Stephen Kinsley

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Stephen Kinsley (c. 1598–1673)

Stephen Kinsley was born about 1598, based on various depositions. [1] Elder Stephen Kinsley died on 4 June 1673 in Milton. [2, 233] He may be the Stephen Kyinsley who married Marie Spawlding on 29 April 1624 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. [3]. The wife of Elder Stephen King died on 10 January 1668 in Milton. [2, 233]

Stephen Kinsley moved from Braintree to Dorchester, but returned. [4]

Stephen was a petitioner for a plantation by Pumhone on 1 October 1645. [5, 2: 128]

Stephen was a representative to the general court on 7 October 1640, 2 June 1641, and 7 October 1641, 10 May 1643, 29 May 1644, 26 May 1647, 10 May 1648, 22 May 1650, 7 May 1651, 27 May 1652, 18 May 1653. [5, 1: 301, 319, 336; 2: 33, 66, 186, 238; 3: 183, 220, 259, 297] He was appointed to a committee to examine colony books on 7 June 1644. [5, 3: 1] He was appointed to a committee to lay out a highway between Dorchester and Weymouth on 1 October 1645. [5, 2: 136] He was appointed to a committee to end small causes in Braintree for the current year on 2 May 1649. [5, 2: 271]

Stephen was one of six people who formed the church in Braintree and he was appointed its Ruling Elder. [7, 105] He was one of three petitioners for the incorporation of Milton in 1662. [7, 105] He was the first representative to the general court on 23 May 1666 and a representative again on 11 September 1666. [5, 5: 295, 314][7, 105]

In his will, David Holmes left twenty pounds in the hands of Stephen Kinsley, or if he died, his son John Kinsley, and Thomas Hollman to be used to improve and benefit David's children. The will is undated, but it was proved on 15 November 1666. [6]

Stephen Kinsley made his will on 27 (3) 1673. He named his son John his sole executor and left him his house, barn, orchard and land. He left his son-in-laws Henry Crane, Antony Gulliver, and Robert Crane land. He left thirty pounds to his son Samuel's son and two two daughters. Inventory on the estate of Elder Stephen Kinsley was taken on 27 June 1673 and included over 1,000 pounds worth of real estate. His son John took oath to it on 3 July 1673. [8]

Children of Stephen Kinsley:

i. Samuel Kinsley was probably born in England. He died in 1662. He married Hannah Brackett.

ii. Lydia Kinsley married Anthony Gulliver. She died after 5 February 1681/2. [9] Anthony was born about 1619/20 and died on 28 November 1706 in Milton, age 87. [9, gravestone] He married second Elinor, the widow of John Veering (Vering). [9]

Anthony made his will on 20 January 1704. He mentions his wife Elina and his children. [9]

iii. Tabitha Kinsley married Henry Crane [10] in 1654 in Dorchester. [1, 1: 391] She died soon after 1681. [10] Henry was born in 1625. [1, 1: 391] He died on 21 March 1709. [10] He married second Elizabeth Unknown. [10]

iv. Mary Kinsley was born on 30 (6) 1640 in Boston. [11] She married Robert Mason. [1, 2:1010] Robert died in 1691. [1, 2:1010]

v. John Kinsley died on 12 December 1698 in Milton. [2, 233] He married first Susanna Daniel on 25 June 1669 in Milton. [2, 143] Susanna died on 10 January 1668 in Milton. [2, 233] He married second Abigail Leonard by 1672. [1, 2:899]

Endnotes:

1. Clarence Almon Torrey, "New England Marriages to 1700," digitized book, AmericanAncestors, vol. 2: 900.

2. Milton Records: Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1662–1843 (Boston: Mudge and Sons, 1900).

3. Clarence Almon Torrey, "Marriages in England of Early American Immigrants," The American Genealogist 10 (1933), 14–15.

4. Woolson, Lula May Fenno, Woolson-Fenno Ancestry and Allied Lines: With Biographical Sketches, Boston, T.R. Marvin & Son, printers, 1907.

A. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, vol. 1, 1628–1641, vol. 2, 1642–1649, vol. 3, 1644–1657, vol. 4 , 1650–1660, vol. 5, 1661–1674, vol. 6, 1674–1686 (Boston: William White, 1853, 1854).

6. "Abstracts of Early Wills on Record and on File in the County of Suffolk, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 16 (1862): 52.

7. Albert Kendall Teele, History of Newton, Mass., 1640–1887 (Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, 1887), 107. This reference says that Henry Crane married first Tabitha Unknown and second Elizabeth Kinsley by 1655.

8. "Suffolk County, MA: Probate Papers," database with images, AmericanAncestors, 655.

9. Julia Locke Frame Bunce, Some Ancestors of the Reverend John Selby Frame and his His Wife Clara Winchester Dana (Minnapolis: n.p., 1948), 145.

10. Tollin Hillyer Cooke, Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, vol. 1 (New York, Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), 87.

11. "Records of Boston," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 3 (1849), 127.

Revised 08-Jun-2023