The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 922 

LESLIE F. KINSLEY.

Leslie F. Kinsley is one of the most recent arrivals in Yakima county, having
made his home here for little more than five years, but within this period he
has become well established as an active and energetic rancher whose labors are
bringing desired results. He was born in Shelby county, Indiana, April 17,
1868, a son of William and Caroline (Nichols) Kinsley, the former a native of
Indiana, while the latter was born in Virginia. The paternal grandfather,
Appolis Kinsley, was a native of Ohio but established his home in Indiana
during the pioneer epoch in its history. The maternal grandfather was Absalom
Nichols, a native of Virginia, whence he removed to Iowa. William Kinsley went
to Iowa in early life and in 1855 continued his westward journey to Utah.
Later, however, he returned to Iowa, where he took up the profession of
teaching, and in that state he was married. Subsequently he returned to Shelby
county, Indiana, where he taught school and engaged in farming, there continuing
to make his home to the time of his death, which occurred in the spring of
1918, when he had reached the age of eighty-two years. The mother survives and
is now seventy-eight years of age. They were prominent and highly esteemed
people of the community in which they lived, enjoying the warm regard of all
with whom they were associated. They belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church
and Mr. Kinsley gave loyal support to the principles of the republican party.

Leslie F. Kinsley is indebted to the public school system of Indiana for the
educational privileges which qualified him for life's practical and responsible
duties. When his textbooks were put aside he learned the cabinetmaker's trade,
which he continued to follow for fifteen years. In 1899 he went to South Dakota,
where he carried on farming for seven years, and later he took up a homestead
claim in North Dakota whereon he resided until 1913. In that year he arrived in
Yakima county and purchased twenty-six acres of land near Grandview, of which
half had been improved. He now has five acres in orchards, while the remainder
is devoted to the raising of alfalfa and diversified crops.

On the 14th of October, 1891, Mr. Kinsley was married to Miss Mary T. Wilson, a
daughter of Charles and Barbara (Applegate) Wilson. Her father was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and was a son of William Wilson, one of the pioneers of that
city and one of its early harness makers. He served as a veteran of the Civil
war, being for four years a member of the union army. The death of Charles
Wilson occurred in Indiana in 1877. His widow, however, survives and is now
making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Kinsley, who by their marriage became the
parents of two children, but the first born, Mary Ruth, died at the age of five
years. The son, William Fred, was born October 18, 1894, and is now serving
with the United States Marines in France. He enlisted in June, 1917, after
having graduated from a public school of North Dakota and attended the
Agricultural College of North Dakota. On the 27th of June, 1917, he enrolled as
a member of Company B of the First Section of the United States Marines -- a
name that will ever thrill the American public because of the notably brilliant
military movements of that organization in the effort to establish democracy in
the world. He is now with the Sixth Machine Gun Battalion and has seen very
active service during the summer of 1918. The parents have every reason to be
proud of their son, owing to the fact that the highest physical, mental and
moral standards are demanded for enlistment in the Marines and by reason of the
splendid work he and his organization have done on the battle front of western
Europe. The Kinsley family now occupies a prominent position in public regard in
Grandview and that section of the county and Mr. Kinsley is recognized as an
alert and active business man whose interests are of a character which
contribute to public progress as well as to individual success.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.