T. M. KINSEY

 The following bio was taken from page 269 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Shirley Koym

 Submitted by Gloria Brimley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

 The Reverend T. M. (Thomas Marshall) Kinsey came to Rusk County in 1912 and made a lasting contribution to the county, especially in the Tatum area.  Born January 14, 1879 in Ellis County, Texas he was the son of Josiah Kinsey and Hannah McGee Smith Kinsey.  They were married in Mercer, Kentucky, October 12, 1871.  They had four children:  James Baker, born in Kentucky; and Ella, Thomas Marshall, and Delbert, born in Texas.

 Josiah, Reverend Kinsey’s father, was born October 25, 1846, in Kentucky, and his mother, Hannah McGee, was also born in Kentucky.  They are both buried in Waxahachie, Texas.

 Josiah Kinsey’s father was Jesse Kinsey, a farmer and a Baptist who was born in 1815 in Pennsylvania.  Family history indicated that Jesse Kinsey traveled from Pennsylvania through Canada and finally came to Kentucky during the days of Daniel Boone.  His wife, Margaret Morgan Kinsey, was born in Washington County, Kentucky.

The Reverend T. M. Kinsey came to Tatum looking for a farm to buy for his family in Crystal Farms (a real estate development), and he immediately became involved with the growing town.  Persuaded by a group of Tatum businessmen, he founded Tatum’s first newspaper, The Tatum Progress and was the editor-publisher from 1912 until it ceased publication in 1918.  He soon brought his wife, Helen Sewell Kinsey, (born March 26, 1885 in Dallas County, Texas), and his children Edna (born August 29, 1905 in Ellis County), and Joe (born July 10, 1907 in Hill County, Texas) to their new home in Tatum.

 The Reverend Kinsey was a Baptist minister in Tatum and Panola County.  He was also a surveyor, a carpenter, and justice of the peace in Tatum, beside editing the Tatum Progress.  He was also a Tatum school trustee and later owned a Texaco Service Station.

 The Reverend Kinsey died May 5, 1960, and his wife, Helen, died September 19, 1958.  They are both buried in the Tatum Cemetery.

 The Tatum Progress was a newspaper which carried local and rural community news, advertisements for local businesses, and editorials by the Reverend Kinsey.  Reverend Kinsey was a constant booster of the growing town and urged all the citizens to make the town a better place in which to live and more attractive to new businesses.

 ubmitted by Cecil Williams