MEET YOUR ANCESTORS

Franklin Matthew Kinzie was born May 30, 1884 in Burr Oak, Jewel, KS.  Franklin was the only son of Caleb C. Kinzie and his second wife Mary Hackenberg, his older sister (6 1/2 years old) having died in a fire the year he was born. Franklin Matthew died on January 6, 1947.

Franklin married Della Alena Fry on December 24, 1908. They had eight children. Della Alena was born on September 2, 1890.

1. Glenn Omer Kinzie

2. David Caleb Kinzie

3. Laura Belle Kinzie

4. Kenneth Raymond Kinzie

5. Harold Dee Kinzie

6. Lela Mae Kinzie

7. Ethel Irene Kinzie

8. Dorothy Kinzie

The youngest of Franklin and Della's children is Dorothy, who submitted the stories below:

“Franklin Matthew Kinzie was a very hard worker and during World War II he would work all day, come home, change clothes, eat and go back to work, sometimes 18-20 hours a day, keeping the troop trains going. 

I always liked to walk the 2-3 blocks to meet him under the railroad tunnel and walk home with him.  He built our house using wood that the railroad would give him from old box cars and he would stay after work and tear down the boxcars and bring home the wood. We had Mexicans make adobe from dirt and straw and then use them to put the house together, that made it warm in the winter and cool in the summer. 

He was a big teaser and loved to kid with people and play jokes on them.  One time he was playing with me and was grabbing my pinafore dress, I did not like it but the madder I got the more he pulled until it was completely off me, I was about 4 or 5, thus I did not get so mad after that. He loved water fights, homemade ice cream and putting ice down your back between turning the freezer. 

I was to always get his slippers for him when he came home from work and several times I found the bottom side on my bottom, they did not feel so good that way. He was always concerned about the way the house looked, we never went to bed until the dishes were done and everything put away.

He loved oysters (raw), shrimp (raw) right out of the can. We always had food even it was potatoes, pinto beans and fresh cow's milk. He liked to get milk right out of the cows tit and squirt it in his mouth, UGH, but that was the times, never do it now. 

He was very particular how we girls dressed, no pants, shorts or anything that would show a little skin and feet together and dresses pulled down over our knees, very proper. He, David and Kenneth would break horses and I did not like to watch because the horses could be mean and sometimes almost  stomp them.

On the other hand he did have a temper and made sure we behaved and no sassing, he was the boss and we obeyed.  He did not want boys to come around messing with his girls.  He was a good dad, but very strict, a good provider and we knew he loved us.  I am sorry he died when I was 15 and I think I missed a lot of father-daughter time since he was sick a lot.  He always made sure we went to church, he did not always go because of his work, but he made sure  Mother  took us.  In spite of it all I think we turned out pretty well.

Just thought of how we got to Clovis, they were in Colorado and they tried farming and that was not good and they heard about the railroad coming to Clovis so they went to Clovis for a job, they bought a farm west of Clovis and raised broom corn and he worked at the railroad also. They harvested the broom corn on Saturday, dad took the money to the bank and was to get it Monday, when he went to get the money  to pay off the farm the bank was locked, they lost all the money and the farm, he never did business with a bank again.  They moved to town and started over.

If a new minister came to the church, usually their first meal was fresh liver and onions, which we had if a hog had just been butchered or from the store, that was a real delicacy for them, especially if they were from the north or didn't know about cattle or eaten liver and onions.”

Franklin Matthew died Jan 6, 1947.

Based on excerpts from the Christian Küntzi genealogy documents and the 1981 Kinzie Book of Anecdotes. Please contact us with any corrections or updates.