Kinsinger (Kenzinger, Kentzinger, Kinnzinger, Kinzinger, Kitzinger) family
Kinsinger (Kenzinger, Kentzinger, Kinnzinger, Kinzinger, Kitzinger) was a Swiss Mennonite family name occurring in the Palatinate Mennonite census lists under various spellings in 1717, 1724, 1743 and 1759. A Christian Kentzinger, whose name appeared in 1724 was the ancestor of those carrying this family name in South Germany. In the 1940 census of Mennonite families in South Germany, 14 Kensingers were members of the Sembach Mennonite Church. Peter Kinzing, the noted mechanic and clockmaker at Neuwied, Germany, whose collection was admired by Goethe, Lavater, and Basedow in 1774, no doubt belonged to this Kinzinger family.
In 1729 an Abraham Kensinger arrived in Philadelphia. Joseph Kensinger, a native of the Palatinate, came to America and settled in Butler County, Ohio, in 1826. He was ordained as minister in the Amish congregation in 1844 and served until his death in 1857. Peter Kinsinger, a distant relative of the above Joseph, born in the Palatinate in 1827, was ordained to the ministry of the Butler County, Ohio, Amish congregation in 1867 and served there until his death in 1888. Joseph Kinsinger from the Palatinate, a brother of the above Peter, settled in Butler County, Ohio, in 1850. He was ordained there in 1861 and served the Amish congregation until he moved to Wayne County, Indiana, in 1868.
Bertha Kinsinger Petter observed the sixtieth anniversary of her work among the Cheyenne Indians of Oklahoma and Wyoming in 1956. She was one of the first Mennonite women to graduate from a college (Wooster).
Members of the Butler County Kinsinger families moved to central Illinois as early as 1837. Here Michael Kinsinger was ordained to the ministry in 1862 and died in 1895. John Kinsinger from Butler County was ordained in 1881. Michael Kinsinger, an immigrant from Germany, was ordained in 1889 and died in 1912. Joseph Kinsinger was ordained in 1891 and died in 1925. These served in the Central Conference of Mennonites.
At least as early as 1842 Kinsinger families from Butler County, Ohio, were living in the Lee County, Iowa, Amish settlement. Later, members of these families moved to the Amish Mennonite settlement of Davis County, Iowa.
Jacob Kinsinger migrated to America from Hesse-Kassel, Germany, in 1832, and finally settled near Springs, Pennsylvania. A son, Peter Kinsinger, served as a bishop (1884-1923) in the Old Order Amish church of Johnson County, Iowa. His relatives and descendants are still found in this community. Other members of the family remain in the Grantsville, Maryland, Amish Mennonite community.
Bibliography
Mennonite Quarterly Review 25 (1951): 252.
| Author(s) | Melvin Gingerich |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1957 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Gingerich, Melvin. "Kinsinger (Kenzinger, Kentzinger, Kinnzinger, Kinzinger, Kitzinger) family." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kinsinger_(Kenzinger,_Kentzinger,_Kinnzinger,_Kinzinger,_Kitzinger)_family&oldid=143628.
APA style
Gingerich, Melvin. (1957). Kinsinger (Kenzinger, Kentzinger, Kinnzinger, Kinzinger, Kitzinger) family. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kinsinger_(Kenzinger,_Kentzinger,_Kinnzinger,_Kinzinger,_Kitzinger)_family&oldid=143628.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 177. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.