Ellen Jane (Keefe) KInney (1859-1937)

KEEFE, KINNEY, HANSON, RHINEHART

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 2/13/2022 at 22:21:13

From Nevada Evening Journal January 4, 1938 (page 3)

Former Nevada Woman Died as Result of Injuries

The body of Mrs. Ellen Kinney, 79, former Nevada woman, who died at Ellsworth, Iowa, Thursday, was laid to rest in the family lot in the Nevada cemetery late Monday afternoon, following funeral services at the Union church in Ellsworth, by Rev. Louis J. Runion.

Ellen Keefe was born February 2, 1859, in Scott township, Hamilton county, the daughter of Luke and Margaret Keefe, who had come to Hamilton county from Ohio in 1854.

In 1869, the family moved to Story county, locating near Iowa Center. The deceased was baptized and confirmed in St. Patrick's Catholic church in Nevada.

On June 15, 1879, she was married to George W. Kinney in Nevada. To this union three children were born, the youngest, Cecile, passing away in 1935. The surviving children are Mrs. Geo. A. Hanson of Ellsworth and John C. Kinney of Des Moines. Mr. Kinney died in Nevada in 1894.

Mrs. Kinney also mothered two stepchildren, Mrs. Leona Meyers Rhinehart of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fred Kinney. The latter passed away in 1904. She is also survived by one granddaughter, Mrs. Lora Ellen Rhinehart and a great granddaughter, Cecile Lou Rhinehart, of Detroit; and one brother Tim Keefe of Nevada.

As a young woman, Mrs. Kinney learned the tailoring and dressmaking trade, continuing in this work during the extended illness of her husband and for a quarter century following his death. Her industry and fortitude during these years were indicative of her character. She was a hard working and self-sacrificing mother and neighbor.

In 1932, Mrs. Kinney was quite seriously burned at her home in Des Moines, and since that time her health failed rapidly. For the past year and a half she had been cared for in the home of her daughter in Ellsworth. Previous to that time she had made her home in Des Moines for twenty-five years, following a few years residence in Marshalltown.

On Friday, December 24, she fell in the home and broke her hip. She rallied slightly on Christmas Day and again on Sunday, but gradually sank into a coma and passed peacefully at 4:25 o'clock Thursday, Dec. 30, at the age of 78 years, 10 months and 28 days.

Mrs. Kinney was a charter member of the Woman's Relief Corps in Nevada, and held membership in this organization for fifty years, taking keen interest in the organization, which is the auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic of which her husband was a member. She was also a member of the Rebekah lodge.