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1907 Past and Present Biographies
Lea B. KinseyLea B. Kinsey spent his youth upon the home farm in Ohio to the age of fifteen years and attended the common schools through the winter months, while in the summer seasons he aided in the work of the fields. In 1860 he became a student in the academy at Spring Mountain, Ohio, and was graduated therefrom in the class of 1866. His education, however, was interrupted by his active service at the front at the time of the Civil war. Putting aside his text-books, he shouldered the rifle and donned the blue uniform, enlisting on the 18th of September, 1861, for three years’ service. He continued at the front until the expiration of his term on the 17th of October, 1864, returning home with a most creditable military record, having seen three years of active duty while yet in his teens. He was a member of Company I, Fifty-first Ohio Infantry, and his regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Fourth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland. He was present at the battles of Perryville, Dobbins Ferry, Stone River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Pumpkin Vine, New Hope Church, Pine Top, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, the battle of Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station. Shortly after the battle of Chickamauga he was transferred to the signal corps of the Army of the Cumberland and was on duty as signal man through the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Upon the opening of the Atlanta campaign he rejoined his regiment and was with it in all of the engagements and skirmishes of that campaign until the expiration of his term of service on the 17th of October, 1864. His valor and loyalty were equal to that of many a veteran of twice his years. Having returned from the war, Mr. Kinsey again entered the academy which he had left three years before and which he continued to attend until his graduation in 1866. He was of quiet, studious habits, very fond of reading and throughout his entire life has continually broadened his knowledge by research and investigation. After leaving school as a pupil he taught for a number of years and also read medicine under the direction of Dr. John Winslow, of Spring Mountain, Ohio, until the spring of 1869, when his health failed him because of his close application to his teaching and his studies. Hoping that he might be benefited by a removal to the west, he then came to Greene county, where he has since resided, settling on a farm when neighbors were few and far between. His health improved in the open air life and he has since lived in this locality, witnessing the many changes which have occurred as the wild and wind-swept prairie has been converted into productive farms, making this one of the rich agricultural districts of the state. On the 30th of November, 1871, Mr. Kinsey was married to Miss Carrie Howard, of Keene, Ohio, whose parents were of New England Puritan stock. Their children are Lucius Howard, Carl Bostwick, Bruce Whitham, Rex Farwell and Robert Stanley. Of this family, Lucius H. Kinsey married Miss Pearl Fox and the others are yet at home. In his political views Mr. Kinsey is a stalwart republican. He was made a Mason in Coshocton lodge, No. 96, A. F. & A. M., in the summer of 1867, and became a charter member of Junction lodge, No. 357, A. F. & A. M., which was organized in Dana, Iowa, about 1872. He is one of two charter members remaining and for several years he served as senior deacon of his lodge. About twenty-five years ago he united with the Presbyterian church at Grand Junction, Iowa, and upon the organization of the Presbyterian church at Dana he transferred his membership thereto and is still connected with it. For twelve years he has been ruling elder and is one of its active and helpful members, contributing liberally to its support and doing all in his power to promote its interests and extend itsinfiuence. Viewed in a personal light, his record is most creditable, his efforts being directed in those channels through which flow the greatest good to the greatest number. His influence has perhaps been all the more potent because it is moral rather than political and has been exerted for the public weal rather than for personal ends. |
Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead," by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver, Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.  Site Terms, Conditions & Disclaimer |