tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post1644983772022158777..comments2024-03-14T13:25:20.613-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: David Kinnison: “not credible”Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-15785006869997720002024-01-28T17:19:08.153-05:002024-01-28T17:19:08.153-05:00Yes, and if Kinnison was seventeen years old in 17...Yes, and if Kinnison was seventeen years old in 1781, then he was only nine years old at the time of the Tea Party. And in his eighties when he died in 1852.<br /><br />As the blog posting says, there is evidence Kinnison served at Fort Dearborn. There isn’t evidence he was there at the time of its fall in the War of 1812.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-19006571134156546152024-01-28T15:37:22.172-05:002024-01-28T15:37:22.172-05:00He did serve briefly in American Revolution Mass A...He did serve briefly in American Revolution Mass Archives Vol 9 p.124<br />He did serve briefly in the American Revolution-the American Rev. Mass Soldiers and Sailors series reports that the surname Kennison has several varations including Kennirson[1] .Only David with this surname: "Kennirson. David. Return recruits sent by Massachusetts as portion of her quota of the Continental Army subsequent to Jan. 1, 1781, who were reported unfit for duty; 2d Mass Regt., age 17 years.; statute 4 ft. 9 in..; engaged for town of Lebanon; term 3 years; reported under size." [2] nterestingly Allan Eckert In his winning of America series claims Kinnison was a survivor of the Fort Dearborn [ Chicago] Massacre of 1813 and was taken prisoner by Indians...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-87885242795295159512011-02-09T18:03:45.859-05:002011-02-09T18:03:45.859-05:00Dear Mr. Bell,
In regards to David Kennison / Kin...Dear Mr. Bell,<br /><br />In regards to David Kennison / Kinnison I consider myself to know more about this man's backstory. I have not published this info.<br /><br />Among other things I have identified 2 of his sons who served in the U.S. Military, 1 of his daughters, the family he moved with from New York to Chicago and much about his military service / historical "clamed" exploits, etc.<br /><br />I am willing to share / trade information with other "serious" researchers. <br /><br />Drop me an email at jonesge (at) yahoo.com and tell me about yourself and your research on this individual.<br /><br />George JonesGeorge Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13009845249939235493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-20730246875812352692010-12-31T14:45:45.279-05:002010-12-31T14:45:45.279-05:00Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you found the sit...Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you found the site and the links useful.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-54438256721247615672010-12-31T14:37:22.627-05:002010-12-31T14:37:22.627-05:00Hey folks. An Aussie here, who is knew to your sit...Hey folks. An Aussie here, who is knew to your site - and to much of US history! I cam here because I was reading about the Boston Tea Party and Kinnison's name cropped up - and some of the claims made about him just didn't seem credible. I was glad to find this site where an open discussion (with solid references) exists. Many thanks for taking the time to right about issues like this - I'll bet a lot of folk come to the site and leave wiser although they don't post. Which is why I thought I should.gef05https://www.blogger.com/profile/04821983091692966971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-48740357179307091452010-12-19T22:37:00.484-05:002010-12-19T22:37:00.484-05:00The most solidly based biography of the real John ...The most solidly based biography of the real John Howe is at the <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2923" rel="nofollow">Dictionary of Canadian Biography</a>.<br /><br />I’ve read his “spy” reports, and I’m not sure they deserve that name. He traveled in America under his own name, mostly visiting relatives. He didn’t represent himself as anything other than a contented Canadian subject and even (as a postmaster) minor government official. <br /><br />On returning home, Howe gave a government official a report of what he’d heard and seen, mostly about political sentiments. He wasn’t a paid agent, just a citizen hoping for peace. <br /><br />I think it's notable that when the British government most needed intelligence about America and influence in it—during the actual War of 1812—no officials sent Howe out again. His reports were found in government archives decades later, and I don’t recall any sign that they had affected decisions.<br /><br />I see that the author of the Scribd essay also writes about Sarah Bradlee Fulton. She was quite the storyteller as well—not on David Kinnison’s level, but not credible, either.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-20621668797414384492010-12-19T20:48:31.924-05:002010-12-19T20:48:31.924-05:00The John Howe you link to in the Mass. Moments sit...The John Howe you link to in the Mass. Moments site was obviously a fraud. But it appears there was another John Howe, also a loyalist who lived in Boston in 1775, who is claimed to have been a spy for the British -- but his espionage came more than 3 decades later.<br /><br />This latter John Howe is mentioned in the comments appended to Mass. Moments:<br /><br />http://www.massmoments.org/forum_topicview.cfm?frmtopicID=355<br /><br />which in turn links to 2 other web sites:<br /><br />http://www.scribd.com/doc/2627857/In-His-Majestys-Service-John-Howe-Spy<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howe_(loyalist)<br /><br />This latter John Howe appears was about the same age as the fictional one. The web sites I've cited here claim that he (or possibly his son of the same name) was a spy in the years before the War of 1812.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the Wikipedia article and the Scribd article don't fully agree about this John Howe's espionage efforts. I'll leave those differences for others to figure out.Charles Bahnenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-41645892969550233782010-12-19T19:20:44.005-05:002010-12-19T19:20:44.005-05:00MassMoments needs to check the work of their inter...MassMoments needs to check the work of their interns, clearly.Jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10391963968436069761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-57776780104876589842010-12-19T18:55:05.221-05:002010-12-19T18:55:05.221-05:00I encounter this kind of a phenomenon all the time...I encounter this kind of a phenomenon all the time--no matter how many times certain things are proven wrong (or just simply do not seem to make sense), there are plenty of people intent upon believing them. I have endless problems with this in regards to the history of Plymouth Colony.pilgrimchickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13808106043964544413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-70419942372006090552010-12-19T16:03:00.313-05:002010-12-19T16:03:00.313-05:00Chicago as a young city, supposedly without histor...Chicago as a young city, supposedly without history (the tale of Fort Dearborn was hardly stirring), might indeed have felt culturally inferior to its eastern counterparts in the 1850s. Later the Chicago Museum bought a huge anchor chain in the belief that it was the “chain” stretched across the Hudson River to prevent the Royal Navy from sailing up to Albany. The city wanted some Revolutionary roots.<br /><br />When I read about stories like this, however, I wonder if there might have been debunkers at the time who just didn’t put their skepticism into print. Maybe they thought he was such an obvious fraud that it didn’t need mentioning, or they enjoyed watching other people get hoaxed, or they figured he was a harmless old liar who wasn’t really causing trouble. <br /><br />When Tea Party claimants first started to come out of the woodwork in the 1820s and 1830s, there were skeptical voices in the Boston press. In some cases, they identified discrepancies or debunked false claims—particularly about men from out of town. In some cases, however, those men appear to have been authentic participants. <br /><br />As the numbers of Revolutionary veterans dwindled, the press’s skepticism seems to have shrunk as well. But I wonder how the Boston press of the 1840s and ’50s reacted to these stories out of Chicago.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-57461897335108632742010-12-19T11:00:08.463-05:002010-12-19T11:00:08.463-05:00I don't know who is worse- Kennison, or the pe...I don't know who is worse- Kennison, or the people who, even in the face of overwhelming evidence contrary to his story, still persist(ed) in believing in him and his obviously false tales.<br /><br />Did Chicagoans, feeling culturally inferior to the old Yankees in Boston, trump him up and fall for it all because he fit their spiritual need for a hometown Revolutionary War hero? Didn't anybody question his tale while he was still alive? This tale says more about the believers in than the idol.<br /><br />Yet another porcelain god, that shatters when it falls...RFullernoreply@blogger.com