Dad was 'who were his Grandfather's family?'
I know most of that now. William & Mary Kinsey turned out to be the great-grandparents, and they moved to Kansas but I have no answer why the family didn't seem to have connect, even if they lived within miles of each other at times.

I have made a few contacts of second cousins over the years, sometimes just by making phone calls on cold windy winter days.
Unfortunately, Dad died in 2002 before I could provide these answers.

My biggest question, was what happened to John Wesley Kinsey's wife Anna Elizabeth (Holdereed) Kinsey? (Updated April 2014)
Family stories supported by my census research indicates she died in Dec 1890, leaving five young boys, which John Wesley Kinsey farmed out four. The boys never knew all of their brothers and that was our "Kinsey mystery". Through the census documents I have followed where they went, who they went with, and it dovetails nicely with the few stories we heard growing up.

Supposedly the J.W. Kinsey family lived in the Joplin Missouri area a few years before and at the time of Anna's death. The family believes that three of the boys were born in the Joplin area. That is not what was reported on census and draft reg forms except for the last boy Francis Marion Kinsey. I suspected Anna died in child birth but I find no evidence of Anna or an infant Kinsey death there.

April 2014, as my older sis picks through the decades of boxes from mom's home, we discovered a document that indicates Dad did know where his grandmother died; Avilla Missouri, and is most likely buried in the Brethren cemetery just out of town. Years and years of research, and there it was, among the dusty mementos.

William Kinsey moved from Indiana and was in the NE area of Kansas at the same time a couple of the J.W. Kinsey boys were born nearby, my family stories indicate there was no interaction, and in fact, none of the family knew who J.W. Kinsey's father was.