Actually, the Kinnees in my family are of Irish background. Richard Kinnee was the second husband of my ggrandmother Catherine McLean McMillan. She was a widow with two children in Ontario, he was a widower with four children, also in Victoria, Ontario.

They married, had a child together in Ontario, then moved to Butte Montana, where they had three more children. Catherine was then widowed for the second time. With ten children to support, she ran a series of boarding houses and hotels, where her family could live and she could earn. She moved the family to Cripple Creek and Colorado Springs, CO, Salt Lake City, UT and Idaho.

The Kinnee family originated in Germany according to my Mother in law, who was born a Kinnee in 1920. Your Richard Kinnee is a relation to her. She knew her father and grandfather who both attested to the German origins. Also, many of the census records from their time indicate their German origins. It's difficult to trace them back that far though as the name seems to have need spelled in so many ways over the years.

Hi - to make sure we are talking about the same person; I have a Richard Arthur or Alvin (I have a reference there were twins whose second names were Arthur and Alvin) Kinnee who would be my great grand uncle. He is one of the children of Thomas and Matilda Kinnee. Thomas parents were Thomas Sr. and Sarah Wright; and Thomas Sr's parents were Henry Thomas and Mary Coon; Henry Thomas was born in Syracuse, New York.
Both my Dad and one of my aunts claim the Dutch roots - based on a story that England 'bought' Danish-Jews from Denmark to re-settle Ireland after the great potato famine but these people were re-routed to Canada for land settlement purposes.
I have researched the English parliamentary archives for evidence of such a transaction and parliamentary decision but have not yet found any evidence to support this claim.
You can contact me directly at kinnees@writeme.com should you wish to confirm, deny or even talk about any of this stuff.
Keven

About time I got back to genealogy - needed to retire to get the time.

My wife is Sharon Kinnee - on that side parents Arthur Elsworth and Rosina Marindale, grandparents John Daniel and Mary Jane Savanac, great grandparents Thomas Kinnee and Matilda Perrin.
Don't know if I have info worth sharing but happy to establish a connection.
turbotraveler@hotmail.com

I have to recant some of my earlier information. The Kinnees have been traced back to England. They arrived in North America via Holland after the King at the time kicked them out for their religious beliefs. This was even after the prior King had knighted Henry Kinne! One of the Kinnees did marry a German woman named Margaret Kaiser, which may have led to the confusion. My tree info is on ancestry for anyone to peruse. Also, turbotraveler, I show your wifes Mother to be Rosina Harding, but her Mother was a Martindale. Let me know if she can confirm this. Thanks! My hotmail is mistreeboy@hotmail.com.

Sorry, the email above is incorrect. It belongs to someone else. If I could delete it, I would!

I've been told that my Kinnee roots are Irish (from Northern Ireland) but it's a challenge to trace back over 7 generations. I believe they settled in Southern Ontario. My grandfather and grand uncle were developers in BC in the 40s.