See our Waukegan, IL WWII Sailor post for a Kinne & Meyer photo.

Ensign Kinne was born March 22, 1878, in Housatonic, Massachusetts, died October 20, 1940, in Shields Township, Lake County, Illinois, and was buried October 23, 1940 in Pittsfield, Mass. He was the son of Massachusetts native Finneus Morgan Kinne and Lucretia Bowers. Ensign Kinne’s occupation on this death record is given as Photographer, and residence Waukegan. He was single, and a veteran of WWI.

Ensign Kinne’s early life:  several city directories starting with 1891 for Chicopee and running through 1898 for Westfield, MA show Ensign’s occupation as Clerk, working for his father, P. M. (Phineas M.) Kinne, who ran a billiard parlor on Elm in Westfield (on the 1898 directory) and was advertised as “dealer in temperance drinks, cigars, tobacco, etc.”

Army enlistment:  age 26 and 5/12. (Record dated August 23, 1904.)

The 1910 Federal Census shows him incorrectly listed as Ensign “Kaiser”, Musician 1c; stationed at the Navy yard in Puget Sound, Washington; ship name U.S.S. Washington.

The application below for a military headstone shows his Navy enlistment was September 20, 1915 – September 19, 1919.

The 1920 Federal Census record for Waukegan, Illinois, shows “Esign” Kinne, renting at 122 County St., self-employed photographer.

Surprisingly, as far as Meyer & Kinne, Meyer wasn’t located, and the only other reference currently found for the studio was in a compiled military photo list (no photos)  “Circa 1920s…Staff in front of Barracks A, Kinne & Meyer photograph.”  But it’s interesting how these posts at Laurel Cottage often come together – for this one and the prior two – WWI Army, WWII Navy, and a photographer who served in WWI Army and Navy, with the first name of Ensign. How common was this given name? When we hear it today, we probably think military, but in browsing through the census records through the 1880s – 1940s it’s a name that comes up often.

Sources:  Ancestry.com. Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947

Original data: Springfield, MA, 1890: Price, Lee & Co., 1890.Springfield, MA, 1891: Price, Lee & Co., 1891.

R. S. Dillon & Co.’s Westfield Directory, 1898. p. 169. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989.

Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M233, 81 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1910; Census Place: USS Washington, Puget Sound, Washington, Military and Naval Forces; Roll: T624_1784; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0125; FHL microfilm: 1375797. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1920; Census Place: Waukegan, Lake, Illinois; Roll: T625_382; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 278; Image: 291 (Ancestry.com)

Original data: Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941. Microfilm publication M1916, 134 rolls. ARC ID: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. National Archives at Washington, D.C. (Ancestry.com)

“Company Photos.” p. 1. Sept 27, 2006. Naval History and Heritage Command. Web accessed May 25, 2015. [http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/greatlakes/companyphotos.pdf]