Coates Kinney
Among the leading men of letters who have been identified with the state of Ohio, there are none who have written more musical verse than the late Coates Kinney. Although not a native of Greene county, yet most of his active life was spent within its limits, and the county has always been proud to number him among its distinguished men. Not only as a literary man did he rise to fame, but as a newspaper editor, as a member of the General Assembly of the state of Ohio, as lieutenant-colonel in the Civil War and as a man prominent in the affairs of the every-day life about him was he equally well known. When his famous poem, "The Rain on the Roof," was first given to the public, it was acclaimed as one of the most musical poems of the country, and there were few papers in the United States or England that did not reprint it.
Colonel Kinney was born in Jerusalem township, Yates county, New York, November 24, 1826. His parents were Giles and Myra (Cornell) Kinney, the former a native of New London, Connecticut, and the latter of Delaware county, New York. The great-grandfather of Giles Kinney came over to this country in the "Mayflower" in 1620. Myra Cornell was a daughter of Samuel and Polly Cornell. Colonel Kinney was the third of a family of twelve children born to his parents. In 1840 the Kinney family removed from New York to Springboro, Ohio, a small village in the northwestern part of Warren county. He was a leader in his class, read everything he could find and before he reached his majority was considered one of the best educated men of his county. Before reaching the age of twenty-one he was in charge of a school room and continued to teach each winter for five or six years, meantime for a while studying law in the office of Thomas Corwin, of Lebanon. He completed his law studies under the tutelage of Donn Piatt at Cincinnati and after being admitted to the bar practiced in that city for a year, and then returned to his old county, Warren, and practiced for a year. The next chapter of his life opens in Xenia, where he appeared in the latter part of the '50s. He came to Xenia to become editor of the Xenia News, and he continued in this capacity until the opening of the Civil War. He enlisted on June i, 1861, and served until November 14, 1865. He was mustered in with a commission of major and detailed as a paymaster in the regular army and was mustered out with the commission of lieutenant-colonel by brevet, "for long and faithful services." As soon as he was released from service in the regular army he returned to Xenia and the issue of the Xenia Torchlight, dated December 6, 1865, carries his name at its head as one of the owners of the paper. He remained with the paper until December 1, 1869, when he sold his interest in it to a stock company. The remainder of his life was largely devoted to literary work. His poem, "The Rain on the Roof," had appeared in 1849 and established his reputation as a poet. In 1876 when the state wanted to have its best poet produce a centennial ode, there was a universal demand that there was only one man in the state to write it—and that man was Coates Kinney. His poem created a profound impression, being delivered by the author in person before a vast concourse of people in the Coliseum at Columbus. In the '80s he issued a volume of his poems under the title of "Lyrics of the Ideal and the Real." The last forty years of his life were devoted to newspaper work. He was for a time editor of the Cincinnati Daily Times; chief editorial writer on the Ohio State Journal for a year; the owner and editor of the Springfield Republic; part owner and in full editorial charge of The Genius of the West, a literary magazine of Cincinnati. In the midst of his editorial duties he found time to serve his community in the state Senate as a member from the fifth senatorial district. The year 1881 saw him the leading Republican speaker in the Senate, and he has the honor of being the author of the temperance amendment to the constitution adopted the following year. The newspapers of that day credit him with being the most forceful speaker in either branch of the General Assembly.
Colonel Kinney was twice married. His first wife was Hanna Kelley, of Waynesville, Ohio, and one son, Abbott, was born to this union. The son died between the ages of five and six. He was married a second time, in December, 1862, to Mary Catherine Allen, of Xenia. He died in December, 1902.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918