Catherine Read and Isaac Kinney were the parents of 13 children who were born between 1834 and 1857. They had at least 36 grandchildren (one adopted), who were born between 1857 and 1903. I have also identified 68 great-grandchildren (one adopted) born from 1875 into the 1930s, 103 second great-grandchildren, 109 third great-grandchildren, 46 fourth great-grandchildren and 5 fifth great-grandchildren. Total identified descendants equals 380.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Catherine C. Read was the first child and daughter of Aaron Read and Margaret Ann Cooke (Peggy). Peggy Cooke was Aaron's second wife. As Aaron had two children by his first wife, Catherine was actually Aaron's third child and third daughter. Catherine was born 2 January 1815 (Kern 1938; Newberry c.1934). She was probably born on the family farm in Knowlton Township, Sussex County, New Jersey. The farm had been the homestead of her grandfather, Joseph Read (Kern 1938; New Jersey State Archives, Sussex County Land Records, Book Q, pages 432-435). The portion of Knowlton Township where the farm was located later became part of Blairstown Township in Warren County (Snell 1881). Catherine married Isaac Snover Kinney in about 1834. Their first child, Margaret Ann Kinney, was born on 16 December of that year (LDS Batch #8514203; Newberry c. 1934; 1850 United States Federal Census, pg 455). Isaac Kinney was born 19 November 1811. He was the son of Frederick M. Kinney and Margaret Ann Snover (Scott-Fritzen 1998).

For part of their married life, Isaac and Catherine Kinney lived with Catherine's parents in Warren County. Margaret Read was very ill and required care during the last few years of her life (Newberry c.1934:80). However, the Kinneys did not move into Catherine's parents home until after 1840. They do not appear as part of Aaron Read's household on the 1840 United States Federal Census (Knowlton County, pg 371). Two of the Read children were still living in the house in 1840: Samuel and Mary. Mary Read married Andrew McMurtrie in February 1841 (Warren County Marriages). Samuel settled in Pennsylvania and was married by March 1843 (Newberry c.1934). It is probable that Isaac and Catherine Kinney did not move back into her parent's house until 1841 or later. By 1841, they already had four children: Margaret, David, Bartley and Maria Catherine (who appears as Mariah on the 1850 Census). Their son Aaron R. Kinney was born in January 1842. I suspect the R. stands for Read or Reed, although I do not have documentary evidence for this. This branch of the family appears to have preferred the R-E-E-D spelling. Catherine's half sister, Sarah Read Coursen, named her son Aaron Reed Coursen. Catherine's brother Samuel used Reed on offical documents in Pennsylvania. However, in New Jersey he used Read. Catherine's descendants use Reed in their recording of the genealogy. Why this change was made, or what prompted the change to the double "e" spelling is unknown.

The Kinneys were living with Catherine's parents by 1850. They appear in the 1850 United States Federal Census (page 455) as residents of Blairstown Township. Their family was ennumerated in the same house as that occupied by Aaron and Margaret Read. It was a rather large household consisting of 13 individuals: Aaron and Margaret Read, Isaac and Catherine Kinney, eight Kinney children and a hired man by the name of John R. Wagner.

Table 1: Households of Aaron Read and Isaac Kinney in 1850

Between 1850 and 1855, Isaac and Catherine moved out of Aaron and Margaret Read's house. Catherine's sister, Mary Read McMurtrie, moved in to care for their mother. After Margaret's death in 1855, their brother, Samuel Cooke Read, moved into Aaron Read's house to care for him (Aaron died in 1861). Samuel Read had been living in Pennsylvania until the time of his mother's death (Newberry c.1934).

Isaac S. Kinney was the township collector for Blairstown Township in 1856 (Snell 1881). It is probable that the Kinneys were living on their own farm by that date. When the United States Census was taken in 1860, the Kinneys were definitely living in their own home in Blairstown Township. Catherine's brother Samuel Read appears on that census as living in Aaron Read's household. Eight of Isaac and Catherine Kinney's thirteen children are listed as living in the Kinney household. Two daughters, Margaret Ann and Maria Catherine, had married by this time and were living in their own homes (DiPetro 1998a). Their son, Joshua, does not appear on the census. He was born in February 1856 and died a month later in March 1856 (LDS Batch #509751; Newberry c. 1934; Scott-Fritzen 1998). Their adult son, Bartley Kinney, was living in the household of Bartley LaRue (DiPetro 1998c). Bartley Kinney was listed as a laborer. Another son, David Isaac Kinney married Lydia Wintermute on 30 June 1860 (Dipetro 1998a). Isaac and Catherine Kinney's household consisted of the following individuals in 1860:

Table 2: Household of Isaac Kinney in 1860

In 1867, Isaac and Catherine (Read) Kinney settled in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where they remained until their deaths (Newberry c.1934). The move took place after Catherine had received two inheritances. The first was from her father Aaron Read's estate (Warren County Surrogate Court Records, hereinafter WCSCR, Wills Book 3, page 418). Catherine received approximately one third of the estate after the payment of debts and other estate legacies. Her brother Samuel Cooke Read and sister Mary Read McMurtrie also received approximately one third of the estate each. Smaller portions of the estate went to Catherine's nephew Aaron Read Coursen (son of her half sister Sarah Ann Read Coursen) and to her half-sister Lidia Read Lanning's heirs. The second inheritance was in the form of a cash settlement from the estate of Catherine's first cousin, John Hetty Read, the son of her uncle James Read. John died intestate on 14 August 1862. He left a large estate and no direct heirs (no wife, no children, no siblings). The Surrogate Court of Warren County divided John's estate among his 66 surviving first cousins (both Reads (paternal) and Colemans (maternal)). Catherine's 1/66 part of the estate amounted to $346.41 (WCSCR Orphans Court Minutes). The sale of the Kinney's farm in Warren County, with the settlements from the two estates probably enabled the family to purchase a new farm in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.

Table 3: Household of Isaac Kinney in 1870

Table 4: Household of Aaron R. Kinney in 1870

By 1880, all of Catherine and Isaac's children had left their parents household and begun homes of their own. The couple had been married at least 46 years in 1880. Their household had expanded rapidly in the begining of their marriage. In 1840 they had four children. There were eight children in the household by 1850 (as well as Catherine's parents and a hired man). Five more childen arrived during the years 1850 through 1860, although four either married or moved out and one child died during this period. The number of children in the household dropped to four full time residents by 1870, although two of the boys, Samuel and Frederick, were single and may have cycled in and out of the house. But by 1880, Catherine and Isaac were alone, neither children, grandchildren, other relatives nor hired help lived with them (1880 United States Federal Census, Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, page 130D):

Table 5: Household of Isaac Kinney in 1880

Catherine Read Kinney died in Lathrop, Susquehanna County on 13 August 1891 (DiPetro 1998d; Newberry c. 1934; Scott-Fritzen 1998). After Catherine's death, Isaac continued to live in Susquehanna County. In the autumn of 1895, Isaac Snover Kinney returned to Blairstown Township to visit his children who still lived in the area. While he was there he died on 25 October. The family took his body back to Susquehanna County and buried him beside Catherine in Union Cemetery (Newberry c. 1934; Scott-Fritzen 1998).

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