From Marilyn Kinser Kinne in 2011: When your ancestor and mine moved to Bradley County from Monroe they were ostracized by John and the family still in Monroe....they basically had no contact with them once they moved. In the 1850 Tennessee census index the Peter Kinser family is listed under "Henser". The K looks like an H. Samuel Peter is listed as Saml , age 7. Peter and his brothers, Henry and George lived around what is now Bates Pike in the vicinity of Taylor's School in Bradley Co. From the 1860 federal census of Bradley Co., TN we find Samuel listed as a 17 year old. In this data the mother, Sarah, and the brothers and sisters also match up with the Peter Kinser family who came to Hunt Co. TX. in 1867 or 1868. The Peter Kinser family is also listed in the 1870 census with 5 of the 9 children still living at home, while Samuel is living in Johnson Co.

Another key piece in the jig-saw puzzle of our Kinser families comes from a letter written to Lewis Jones(mother is Montie Kinser and grandfather is William Lewis Kinser) by Wesley Luther Kinser(dec. around 1980) from Ft. Worth, Texas. In this letter is a Bible record with birth, death and marriage information. Evidence of age and names we believe establish the Peter of this family to be the Peter of the 1850/1860 census. If this is the case then the John Kinser in this Bible record becomes Samuel Peter's grandfather. This would establish that Wesley Luther of this letter is a cousin since his grandfather is a brother to Peter. In 1999 I made an extensive effort to find Wesley's children, but to no avail. Also stated is the fact that some 40 wagons of Kinser families left Tennessee in the late 1860's and came to Texas. Some, including this Peter settled in Hunt Co. There is a Kincer community just to the north of Greenville, Texas. on Hwy 69.There was once a school, but now IN 2003 only a few scattered homes.

Documentation:
Deed Books of Bradley Co., TN Vol. A and B 1862-1869 pages 52-53. Peter Kinser selling 80 acres in the Ocoee district for $350. The time is 24 July, 1865
Deeds of Hunt Co., TX
vol. K p. 563 1869
vol. U-1 p.62 1887
vol. K-1 p.485 1885
vol. 55 p.227 1886 mentions deceased wife( SW Kincer) of Peter Kincer
vol. 55 p.229 1887 mentions SP Kincer, heirs of SW Kincer, selling their interest in property. WHEN PETER CAME TO HUNT CO., TX , HE PURCHASED 133 ACRES OF LAND ABOUT 3 MILES EAST OF GREENEVILLE, THE COUNTY SEAT. THE ABOVE DEEDS INDICATE THAT AFTER DEATH OF HIS WIFE ABOUT 1886 THE LAND EXCEPT FOR ONE-HALF ACRE WAS DISTRIBUTED BETWEEN THE SURVIVNG CHILDREN. IT WAS THOUGHT THAT THE HALF ACRE MIGHT BE DESIGNATED AS A FAMILY CEMETERY, BUT NO RECORD OF SUCH A CEMETERY EXISTS.
Another marriage is recorded in Hunt Co., TX Marriages Book D p221

Family Bible records via Wesley Luther Kinser

1850 Census Bradley Co., TN (spelled Henser in census)
Peter 37 TN
Sarah 32 VA
John J. 15
George 13
Martin 11
Harriett 9
Saml 7
Nancy S. 4
Elizabeth 1

1860 Census Bradley Co., TN Roll Family 227-- Cleveland PO (spelled Kensor in census)
Peter Kinser 46 Farmer TN
Sarah 42 VA
George L. 23 TN
Marten A. 21 TN
Hariet H. 19 TN
Samuel 17 TN
Mary 14 TN
Caroline 11 TN
William 7 TN
Amanda 4 TN
Martha 1 TN
Mary Oriah 70 NC

1870 Census Hunt Co. TX
Peter Kincer 57 Farmer TN
Sarah 52 VA
Harriett L. 25 TN
Caroline 21 TN
William D. 19 TN
Amanda 14 TN
Martha 12 TN


1880 Census Hunt Co. TX Roll 1312 EN #64 sheet 42
Peter Kincer 55 widower TN PA PA
Amanda(widow) 23 daughter TN TN TN
S. S. Mayo 1 granddaughter TX TN TN
J. W. Carter 34 nephew TX TN TN

PETER WAS 20 AND SARAH WAS 15 WHEN THEY MARRIED IN 1833.




The Kinsers of Bradley County, Tennessee


Settlement by Europeans in what would become East Tennessee began as part of the western expansion of colonial America. The countryside was a wilderness, long occupied by Native peoples and when German, Irish, English and Scotch immigrants headed south and West, looking for opportunity and adventure, they found both in the rugged landscape of the future state of Tennessee.
Bradley County, TN came into existence on February 10, 1836, almost forty years after the state of Tennessee was founded. Two years after the bill was passed by the legislature to establish this county, Cleveland was designated as the county seat. Already an attractive location for new settlement because of its plentiful water supply and lush farmland, Bradley County began to attract even more European descendants after the Cherokee removal in 1838.
Coming to Bradley County a few years after its founding were members of, by then, a third generation American family, the Kinsers. The Kinsers or Küntzers,as the name was originally spelled had come to the Colonies in 1730 from the Palantine region of Germany, settling first in Pennsylvania and in succeeding generations, migrating to Southwestern Virginia, then to Greene Co., later Monroe and McMinn Counties in upper East Tennessee. From Monroe County Henry, Peter, George,and Jacob came to Bradley County. Henry sold his McMinnn County farm in early 1848 and with his wife Mary Briant and five children settled in the eastern most part of Bradley County. Their farm was located on what is now Bates Pike, in the vicinity of Tivior's School. Peter and George Kinser, Henry's brothers, and Jacob their cousin, settled in the same general locale. All of the Kinsers were farmers but George and Henry also did carpentry, and legend has it that they introduced the "wrap around" porch to this area, building many homes in eastern Bradley County with this unique (at that time) feature. Peter Kinser also owned a sorghum mill and in a fascinating court case, he was sued by a neighbor who accused Peter of knowingly letting her cow eat so much sugar cane at his mill, that the cow foundered and died. The woman, a widow with three children, won the case against Peter, who was then ordered by the court to pay for the cow and to pay court costs, including $3 to his brother Henry for Henry's testimony. Peter also worked as a railroad construction hand and in the 1850 Bradley Co. census he is listed both in his home with his wife and children and in the home of the construction foreman. Jacob Kinser, said to be a lawyer, a carpenter and a teacher, as well as a farmer; was the son of Jacob, Sr., a brother to Henry, George and Peter's father, John.
Henry was the only Kinser who stayed in Bradley County. George and his wife Caroline, who were childless, moved to Polk County, some time later George fathered a child with a young neighbor of his and was ordered by the court to pay the girl $90 for the upkeep of their son.
Peter, his wife Sarah and their large family migrated to Texas in 1867, along with thirty-seven wagon loads of Kinsers, most of them from Greene County. Following already established migration routes, Peter chose to settle in Hunt County, in northeastern Texas. He married twice more, once before Sarah's death, and a third time after a divorce. Family rumor says that Peter became involved with the woman who would become his third wife while he was still married to wife number two. Jacob, the cousin of Peter, George and Henry, lost his first wife, Nancy, and one daughter to typhoid fever in late 1863 and early 1864. A few years later, with his children grown and away from home, Jacob married Minerva Lawson, a young widow with one son, eventually settling in Polk County with his new family. Some years after her brothers settled, in Bradley Co., Easter Kinser and her husband Joseph Cobble moved, with their children here from Monroe County. Joseph's untimely death left Easter with a hefty mortgage and no means of support. Even with Henry's help, Easter was unable to keep her home, eventually losing it to the mortgage holder. She and her family then left Bradley Co. Henry and Mary Briant Kinser had a sixth child, Nancy who was born three years after the family arrived in Bradley Co. Nancy eventually married a Peter Duff and they lived out their lives in McMinn County. Lydia, the third child of Henry and Mary, migrated to Collin Co., Texas in 1882 with her. husband, Isaac Armstrong and their children. It is said that they were part of a wagon train made up of Armstrong's siblings. The other Kinser children, John Alexander, Susannah, Serepta and Henry Rise stayed in Bradley Co. Today there are no known descendants of John or Susannah in the county. Serepta's legacy includes the names Goode and Finnell, while the heirs of Henry Rise's sons Carrol and Parker include, not only the Kinser name, but Kinne, Carson, Carter, Greene and others.
The imprint made by the Kinsers can be seen in the naming of a church and a county road in their honor. More importantly, that imprint can be seen in the contributions made to Cleveland and to Bradley County by all the descendants of this German-American family.
From www.kinser.org February 2000. Written by Gay Greene and published in The Bradley News Weekly abt. 1999.

From "History of Monroe Co., TN" Vol. 1 Part 1, Gen 976.8 S221 pages 240-242. In 1837 a petition of the citizens of parts of Bradley, McMinn and Monroe counties complained to the State Legisture that they had to travel 40 miles to their county seat of justice, and asked that a new county be formed for their convenience, which later became Polk Co. formed in 1839. On page 242 one of the signers was Peter Kincer. His signature can be seen and also note he signed his name as KINCER.