An Earlier Article on the Kinseys of Montgomeryshire from the PFHS Cronicl

In Volume 16 of the Powys Family History Society's Cronicl, Major Kinsey writes about another line of Kinseys from the Llanidloes and Llandinam area:

CRONICL 16 - GWANWYN 1987 SPRING

THE KINSEYS - RESEARCH
By Major Roger Kinsey

     The Kinseys have been in Llandinam, Montgomeryshire, since 1593 whence they fled from Cheshire to avoid religious persecution.  They were Catholics and were given some land in the high ground to the south of Llandinam by the Herberts of Powis Castle: the Herberts were also Catholic recusants.  The Kinseys, up to 1656 at least, remained Catholics and priests visited them to hold religious services in their farm, Blaenyglyn, near Llanidloes.  One David Kinsey, who moved down to Llanwrthwl and Nantmel, became a Quaker and emigrated to Philadelphia in 1682.
     The first Evan Kinsey was the son of Robert Kinsey of Llandinam who died in 1661 and is mentioned in his will.  Evan Kinsey of Trelwydon who died in October 1893 was the son of Evan Kinsey, 1797-1839, and Ann Jarman.  He was born in 1797 at Llandinam and his headstone is at Bwlchysarnau.  His wife, Ann, was buried there too in 1875; she had subsequently married (? the Rev.) Stephen Pugh.  Evan Kinsey of Trelwydon, son of the above, 1820-1893, was of Criggiau before going to Trelwydon and married Charlotte Watson, 1829-1862, of Glanavron, at Llanbister in 1847.  His brothers and sisters were:

Thomas b 1821; died in Indiana, USA, in 1886; married Charlotte's sister, Mary Watson, in 1843.
Ann b 1824.
John b 1825; emigrated to Ohio in 1844; as he moved to California in 1849 he was a 'forty-niner'; in 1847 he married Adeliza Davis who was born in Radnorshire and emigrated with her parents and family in 1831.
Margaret b 1826.
Stephen b 1832; d 1907; married 1854 Ann, Llanbister, 1826-1895.
Edward b 1834 at Abbey Cwmhir; emigrated to Iowa and settled in Cincinnati.
David b 1835; married 1854 Mary Jones in USA and later re-married; settled in New Mexico.
Mary Elizabeth b 1839 at Ceffynthys.
Daniel b 1837; farm bailiff; widower on 1881 census.

Evan and Charlotte Kinsey had the following children:
John bapt 1847 Llananno.
Evan b 1848 Llanbister; of Whitton Court; d 1920; married Charlotte Moseley.
Thomas b 1852; d 1871; buried Maesyrhelem.
Stephen b 1855.
Charlotte bapt 1849 Llanbister; married Aaron Moseley of Criggio.
Mary died about 1860; headstone at Maesyrhelem.
Annie b 1858 at Llananno; married John James, 1857-1933, of Stowe.

    On the subject of religion, the Radnorshire branch of Kinsey was strongly Baptist for a long time.  In the book The History of Baptists in Radnorshire John Jones, Baptist minister of Llandrindod Wells, points out that one of the first members of Maesyrhelem was John Kinsey and his wife of Llinwent, Llanbister; that would be about 1805.  John Kinsey was of a different branch to the Kinseys of Trelwydon.  After 1854, Evan Kinsey of Trelwydon and Stephen Pugh were appointed trustees of Maesyrhelem and, whilst Stephen Pugh was appointed deacon about 1852, it was not until 1858 that Evan Kinsey was chosen to assist him in the deacon's office.  Both of these men remained in office for over thirty years and, when the book was written prior to 1895, Evan Kinsey, Trelwydon, and John Kinsey, Gilfach Whitton, were among the trustees of the chapel's property.  My grandfather and father and their respective brothers were Baptists in the Llangurig area.
    Like many families, the Kinseys lost much of their lands, particularly in Cheshire and Shropshire, during the Reformation.  Later the Kinseys were divided - some sided with the Royalists and others with the puritans.  After the Civil Wars, the Royalists had their lands sequestrated and some of them were executed; others were imprisoned several times and this was the fate of John Kinsey before he went to New Jersey in America.
    During the late seventeenth and part of the eighteenth centuries, the Kinseys of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire were divided on matters of religion and politics with a strong leaning towards Dissent (including some Jacobites) whilst others were active in the Established church.

     The above notes were submitted by Major Kinsey in response to an inquiry by Joan Goodger (member No. 104).  Major Kinsey would be happy to exchange information on any branch of the family; his address is Lynton Lodge, The Broadway, Charing, Kent TN27 0AQ.
    Joan Goodger advises that she has information about early Kinseys but is not yet able to tie them into the family of Evan Kinsey, 1797-1839.  There is a will for a Kinsey in 1619 at Llandinam; of Stephen Kinsey in 1673; of Evan the elder; and Thomas Kinsey in 1773 at Llangurig; and Evan in 1783.  There is also a Stephen Kinsey of Llandinam, Llananno and Pilleth born 8th August 1673 with successive generations of Stephen as a christian name.
    On the 1841 census, Evan's widow, Ann, is shown in residence at Drelwyden in Llanbister; this was a farm of 246 acres.  Presumably Drelwyden and Trelwydon are one and the same place.