"Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity, Oregon." Authors: "a
compilation of this work....by a number of writers".  Chapman Publishing Co;
Chicago, 1903. p. 120.
 
ROBERT C. KINNEY

     was a son of Samuel Kinney and a nephew of Gov. William Kinney of Illinois.
He was born in Belleville, St. Clair county, ILL., in 1813, of Kentucky
parentage. He pre-empted a tract of land on the banks of the Mississippi river
which he thought eligible as a site for a future city. Here he built a hotel and
wharf and laid out a town, and ran a boat between this point and St. Louis. Thus
he became the founder of Muscatine, and a pioneer of Iowa. For a time he engaged
in the flouring and sawmilling business, and also read law with Judge Hastings,
a prominent member of the early bar of San Francisco. In 1847, accompanied by
his family he crossed the plains via the Platte route and Oregon trail, making
the journey with ox teams. Near Lafayette he took up a donation claim under the
territorial laws of Oregon.
     Attracted by the news of wonderful gold mines in California he joined the
throng of adventurous spirits, who have since rendered that state and epoch
brilliant by their achievements in many fields, and during a part of 1848-49
shared their hardships and their fortunes. Returning to his farm in the latter
year he devoted himself to its improvement for a time, but re-entered the
milling business in 1859 by the purchase of the McMinnville mills, and finding
the business profitable and to his taste, added the purchase of the flour mills
at Salem in 1875 and removed thither with his family. This enlargement of his
business called for branch offices in Portland, San Francisco and Liverpool,
England. To this Salem milling company belongs the credit of chartering the
first vessel for the shipment of flour from Portland to Liverpool, China,
Hindoostan and elsewhere in the Orient, and to Montevideo in South America. In
the management of this growing and profitable business Mr. Kinney found his sons
to be capable and successful lieutenants, and hence the business which they
pioneered has grown to its present importance. But these growing interests did
not withdraw Mr. Kinney's attention from his duties as a citizen, and his
sterling sense and sound judgment were called for by his fellow citizens to aid
in the convention which framed the first constitution for Oregon.
    Through his marriage to Eliza Bigelow, R. C Kinney became connected with the
founder of the city of Milwaukee, Wis. Mrs. Kinney was born in Nova Scotia, and
at an early age accompanied her father, Daniel Bigelow, to Illinois, thence to
Wisconsin, where Mr. Bigelow engaged in sawmilling. The little mill which he
operated became the nucleus of a village, which he called Milwaukee.
    In the family of R. C. Kinney there were eight children who attained mature
years, and of these three sons and three daughters are now living.  Mrs. Mary
Jane Smith is a resident of Astoria, and her sons. Senator J. H. Smith and A. M.
Smith, are prominent attorneys of the same place. Albert W. Kinney, who was in
the milling business with his father, died in Salem in 1882. This son, together
with William S. and M. J. Kinney, continued in the business projected by their
father, and William S. Kinney was the president and manager of the Clatsop
Sawmill Company until the time of his death in 1899. Augustus C. Kinney, the
Astoria physician so well known as a specialist in tuberculosis, was among the
first advocates of the germ theory of the origin of this disease, and had come
to be recognized in this country as an authority in this field before the
demonstrations of Koch of Germany removed all doubt by the discovery of the
tubercular bacillus.  His well considered articles in medical journals and
before medical societies had before that attracted much attention from medical
men and now a large practice in his special field is a part of his reward.
Alfred Kinney, a younger brother and a physician and surgeon in general practice
lives in Astoria, where he stands high in his profession. Mrs. Josephine Walker
lives in San Francisco, and Mrs. Eliza Peyton, wife of Dr. J. E. Peyton, lives
in Redlands, Cal.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2008 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.