Nancy Josephine Lockridge Kinnett

This paper prepared and read by H. J. Sheffield, Jr., at the Lockridge-Kinnett reunion held at Downey, Idaho, July 23, 1933

 

In thinking of our ancestry to whom we are giving honor this day there stands out before me in a vivid manner, a personage with a strong character, honest, honorable, and of stately bearing, one when convinced of a thing there was no middle ground to be taken. It was so with her faith, her politics, her friendships and her religion. I reflect upon the condition, circumstances and surroundings under which such a sterling character was formed. I picture in my mind a large plantation well equipped with tools of that day, with dwellings here and there about it which were set aside for those who were handling the plantation work. A plantation with a man upon it with fine, farsighted, broad management, with a bearing of dignity that commanded the love and respect of those about him, an honest southern gentleman. Such was the father of the one I have in mind, and such were the characteristics which she possessed. Such a person was Nancy Josephine Lockridge, better known to us as Grandma Kinnett.

 

She was born December 17, 1844 in Cartersville, (Bartow County) Georgia and always upheld her state of birth with pride. Being born and reared under such conditions as those of which I have spoken, her ideas of Americanism were strong. She was proud of having been born a real true blooded American, and equally as proud of her ancestry. Yes indeed, the Lockridges and Tumlins to Grandma Kinnett were some of the finest people the world held. Truly they were are a fine people. I had the privilege of visiting Cartersville, Georgia In October 1932, and of going to the plantation once possessed by the Lockridge's. Cotton was growing upon it in most places, corn in other places and gardens near the homes now occupied by purchasers of portions of the estate. I met one lady whose maiden name was Lockridge, now Johnson, who is the daughter of George Lockridge’s son Samuel Lockridge. She is now residing upon a portion of the original property. True to real southern hospitality they insisted on my staying with them over the night and eating with them, but my train time would not allow me to do so.

 

So, in dwelling upon the surroundings and environment under which Grandma Kinnett was reared I do so with a partial knowledge through personal contact. Later in life she became a fine high-spirited young woman, with a fine physique and was sought in courtship by many young men. She was finally wooed and won by an honest, honorable, well respected young man, a miller by trade, Grandpa Joshua Kinnett, and was married to him November 22, 1860 at the age of sixteen. Not long after this marriage the Civil War broke out and at that time she was the mother of one child, Ada Cordelia Kinnett (later Owen) who was born December 5, 1861 at Cartersville, Georgia. A son, James Joshua Kinnett was born while the war was in progress, November 9, 1863 and died August 9, 1864, while the father Joshua Kinnett was serving the south as a Confederate soldier. She passed through many heart rendering experiences during the course of the war and carried scars to her grave that were brought upon her by hard work and through boils which came upon her through improper food. The cradle which rocked her daughter Ada also secreted hams which would have been confiscated by the Northern soldiers had they known of their whereabouts. Yet no sacrifice was too great for her to pay for a cause she believed was right. As time went on she was the mother of seven children, three sons and four daughters. The sons: James Joshua, William Samuel, and Louis Tumlin were born and died at Cartersville, Georgia. The daughters Ada Cordelia, Mary Agnes, Josephine May and Nannie Lyle (Nancy Carlyle), all lived and came to Utah with their Mother.

 

Grandma heard the Gospel preached by Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and because of her having been born of a lineage with the pure blood of Israel flowing in their veins, she gave ear to and was convinced of the truth of the Gospel and was baptized into the church by Elder Albert R. Smith, October 13, 1867 and was confirmed the same day by Elder Heber C. Rich after traveling forty miles by rail to have the ordinances performed.

 

In the year 1891 she came to Utah leaving her family in Georgia and returned to them shortly afterward. She did sewing and ran a mercantile establishment to gain a livelihood and to gather means to come to Utah and in the year 1891 returned to Utah with her family. Grandpa Kinnett did not come to Utah but remained in Georgia and died in Cherokee in 1901. After she came here she did sewing and ran a confectionary store and many other kinds of work which gave a living to them. She lived to see all her daughters married and comfortably situated. She resided in Kaysville, Utah the last twenty years of her life and passed away at the home of her daughter Nannie in Kaysville, December 22, 1920.

 

She was the only one of her family (Lockridges) up to the present time to accept the Gospel and become a member of the Latter-day Saint Church, notwithstanding the fact that they are very fine people. To her dying day she bore a strong testimony to the truth she had espoused, knowing and bearing testimony that it was true.. She wished all men to know the truth as she knew it and spent many hours in the course of her life teaching its principles. So strong was her faith that she would have gladly have laid down her life for and in defense of the Gospel. How well her hearts desires are being realized as you all know by the number of her descendants that are following the same faith and are members of the same church as she. She was a very useful woman.

 

Through the daughters Ada Cordelia and Mary Agnes with Brothers Melvel and John C. Owen came the Owen's and then more Owens, the Wares and more Wares and the Dibbles and then more Dibbles, the Andersons and probably not any more Andersons, the Simpsons, the Dawsons and the Stoddards, the Witbecks and the Pratts, the Thompsons and the Coffins. Through Josephine May and John Hyde came the Hydes and we hope more Hydes, the Merrills and the Knights. Through Nannie Lyle and H.J. Sheffield, Jr., came the Sheffields and a lot more Sheffields and the Killians. The total including all those mentioned above with the in-laws number 107, of whom 81 are present on this occasion. In summing up all these things it is both proper and fitting that we pay homage to Grandma Kinnett. We do her honor; we bless her memory and cherish it and do gratefully acknowledge that it is through her loins that we are and that through her a great many generations will yet be established. We, today, thank our Heavenly Father for such worthy and noble ancestry and pray to Him for help to carry on in purity to live lives worthy of our progenitors, and that it may be a joy to meet them in the life beyond. May the Lord's choicest blessings attend us all, in all sincerity.

 

Uncle Jim (H.J. Sheffield, Jr.)

 

Descendants: 7 children, 28 grandchildren, 59 great-grandchildren, 7 great-great grandchildren

 

Grandma was a Relief Society teacher from August 1898 to October 1915