Kinnersleys in Early America

The first known appearance of Kinnersleys in America was in 1636, when a Thomas Kinnersley is mentioned in the records of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts Colony.

A Land Patent was issued 29 Apr 1668 to Thomas and Henry Batts for transporting to the Virginia colony 118 persons including Jno Kinnersley and Dorothy Kennersly.

Ebenezer Kinnersley

The most famous member of the Kinnersley family is Ebenezer Kinnersley. Although his branch bears no known relationship to ours, he deserves mention here. Born in Gloucester, England, Ebenezer emigrated with his parents to Pennsylvania at an early age. Eventually he was ordained as a Baptist minister. Beginning in the 1740's he was a major collaborator with Benjamin Franklin, along with Philip Syng and Thomas Hopkinson, in their well-known experiments on electricity.

Ebenezer toured the colonies from 1749 to 1774 giving popular lectures on the subject, "For the Entertainment of the Curious." Several of the papers that he wrote on electricity still exist. Franklin's group made many important discoveries in this field but received little credit at the time, due to the prevailing attitude in Europe that any work done in the colonies had little significance. Ebenezer was apparently the first person to discover that an electric current generates heat. The Kinnersley Thermometer is an apparatus that shows the expansion of air caused by passage of a spark.

Kinnersley was the first Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, from 1755 to 1772. Today there is a stained glass window at the campus chapel dedicated to his memory.

The book Ebenezer Kinnersley, Franklin's Friend by J.A. Leo Lemay (University of Pennsylvania, 1964), gives the following genealogy:

I)	Richard Kinnersley
	m. Mary
	A) William Kinnersley (1669 - 13 Feb 1734)

Ebenezer's father William Kinnersley was born at the Lynch near Leominster, Eidsfield Parish, Herefordshire. After arriving in the colonies he became an assistant pastor at the Pennepack Church in Dublin, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia.

m.	Sarah Turner
	1)	Ebenezer Kinnersley (30 Nov 1711 - Mar 1778)
		m. 1739 Sarah Duffield (26 Feb 1719 - )
		a) Esther Kinnersley (13 Nov 1740 - bef 1785)
			m. Joseph Sewell
			i) Sarah Sewell
			ii) Elizabeth Sewell
			iii) Benjamin Sewell
		b) William Kinnersley (29 Oct 1743 - 5 Apr 1785)

Ebenezer's son William was a "Practitioner of Physick," a medical doctor who served in the Revolutionary War. He died in Mooreland, County of Philadelphia.

			2)	Mary Kinnersley (20 Aug 1715 - )
				m. Mr Hubbs

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