Condensed History

• 1818, August 16 born Cayuga Co. NY
• 1838-1850 age 20, moved to La Salle Co. IL, builder
• 1844 Marriage to Clarissa Taylor ( Alonzo Kinyon and Clarissa Jane Taylor, August 13, 1844 by John F. Devon )
• 1850-1852 age 32, moved to CA, builder in Sacramento & San Francisco
• 1853 South Fork Canal (CA?) contractor
• 1853 age 35, moved to Amboy, Lee Co., IL,
• 1857 Marriage to Aurelia Gaylord (see table below)
• 1864-1865 contractor for Illinois Central RR
• 1865-1868 practiced law
• 1868-1871 age 50, elected to Ill. Legislature, 3x (1)
• 1872 age 54, built Chicago & Rock River RR
• 1874 age 56, organized Fond du Lac, Amboy & Peoria in Amboy, Ill.
• 1877 age 59, moved to Fond du Lac
• 1883 age 65, sold FAP to CMStP, moved to Plankinton S Dakota
• 1891, July 16 age 73, died and buried in Plankinton (2)

From History of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin (1880) pages 824-825 .

Judge A. Kinyon, President of the Fond du Lac, Amboy & Peoria Railway Co., is a native of Cayuga Co., N. Y., where he was born in 1818; in 1837, he removed to La Salle Col, Ill., where he was engaged in contracting and building for about thirteen years; in 1850, he removed to California, where he continued in the builder's profession for two years in the cities of Sacramento and San Francisco; he was next employed for one year in filling a contract for work on what was then known as the South Fork Canal ; in 1853, he returned to Amboy Co., Ill., where he was engaged in contracting for the Illinois Central Railroad Co., during 1864 and 1865; for the next three years he practiced law in that county, and, in 1868, he was elected a member of the State Legislature from the county, and filled the office with such credit to himself and satisfaction to his friends that he was returned a third time to that body; failing health while in the Legislature compelled him to quit the practice of law, and seek some outdoor employment; in 1872, he built the Chicago & Rock River Railroad from Shabbona, De Kalb Co., to Sterling, Whiteside Co., Ill.; in 1874, he organized the Fond du Lac, Amboy & Peoria Railway Co., of which he has since been President. Such is a brief sketch of the career of one who has through life been actively engaged in public enterprises of various kinds.

After the FAP was acquired by the Chicago, Milwaukee& St. Paul in 1883, Judge Kinyon moved to Plankinton, South Dakota where he apparently engaged in farming/ranching until his death in 1891.

Kinyons in Cayuga County, New York

Marriage records in Amboy County, Illinois

Kinyons in the Plankinton, SD cemetery listing:

Kinyon Alone 11 1 5 1891 73 m (thus born 1818)
Kinyon Amelia 12 2 5 1906 76 f (thus born 1830; wife?)
Kinyon John 2 1 5 1936 71 m (thus born 1865, son?)
Kinyon Shelberdan 10 1 5 1905 36 m (thus born 1869, son?)
Kinyon Everett 7 15 2 1936 8 m (thus born 1928, grandson?)

Cemetery index listing "Kinyon, Alone"