Dilman Kinzie (1774 - 1806)

Born 30 Dec 1774 in Bucks, Province of Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 15 Jul 1806 at age 31 in Doon, Waterloo County, Upper Canada

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Biography

Dilman was born in 1774. Son of Johannes/John Kinzig/Kinsey and Susanna Kolb.

Copied from Find a Grave:

• In the fall of 1799, Joseph Sherk and Samuel Betzner came to Canada. They spent the winter at Niagara Falls and further inland until spring. Being dissatisfied with these sections as permanent locations, they pressed onward about 30 miles beyond the then limit of civilization, their desire being to locate on the banks of a river of which they had heard was in this area. No white settlers had settled in this area although a few fur traders had located temporarily on the banks of the Grand river, within the County of Waterloo.
• In 1800 Sherk and Betzner purchased their land directly from Richard Beasley. Sherk exchanged his horse for the land so purchased, but still had sufficient means left to purchase a yoke of oxen and a sled, by which means he transported his family to Waterloo, in April 1800 and located on the banks of the Grand River directly opposite where the village DOON is located. Other arrivals came later in the same year, bringing their families and household effects.
• One of these families was Dilman Kinsey and his wife Barbara Biehn and a two-year- old daughter. There were nine teams in this train, two of them having four horses each. All the wagons were covered. They were often obliged to stay in the woods over night on the journey, but they were well prepared to protect themselves against all kinds of weather, as they had in addition to their covered wagons, movable tents which rendered the most useful and valuable service. They also brought a number of cows with them, which supplied them with milk on the way. The 500-mile trek from Bucks Cty, PA to Doon in Waterloo County, was not an easy one. They had to deal with crossing the Alleghany Mountains, traversing the Niagara River and the difficulty in crossing the Beverly Swamps near present-day Dundas.
• These people probably emigrated to Canada for two or three reasons. No doubt the lure of good, free land was high on their list. Also, the collective Mennonite spirit of German-speaking people to form companies was another reason. We know that their refusal to serve in the military or to carry arms had not made them popular in the U.S.A. The British Crown had long before granted Ana-Baptist Mennonites the freedom from bearing arms. Therefore the company, which included Dilman, his wife Barbara and their two- year-old child, became part of the many United Empire Loyalists who moved north into Canada after the American Revolution.
• They arrived in a forest land, primitive and uncleared. John, their first son, was reportedly the first white male born in the area shortly after their arrival. After five years, Dilman, the father, died leaving land ready and a primitive pioneer home. For 50 years, Barbara would live here with her children. An account written 60 years later declared that she was left with "five small children to continue the precarious struggle of founding a home in a region yet far beyond the confines of civilization". This Kinsey family farmed on the west side of the Grand River and on the northeast part of "Biehn's Tract". The farm remained in the family for nearly 120 years.
• Dilman Kinsey married Barbara Biehn about 1797. Their five children were:
  • (1) Suzannah (1798-1881) married Daniel Stauffer,
  • (2) John (1801-1852) married Elizabeth Moxley in 1824,
  • (3) Abraham (1802-1872) married Salome Latschaw,
  • (4) Jacob (1804-1862) married Susannah Stauffer,
  • (5) Barbara (1806-1881) married Henry Bechtel.

Sources

• Old York, Ontario, Canada, Land Deeds . Film # 008199938.
  • 1801 Land Deed #47. (10th August, 1801)
    • John Bean of Block #2 on the Grand River, Home District, Province of Upper Canada, yeoman, and Barbara his wife, sold part of a tract of land containing 3600 acres to Dilman Kinsey of the same place.

• 1806 Find A Grave MEMORIAL ID# 117047234
  • Dilman Kinsey
    • Born: December 30, 1774 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States
    • Died: July 15, 1806 (31) in Doon, Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario, Canada
    • Buried: Kinzie-Biehn Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario, Canada

• Eby, Ezra E. A Biographical History of Waterloo Township: Being a History of The Early Settlers and Their Descendants. Berlin, Ontario, Canada. 1895. Volume I, p. 252.