Written by Paul E. Brown - 1995
T. J. Kinsey and Emma. I don't have to say much about these two. They were my father and mother in law. I never had any difficulty with either and I can say that they were substantial citizens of Augusta - adding to the population with regularity.
T.J. was a good worker at his job on the railroad or in the mines. He worked and came home and cleaned up and enjoyed the evening as he should.
Emma was different. Since she only ended up with ten children, she had much time on her own. So she framed, built barns (or something she thought resembled something or other - we'll call it a barn), was a notary public and helped many people with business affairs, was Augusta Postmistress, etc.
She did many things but was not particularly finicky about clothing and, when she went to Eastern Star, dressed up "fine" well, she looked ???? But even if she was not a queen, T.J. kept close tab on her as long as Bill Sheckler was around as T.J. had a jealous streak and, foolish as it seemed to all of us, it was dead serious to him. One has to be careful about one's women!
Also T.J. was Scotch with money, squeezed it pretty hard. I can't complain because he loaned me money when I needed it, but at the same time his family called him tight.
After Emma died in 1945 no monument appeared on her grave sight and a chorus arose from the many children. Too tight to buy one. But I knew better. T. J. didn't want any monument on any grave with his name thereon: Thomas J. Kinsey, 1878 - 19 . He was not ready to die, make no mistake about it.
And even though he never drove a car, when he had no woman and wanted to get one, he got his car out and learned enough about it to go find some cute little thing and marry her. But after he got the woman, the car was never used by him again. It was just a means to an end.
The woman he got was good to him, too good as her cooking undoubtedly caused his demise. She certainly could cook and he loved to eat. Dangerous for any man.
Both good people, interesting people and people who left many good memories.
