George Merritt KINYON

Father: John KINYON
Mother: Lydia POST

Family 1: Marilla CHURCHILL

(1) Portrait & Biographical Album DeKalb County, Illinois 1885 via Ancestry.com, entry for George M. Kinyon: "George M. KINYON… By his first marriage, Nov. 12, 1848,... wedded Miss Marilla CHURCHILL, in Sycamore Township, this county."

Family 2: Nancy Peace WHITNEY

(1) Illinois Marriages, 1790-1860 via Ancestry.com

  1. John William KINYON
  2. Dexter Delos KINYON
  3. Lydia G. KINYON
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 _John KINYON_|
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|--George Merritt KINYON
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|_Lydia POST__|
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Notes

Updated October 13, 2013. Compiled by Howder (www.howderfamily.com) from the following source(s):

(1) Illinois Marriages, 1790-1860 via Ancestry.com

- Name: George M. KINYON
- Spouse: Mrs. Nancy [WHITNEY] ATKINSON
- Date: 22 Oct 1849
- County: DeKalb
- State: Illinois
- Source: County Court Records at Sycamore, IL

(2) 1850 United States Census for Illinois, DeKalb Co., Pampas Twp.: Page 739; October 29, 1850.

George M. KINYON is head of household, married to Nancy [WHITNEY] KINYON. He is 23 years old, a farmer with real estate valued at $1,500, and was born in New York. Nancy's daughter from a previous marriage, Vesta A. KINYON, is also a resident. Nancy's parents, William and Nancy J. WHITNEY live in the next residence.

(3) 1860 United States Census for Illinois, DeKalb Co., Pampa Twp., Sycamore Post Office: Page 140; July 6, 1860.

George KINYON is head of household, married to Nancy [WHITNEY] KINYON. He is 34 years old, born in New York, and is a farmer with real estate valued at $2,920 and personal estate valued at $800. Children in the household are John W., Dexter D., and Lydia G. Whitney. Nancy's daughter from a previous marriage, Vestie (listed as "Bessie") ATKINSON is also a resident.

(4) 1870 United States Census for Illinois, DeKalb., Cortland Twp., Cortland Post Office: page 33; July 16, 1870.

George M. KINYON is head of household, married to Nancy P. [WHITNEY] KINYON. He is 43 years old, born in New York, and is a farmer with real estate valued at $7,000 and personal estate valued at $1,300. He is eligible to vote. Children in the household are John W., Dexter D. and Lydia G. KINYON.

(5) LDS FamilySearch 1880 United States Census database for Cortland, De Kalb Co., IL. Family History Library Film 1254202, NA Film Number T9-0202, Page 30C.

George KINYON is listed as 53 years old and born in New York, as were his parents. He is head of household, a farmer, and married to Nancy [WHITNEY] KINYON. His son, John KINYON resides in the household as a farm laborer. In addition there are several of Nancy KINYON's family in residence: her mother Nancy J. [CARLTON] WHITNEY, her daughter Vestie ATKINSON and her grandson Artimus ATKINSON. The surname is recorded as "Kynion" in this record.

(6) Find a Grave via Ancestry.com

- Name: George M. KINYON
- Birth: Aug. 5, 1827, Cortland, Cortland County, New York, USA
- Death: Mar. 26, 1896, Sycamore, DeKalb County, Illinois, USA
- Burial: Ohio Grove Cemetery, Cortland, DeKalb County, Illinois, USA

(7) Our Pioneering Families, Genealogies of Whitney, Groathouse and Lignitz, researched and compiled by Vivian Gail Morrow Wade, Dec. 1986, first edition. Self-published manuscript available at DAR Library, Washington DC. Page 89.

- His parents were George and Lydia (POST) KINYON.

(8) Listed in Daughters of the American Revolution membership record 515332 (issued 1966).

(9) Portrait & Biographical Album DeKalb County, Illinois 1885 via Ancestry.com, entry for George M. Kinyon.

"George M. KINYON, farmer on the northeast quarter of section 8, Cortland Township, was born in Onondaga Co., N. Y., Aug. 5, 1827. His father, John KINYON, was born Nov. 13, 1796, and is still living, with a son in the town of Ridgeway, Orleans Co., N. Y. George's mother, Lydia, nee POST, was born Nov. 28, 1800, and died in March, 1883, in Harland Township, Niagara Co., N. Y."

"The subject of this sketch moved with his parents from his native place to Ridgeway when a lad, where his father bought a farm, which he still owns. At the age of 19 young George arrived in this county, May 15, 1847, and purchased the farm which he still owns and occupies. It consisted of 130 acres of prairie and 17 acres of timber. He and Mr. H. H. GANDY are the only men in this settlement who still own the land they bought in pioneer times when they first arrived here. On his place, when he purchased it, was a double log house, the farm was fenced and a large portion of it 'broken' by the plow. Since then he has erected a fine frame residence, barn, outbuildings, etc., and kept the farm in a good agricultural condition."

"By his first marriage, Nov. 12, 1848, Mr. KINYON wedded Miss Marilla CHURCHILL, in Sycamore Township, this county. She was a daughter of David and Maria (PARKER) CHURCHILL, and died March 26 following, and now lies buried near the Baptist church in Ohio Grove Cemetery. She was not taken up and buried 'under her mother's window,' as Boies' history says, but was taken to St. Charles and brought back. There was a second funeral, when she was buried in the same coffin, with the exception of a new lid, in the same grave. Her father was drowned in 1854, in Virgin Bay, on his way home from California, and her mother is still living in Iowa, the wife of Mr. ARMSTRONG. For his second wife Mr. K. was wedded, Oct 22, 1849, to Mrs. Nancy P., widow of John ADKINSON, who died Feb. 19, 1847, in Dearborn Co., Ind. He was born in Switzerland County, that State, in 1823. His daughter, Vesta A., who was born three weeks after his death, was his only child, and now lives in Washington Co., Kan. Mrs KINYON was born April 14, 1827, in the town of Philips, Franklin Co., Maine, the daughter of William Peace WHITNEY, -- her father having been so named because he was born on the day peace was declared at the close of the Revolutionary War. He was born in Cumberland Co., Mass. [e.d., later Maine, but was not a separate state until 1820], and died Dec. 29, 1863, at Cortland. Her mother, Nancy J., nee CARLTON, is living in Washington Co., Kan., with her son George, a farmer. She was born Nov. 30, 1806, in Cumberland Co., Mass [e.d., later Maine, but it was not a separate state until 1820]."

"By the second marriage of Mr. KINYON there have been three children, as follows: John William, born Aug. 31, 1850; Dexter D., Oct. 8, 1854; and Lydia G., May 18, 1857."

"Mr. K. is Republican, and both himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church."

(10) Boies, Henry L.. History of DeKalb County, Illinois. Chicago: O.P. Bassett, printer, 1868.

- Chapter VII, "The Resurrectionists" includes a chilling account of grave robbers who procured bodies for a nearby medical school between 1847-1849. George KINYON's first wife, Marilla CHURCHILL, who had recently passed away was one of the bodies snatched. Her body was recovered after a mob descended on the school causing significant damage to the perpetrators and to their property.

(11) The Underground Railroad in Dekalb County, Illinois; by Nancy M. Beasley; McFarland and Co., Jefferson, NC, 2013. Page 189.

- George KINYON is listed as an Antislavery Advocate - "KINYON, George Merritt, b. 1827 NY, son of John and Lydia (POST) KINYON, son-in-law of David CHURCHILL; d. 1896 IL; m (1) Marilla CHURCHILL (whose body was stolen by grave robbers); m. (2) Nancy Peace (WHITNEY) ATKINSON, issue John William, Dexter Delos, Lydia G., step-daughter Vesta ATKINSON; Pampas/Cortland Twp., one of the first settlers; land patent; farm; West Cit; R; Meth Episcopal and Baptist."