I am trying to trace my great grandfather Kinkel
and his brothers back to their roots in Germany.
The five brothers came to the US at different
times, although we are pretty sure that Louis
(b. 1864), William (b.1860) and Charles (b. 1866)
came in 1882 through the port of Philadelphia.
We do not know when Henry (b. 1854) arrived,
although it looks like he might have been the
first in the US. My great grandfather,
George (b. 1877), arrived in 1893. A sister,
Marie (b. 1858) also came over. All of these
Kinkels came to Colorado, more or less directly,
and stayed there.

Family lore says that they came from Battenberg,
Germany, which is probably in the German state
Hesse-Nassau. Their parents were Henry (or possibly
George) and Wilhelmine nee Fiesal (or Phisal).

While the family records about the six children
that came here are pretty complete, we have
reached a brick wall in trying to trace the
family back to Germany. We also know that there
were five other daughters in the family: Louise,
Matilda, Nettie, Wilhelmina and Agusta, all of whom
stayed in Germany. Again, we have almost no info on the
girls.

One family story is that an uncle, possibly named
Eustace, met them in Philadelphia. We have
been unable to find any info on that uncle. Also,
it seems that there is another group of Kinkels
that came to Colorado in the 1890's, who might
be related.

If anyone has any info on these Kinkels, please let
me know. Feel free to contact me by e-mail:
"nlyyoung@netscape.net".

Thanks.