Kinch Homestead (later Wilfred & Edna Dunn's)

     I received these photos from Stephen Dunn last evening!  The homestead below belonged to his great-great-grandparents John & Elizabeth (O'Brien) Kinch.  Today residents of Alma would know this homestead as the home of Edna and her husband Wilfred Dunn.  All the old buildings are gone today - it's great to have these photos!

 

     Above: the John Kinch homestead, date unknown.  This homestead was located on the first big turn on the Centerline Road West in Alma, about half a mile in from the Western Road.

Above:  a zoomed in view of the homestead.

     Above: I changed the tone on this photo to sepia to see if other details would be more clear.

     Above: John Kinch (1853-1943) and his wife Elizabeth O'Brien (1875-1942) they married on April 6, 1875 at St. Simon St. Jude Church, Tignish.  They had nine children: Martin, Mary Ann, Lawrence, Mary Ann, George, John Herman, William Bennett, James Leo and Mary Hanora.  ( this information cf. The Island Registry www.islandregister.com/kinch.html, submitted by Lawrence W. Kinch - Larekin@aol.com )

 Above: This receipt was found in the walls of the old house.

     John and Elizabeth's oldest son, Martin was the next to own the Kinch homestead.  Stephen told me that he was a sailor on the HMS Empress of India - I found another reference that confirms this.  The HMS Empress of India was launched in 1891 - she served as the flagship of the second-in-command of the Channel Fleet and later used as a mail delivery ship.  She was sunk as a target ship on Nov. 4, 1913. ( information about the ship cf. http://en.wikipedia.org )  

Above: HMS Empress of India.

 Above: it reads,

IN MEMORY OF MY CRUISE IN CHINA AND JAPAN

     This belonged to Martin Kinch and possibly a commemoration of his time away at sea.

     Martin Kinch was born in Alma on July 24th, 1876 and died September 21, 1931.  He married Theresa Walsh in 1915.  She died in 1947.  They had the following children: Willie, Hilary, May, Edna and Stephen (cf. Cummins 1928 Atlas).

     Edna Dunn was born in 1921 and died this spring on May 17, 2012 (see obituary in this blog: http://almalauretta.blogspot.ca/2012/05/edna-t-dunn.html ).  Edna married Wilfred Dunn and raised their family here on the Kinch Homestead.