Christen Kuntzi, of Uebeschi, district of Thun, Switzerland, and wife Sarah, emigrated to Oley, Berks Co., Pennsylvania (near Reading), in 1734, according to an article in The Brethren Encyclopedia (1983). I believe that he was the father of the subject of this article, Henry Kintzi (or Kinzey). In the early 1700s, the Dunkards, or German Baptists, were being widely persecuted in western Germany and Switzerland for their supposedly "threatening" anti-establishment beliefs, and many emigrated to the New World to save their religion and their lives, or converted to more acceptable religions. Many early Dunkards were tortured and some even put to death for their beliefs. As a result, the Dunkard church gradually died out in Europe. After arriving in this country, Christen (or "Christian") Kuntzi was apparently active in the Oley church, and was listed as a delegate to a German-American church conference in 1742. He was naturalized in 1762. His son David later became pastor (or a senior elder?) at Oley. Among Christen's nine children was a son Henry (the 7th child), who I believe is probably the "Henry Kintzi" who purchased a farm in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1795. This man was born in 1742, presumably in Oley, PA. I have good documentation that my maternal grandfather, James M. Kinsey, was Henry Kintzi's great grandson.
The author of the above-mentioned article, Ms. Joan E. Zuber of Vancouver, WA (a descendant of Abraham Kinzey, son of Christen's sixth child Christian, who once lived in Botetourt County, Virginia, just north of Roanoke) has done considerable family research. We believe that we are probably fifth or sixth cousins. She found that several of Christen's children moved west, to Lancaster Co., PA (1770's), western Virginia (1780's), Ohio (1805), and elsewhere, typical of the period. I hope that Ms. Zuber or someone else may someday be able to supply information on the presumed connection between Christen Kuntzi and our family branch.
It is certain that Henry Kintzi/Kinzey was a lifelong Dunkard, probably a member of the Beaver Dam church, just north of Johnsville, Maryland. That was one of the first Dunkard churches in western Maryland. He lived in Frederick County for 33 years, and left a sizable estate at his death at age 86, in 1828. In the Mormon church archives, I have found that there was a "Henry Kintz" living in Lancaster County, PA, at the time of the 1790 U.S. census. Since I have been unable to find anyone else with a similar name living in Pennsylvania at that time, it seems likely that this man was actually Henry Kintzi, son and seventh child of Christen Kuntzi, before he moved to Maryland. (Over the years, Americans have found a great many ways of spelling the family name, as illustrated in this article.) It is likely that Henry Kintzi's primary reason for moving to Maryland was to obtain additional land for his sons, which was very common in that time.
Henry Kintzi (or Kinzey/Kinze/Kinsey, as the family name is variously spelled in Maryland records) moved to Frederick Co., MD., in the mid-1790s, purchasing a farm from a Mr. Henry Griffiths, estate executor, on Aug. 5, 1795 (Frederick County book of deeds). On Dec. 18, 1797, Henry sold some of this land to George Kinsey, probably his oldest son, then about 25 years old. Henry was subsequently involved in several other land transactions, purchasing more land from a Philm. Josh Griffith on Aug. 10, 1798, selling land to John Diffendal on Nov. 18, 1801, purchasing land from George Price (May 12, 1814), selling land to another son, Henry Kinsey, Jr. (Apr. 18, 1817), purchasing land from the same on May 12, 1820, and from William Haugh on Aug. 19, 1824. Based on a notation on a subsequent land sale by George Kinsey to Christian Kinsey in 1803, the Kinsey family land was in the tract "Hobson's Choice," granted to Charles Carroll in 1766, when Frederick Co. was first settled after the end of the French and Indian War and its frontier massacres (1763).
Henry's name is given as "Henrich Kintzi" in a 1795 legal document, supporting a German or Swiss-German family origin. The German name "Kuntzi" (with an umlaut over the "u"), as pronounced by a German speaking person would sound like "Kintzi" to American ears, and was undoubtedly thus transcribed in this country. Later changes to Kinzey/Kinsey/Kinsie were probably made to conform with the spelling of the English name Kinsey and the Scottish McKinsey or McKenzie. Henrich - or Heinrich - is of course the German equivalent of Henry.
"Henry Kinsey" is shown in the Libertytown district of Frederick Co. in the 1800 census (which includes Johnsville), with six children (4 boys and 2 girls) from the 10 to 16 range to over 26, and a wife over 45. (One boy, probably Henry, Jr., was under 16; one, probably George, was over 26, and the other four children were in the "marrying range" of 16 to 25.) Based on bequests in Henry's will, his children were named George, Jacob, Christian, Henry, Jr., Ann (Stoner/Shoemaker) and Barbra (Sowers), listed in that order. (George was probably the oldest, Henry, Jr. the youngest, and Ann the older daughter, but I do not know the relative birth orders of the girls and the two middle boys.) Henry Kintzi would have been about 58 in 1800 based on his reported age of 86 at his death in October, 1828 (below), and 53 when he purchased the farm noted above. I have independent evidence (History of Hardin County, Ohio, 1882) that my grandfather James M. Kinsey, of Ohio, later of Idaho, was the grandson of Christian Kinsey (or Kinzey) and Nancy Martin Kinsey of Frederick Co., MD, through his father George M. Kinsey, who moved to Ohio from Maryland in 1849.
A notice in the Fredericktown Herald, Dec. 12, 1812, listed "Spinning wheels manufactured by Henry Kinzey, of Little Pipe Creek, Henry Bantz, Frederick-town". (That was when Henry was about 70 years old. Bantz presumably sold spinning wheels made on Kinzey's farm at his store in Frederick.)
The Republic Citizen of Fri., Nov. 7, 1828, contained the notice: "Died Fri Mon last [i.e., Friday
It is quite likely that Henry Kinzey was a longtime member of the Beaver Dam church, still in use as of 1992 and located about a half mile north of the hamlet of Johnsville, in northeastern Frederick County. The present stone building was erected in about 1830, replacing an earlier wooden building, and is still used by an "Old Order Brethren" congregation, surely one of the oldest in the country. A second church on the opposite side of the large, very old, cemetery is used by a (reformed) Church of the Brethren congregation. This unique arrangement reflects the schism in the national Brethren church which dates from about 1882, during which the Beaver Dam congregation became badly split, finally dividing into separate churches. Several reforms were being debated within the denomination, including the innocent seeming one, from today's perspective, of instituting Sunday Schools along with traditional church services, as most other denominations already had done. At one point in the Beaver Dam dispute, the conservative elders supposedly locked the doors of the old church to prevent the "dissidents", who were actually in the majority, from using the building. Nationally, the reform movement took over most of the denomination, and today the Old Order Brethren is a relatively small sect, according to The Brethren Encyclopedia.
According to a book on names and tombstones in the Frederick library, Henry's son Christian Kinsey, Jr., is buried in the Beaver Dam cemetery. Several other Kinseys who were active in the Beaver Dam church throughout the 1800's are mentioned in church records, according to the present "church historian," Mrs. Charles (Patsy) Fogle. My grandfather James Kinsey was raised as a Dunkard in Dunkirk, Ohio, probably not converting to Methodism until he married.
In early 1994, I purchased a copy of the book, Stoner Brethren, by Mr. Richard R. Weber, 10715 Mooseberger Ct., Columbia, MD (phone 301/531-6020). This contains documentation on Henry's daughter, Ann or Anna Kinsey, and her marriage to and subsequent divorce from Mr. Isaac Stoner of Johnsville, MD, in 1795, which surely must have been a rarity in those times. Ann later married Mr. Christian Shoemaker after having had a son Abraham by Mr. Stoner. (After remarrying, the miller Stoner purchased several tracts of land, later borrowed money, encountered financial problems, and took his own life in 1803. He may have had what we would today call a "disturbed personality.") Both Ann and Abraham Stoner were included in Henry Kinzey's 1824 will and estate settlement (1830). Weber sent me a copy of the settlement, which I have transcribed for easier reading. Some very interesting details from that document follow below. A picture emerges of Henry Kintzi/Kinzey as a prosperous and well-established citizen by the standards of his time.
Henry Kinzey's estate, valued overall at $1206.41-1/4 (worth approximately $18,000 in today's money, according to information recently obtained on the Internet) was submitted to the Registrar of Frederick Co., G. M. Eichelberger, for settlement on January 12, 1829. Estate expenses totalling $92.08 were paid out, including court fees of ca. $7.00, and a commission of $102.77 (about ten percent of the net estate value) to the "Accountants" (executors) of the estate, Samuel Diffindal and Christian Kinzey (undoubtedly my grandfather's paternal grandfather). Net proceeds of $1010.56-1/4 were distributed among Henry Kinzey's heirs. A bequest of $30 was included in the will to Abraham Stoner, son of Henry's daughter Anne Shoemaker by her first marriage, and the remainder was divided equally among his six heirs (or their descendants) at final settlement on May 27, 1830: deceased son George Kinzey, living children Jacob Kinzey, Christian Kinzey, Henry Kinzey, Ann Shoemaker and Barbra Sowers, in amounts of $177.63 each. (I estimate that the latter bequests would be worth approximately $2660 each, today; see also below.) By 1830, the family name had apparently migrated to Kinzey, at least in Maryland. The family in Ohio apparently always spelled it "Kinsey."
I have a letter that my grandfather James Kinsey received in 1929 from a Mr. D.L. DeMuth of Medina, Ohio, inquiring about possible family connections. At that time James was the only surviving child of George Kinsey and Margaret Jane Shuff Kinsey of Dunkirk, Ohio. DeMuth's mother was evidently James' second cousin, Sarah Shoemaker DeMuth, a daughter of Anne Kinzey Shoemaker, James' grandfather Christian's sister. The 1929 letter mentions collected family letters showing extensive contacts between DeMuth's grandmother and members of my great grandfather George Kinsey's early family, including his sister Eliza Kinsey, a long-time member of the Beaver Dam congregation. These letters may have been written after Anne Shoemaker moved to Ohio from Maryland. DeMuth also refers to "your grandfather's brother, John," who lived in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, though I have no other direct evidence of such a person. A "Johnathan Kinsey" is reportedly buried in a pioneer cemetery in Mt. Victory, Ohio, near Dunkirk where my grandfather was born. It seems just possible that "John" or "Johnathan" may actually have been Henry's "prodigal son" Jacob (see next paragraph), who could have changed his name to something more "American sounding" when he left Maryland, though that is sheer speculation on my part. He may even had been the "local contact" who encouraged my grandfather's father George to migrate to Ohio in 1849. I have recently tried unsuccessfully to contact Mr. DeMuth or his descendants. I did learn that a Mr. Herbert DeMuth, possibly D.L. DeMuth's son, taught in the Medina high school for many years and lived there with his mother, but left Medina after he retired in the 1960s. In any event, it has been very interesting, so many years later, to receive confirmation of the blood relationship between Anne Shoemaker and my grandfather, through the sources described above.
Henry Kinzey lived on his farm for over 33 years before he died at age 86, and was evidently a well-established member of the local community. In addition to the considerable value of Henry's estate, noted above, his prosperity is further suggested by the number of loans due him at his death. One which apparently was collected by the executors was a loan to his second son, Jacob Kinzey, of $29.60, which had been outstanding for 23-1/2 years (interest totalling $41.78-1/2 is shown, or $1.77/yr. at an assumed 6.0%). (This hints at bad blood between Henry and his son Jacob. Why else would he carry the loan at interest for so many years? Possibly, Jacob, unlike his brothers, never repaid Henry for money he was advanced to begin farming on his own.) Another was a loan to Jacob's wife of $16.17, interest not stated. (Although not spelled out in this document, it is possible these outstanding loans were actually deducted from Jacob's portion of the settlement. This raises the question in my mind as to whether Henry was as stubborn as many of his descendants were!)
Six smaller loans outside the family were apparently also collected after Henry's death. However, several remained uncollected (shown with the notation "He being insolvant the residue could not be collected"). These totaled $171.63 (equivalent to perhaps $2575 today). This suggests the scale of Henry's generosity, perhaps in his presumed role as a Dunkard church elder.
Sale of Henry's real estate netted $280 (an estimated $4200 today). This relatively small amount suggests that he may already have disposed of most of his land. "Current money" (cash and savings?) is listed at $67.75-1/4 (estimated $1016 today). Personal property sold after Henry's death was valued at $100.90-1/4 (estimated $1510 today). Sale expenses included $0.63 paid to Samuel Birely "for whiskey used at the sale," $3.06 paid Lebn. Seittzer "for clerking," $3.00 to John Clabaugh for "crying sale", and $3.17 to G.W. Sharpe for printing the sales inventory.
From the language covering the actual execution of the estate, it can be inferred that Executor Samuel Diffindall was not a Dunkard or Brethren, since he "made oath on the Holy Evangely of Almighty God" (presumably, the Bible), while Christian Kinzey, as a presumed Dunkard, "solomnly sincerely and truly affirmed and declared that the foregoing amounts as stated is (sic) just and true."
The original Dunkards apparently attempted to live like early Christians, based on their interpretation of Holy Scripture. Two of their fundamental principles were an unwillingness to swear allegiance to civil governments and to take oaths. They also rejected infant baptism, a basic tenet of nearly all churches of the time, "in order to save the infant's soul" in case of early death - a distinct possibility at the time. Instead, the Dunkards, like today's Baptists, left it to children to choose baptism "at the age of understanding" (about age twelve). Because of these beliefs, these early Dunkards were widely considered dangerous radicals and threats to both civil and religious authority. I find it ironic that today, nearly three hundred years later, even the "reformed" Church of the Brethren would be considered a relatively conservative denomination by most Americans, though Brethrens have a well-deserved reputation for social awareness and personal responsibility.
After writing the above (1994), I obtained a copy of a large bound collection of family history information titled Christian Kinzie ( - 1774), born near Thun, Switzerland, A Genealogy of the Kinzie Families in America, compiled by Catherine E. Smith, 1981. I learned of this book through Mr. Ronald Frick of Jasper, IN (who is married to a Kinsey), and purchased my copy from Ms. Mary Beth Looker of 520 High St., Columbus Jct., IA 52738, a first cousin of the author, Ms. Smith. (I had posted a notice in the Newsletter of Brethren Genealogists.) This book contains much detailed family history information, of hundreds of descendants of the sixth child of "the founders," Christian and Sarah Kuntzi, through their son Christian (ca. 1740 - 7 Dec 1825), plus many family anecdotes and historic photos from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This branch of the family has managed to stay in touch over the years, and most of them still are associated with the Brethren Church of America. (I have also had contacts with other members of this branch of the family.) As late as the 1930s, the Kinzies held massive annual family reunions in the Midwest. Unfortunately, there is no mention in this history of any descendants of my ancestor Henry Kinsey or Kintzi, who appear to have been isolated from the rest of the family after Henry's move to western Maryland.
Written by Robert W. Hendricks, 403 French Road, Rochester, NY 14618, a grandson of James M. Kinsey, and great great great grandson of Henry Kintzi. (April, 1994, rev. 1998)
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