Kensinger Family Papers, 1856-1910, 1920 (C3712)

2 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

Correspondence of members of an Ohio family that began settling in western Missouri in the early 1850s. The collection also contains property tax receipts and miscellaneous family papers.

DONOR INFORMATION

A portion of the Kensinger Family Papers was loaned for copying to the State Historical Society of Missouri by Faye R. Kensinger on March 1, 1977 (SHS Accession No. 2068). The remainder of the collection was donated to the Society by Mrs. Kensinger on January 25, 1982 (SHS Accession No. 2400), with an addition made on August 31, 1992 (SHS Accession No. 2918).

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Simpson Kensinger, son of John Kensinger of Covington, Ohio, was the first member of the family to migrate west, settling in eastern Kansas in the early 1850s. By 1856 he had settled on a farm near Richfield, Missouri. A brother, Alvah, and his wife, Camilla Anne, came out from Ohio and farmed with Simpson until the latter was killed fighting with Confederate forces at the Battle of Vicksburg. Alvah returned to Ohio in 1864.

In the 1870s another son of John Kensinger, Lewis, sent his son, Edwin J., and nephew, Lycurgus (Kirg) Kensinger to Henry County, Missouri, to homestead and pave the way for the rest of family. Gradually, other family members settled in Henry County. By the mid-1880s Clara Kensinger Folkemer, a daughter of Lewis, and her husband Phil had moved to Kansas City and started a mercantile business.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The correspondence of the Kensinger family on the frontier, to family members who remained in Ohio, presents the full range of the western settlement experience, from homesteading on the prairie to an urban existence. Simpson Kensinger's letters of 1856-1857 to his father and brother Lewis in Ohio detail the difficulties of frontier life, economic conditions, personal and family matters, and the Missouri-Kansas border conflict and other political issues.

Conditions in western Missouri during the Civil War are described in several letters written between 1861 and 1863 by Simpson, who was fighting with Confederate forces; and Alvah and Camilla, who were living in the area during the period. Letters written by Lycurgus and Edwin Kensinger during the period 1878-1884 from Henry County, Missouri, comment on conditions for agriculture and livestock, life in a small town, and the milling business.

In addition to typical family news, the letters from Clara Kensinger Folkmer and her husband in 1890s Kansas City detail social, cultural, and economic aspects of urban life. Henry County property tax receipts, 1882-1897, and miscellaneous papers complete the collection.

FOLDER LIST

f. 1Correspondence, 1856-1857
f. 2Correspondence, 1858-1865
f. 3Correspondence, 1878-1884
f. 4Correspondence, 1885-1910, 1920
f. 5Financial records, 1872-1897
f. 6Miscellaneous

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.

  • Agriculture--Missouri
  • Border Warfare, Missouri-Kansas, 1850s
  • Civil War--Correspondence
  • Civil War--Missouri
  • Depressions, Economic, 1930s
  • Diseases
  • Folckemer, Clara Kensinger
  • Folckemer, Phil A.
  • Free Soil Party
  • Homesteads--Missouri
  • Hotels, Texas, 1880s
  • Kansas, 1850s
  • Kansas--Politics & government, 1850s
  • Kensinger, Alice
  • Kensinger, Alvah
  • Kensinger, Camilla Anne
  • Kensinger, Clara
  • Kensinger, Cliff H.
  • Kensinger, Edwin J.
  • Kensinger, Emma
  • Kensinger, John
  • Kensinger, Kirg
  • Kensinger, Lewis H.
  • Kensinger, Lewis L.
  • Kensinger, Simpson ( -1863)
  • Land Prices--Missouri
  • Missouri, Calhoun
  • Missouri, Clinton, 1870s
  • Missouri, Cornelia, 1870s
  • Missouri, Henry County
  • Missouri, Johnson County
  • Missouri, Kansas City
  • Missouri, Post Oak
  • Missouri, Richfield
  • Missouri, Shawnee Mound
  • Missouri, St. Joseph
  • Missouri--Economic conditions
  • Politics, Missouri
  • Prices, Kansas, 1850s
  • Prices, Missouri
  • Real Estate, Missouri
  • Social Conditions, Missouri
  • Tax Reciepts, Missouri, Henry County, 1880s-1890s
  • U.S. Federal Emergency Relief Administration
  • U.S. Federal Transient Bureau
  • University of Missouri, Francis Quadrangle
  • Weather, Missouri