The Irish Kinsley family history has been well-documented in John Kinsley's Irish Settlement: 1830-1986,
authored by James Kinsley. However, there was a completely unrelated second Kinsley family of German origin in Sullivan County and here we meet them. You can learn more about the actual lineage of the "German" Kinsley family at
The Descendants of Charles Kinsley and Mary Bahr. The Kinsleys and Conners were part of a large and
prosperous German community in Sullivan County that included the Thrasher (Drescher), Bahr (Beare), Hunsinger,
Hoffa, Colley (Cully) and many other families. You can read more about the relationships among the Thrashers and other German families at
The Thrasher Heritage. Another informative site of this kind is Desendants of August Lonser. A good specific example of how the families of the Sullivan County area were intertwined by marriage and descent can be seen in the ancestral lineage for Viola (Miller) Wooster, daughter of Harlan L. and Sylvia "Fern" (Kschinka) Miller, where you find Kschinka, Conner, Yonkin and Thrasher lines. See the link to Almira Yonkin's history below.
For those of us who can read German, there is an additional site that offer insight into the Germanic origins of our ancestors in America. I am referring to Hans-Jurgen Wolf's Familienforschung in Westpreussen, that is, "Family Research in West Prussia".
Thrasher Family Homestead
Just Past Old Zion Cemetery
Dushore, PA
This old house burned down in the 1960s. Located on Kelly Road,
it was called "Kelly's Place"
when
Tom Connor was a youngster.
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
In the image gallery shown here, we are introduced to a previously unpublished collection of old photographs and
postcards that were assembled into an album by Edna Mae (Kinsley) Conner. She was the daughter of Louis O. Kinsley and Amanda Colley. She lived from 1893 until 1983, and in 1914 was married to
Kemerly C. Conner (1887-1975). He was the son of Cyrus Conner and Lucinda Rebecca Thrasher. So you can see that
Kemerly and Edna were descended from or related to many of the very German
families we are talking about.
These photos and comments were presented to the Sullivan County Genealogical Web Page by her grandson, Thomas Conner, in August and Swptember 2004.
The original contained a three inch binder of cards. However, the original card holder was well beyond its life and
was discarded. The cards range in postmarks from 1906 to 1912. They contain messages and notes between the brothers
and sisters of Louis O. Kinsley and Amanda Colley. Additionally, there are large numbers of photographs of the
Kinsleys, their relatives and friends. Finally, there are several substantial family charts that help us to
organize the Kinsley and Conner families and understand how they were descended and related. Our site is profoundly
grateful to Tom Conner for this contribution and his interest in the history and culture of
Sullivan County in the late 1800s and early 1900s. You can reach Tom
at Tom Conner for comments and discussion. Send
proposed changes, updates and suggestions directly to
Bob Sweeney.
Let's begin with a historical overview. Presented below are the family group charts for the Kinsley and Conner families, respectively. You may want to use these charts for assistance in
understanding relationships in the subsequent pictures and discussion.
Louis Kinsley and Amanda Colley
Family Group Chart
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Cyrus Conner Family Pedigree
Prepared by the Latter Day Saints
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Next come several pictures of various family members and also of location shots from Edna's collection that would
have been familiar to these folks.
The Kinsley Extended Family
Couple on left is Kemerly C. and Edna Mae (Kinsley)
Conner
Couple on the right is Louis O. and Amanda (Colley) Kinsley
Tall man in back is Barney Saxer, husband of Edna's sister, Annie Kinsley
The man
with glasses at the top right looks like Ford Wallcott, husband of Vernie Kinsley
By elimination, the couple to the right of Edna and Kemerly are likely to be
William and Virginia (Kinsley) Schaad
The woman to their right looks like Ford Wallcott's wife, Vernie Kinsley
The unknown adults in this picture could be any of the following:
Howard J.R. Kinsley and his wife or future wife, Vernie Kisner; Arthur Ohidiah Kinsley and his wife or future wife, Mildred Yonkin
The identities of the children are
not given.
Taken about 1910
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
The Kinsley Sisters
Edna on the left; Alvernia, Virginia and Annie
Alverna is second from left based on comparison with the next picture in this series
and a picture found on the Charles Kinsley page mentioned above. The same resource permits us to identify Annie
as the fourth individual, so Virginia must be third.
Daughters of Louis O. and Amanda (Colley) Kinsley
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Ford and Alverna L. "Vernie" (Kinsley) Wallcott
As Older Adults
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Main Street in Dushore, PA
Looking East
Postcard Dated November 21, 1910
From Bob
Reeser to Kemerly Conner, Sr.
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Main Street in Dushore, PA
Looking East
Postcard and Poem Copyrighted by F.
A. Hubald in 1912
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Alvaretta Conner and Family Members
L to r: Leslie Miller, Sr., Lucinda Thrasher Conner, Sylvia "Fern" Miller and Alvaretta (Conner) Kschinka
Lucinda was Alvaretta's mother and the grandmother of
Fern. Fern was born December 19, 1897, died December 27, 1971, and is buried in Laddsburg Cemetery. Leslie (1922-1974) was
the son of Fern and Harlan Miller. His sister, Viola Mae Miller (not shown here because not yet born) was born
September 23, 1929. Harlan was born April 20, 1893, son of James H. and Ada S. (Brown) Miller; he died in March 1950 and is also buried in Laddsburg Cemetery. Alvaretta was divorced from her husband, Theodore Kschnka. Fern and Harlan married on October 12, 1916.
Photo Taken about 1925
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Viola Miller (1929-2006) married Bill Wooster. You can read more about Viola, including her obituary, and her Kschinka ancestry at Almira Yonkin. Almira, Viola's great-grandmother, married Robert C. R. Kschinka in 1868, thereby uniting two local families of German-American origin. You can also see Viola's ancestral tree there.
John Jacob and Catherine (Bachman) Suber
With
Various Members of the Conner Family
John is seated with Catherine on the far left. Lucinda Rebecca Thrasher and her husband Cyrus Conner Appear to be the Couple Behind John. The two younger women appear to be
two of the Conner daughters. The picture was taken at the Suber homestead. The dog was the Suber family dog. You can read about the Subers at An Old Cherry Family: The Descendants of
Jacob Suber, where there is another picture taken at the same location and possibly the same day in the early 1900s.
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Leland ("Lee") and Reese Conner
Sons of Kemerly and Edna (Kinsley) Conner
Lee in Uniform
Reese in a Potato Field
These two young men are Tom's uncles and therefore brothers of his father,
Kemerly Paul Conner.
Probably Taken in the Mid-1940s.
Photo Contributed by Tom Conner.
Kemerly Conner With 1907 Trapping Harvest
The picture shows him with over 200 pelts of animals he trapped along the Little Loyalsock Creek. His trap line ran on the Conner farm north of Dushore beside what is now State Route 87.
Photo In the Possession of Reese G. Conner
Reprinted in The Sullivan Review on April 2, 2008.
