Edward Cornelius Kinney was born in Oberlin, Ohio on February 22, 1845 to Daniel B. and Betsy Matthews Kinney. In 1862 while a student at Oberlin College, Kinney enlisted in the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served until the end of the American Civil War. After the war, he returned to college and studied civil engineering and began working in that capacity in 1868. He married Harriet Lewis of Taber, Iowa in November1870 and the couple made their home in Oberlin for the next eleven years. They had six children: Mabel, Lucy, Winnefred, Edward D., Harriet H., and Martha. Kinney worked in Iowa for the St. Louis, Des Moines & Northern before taking a job in Denver, Colorado as assistant chief engineer of the Union Pacific. This job required extensive travel through Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. The family moved to Manhattan, Montana in 1898 and by 1900 was living in Bozeman. Kinney worked on a number of projects in the state including the yards at Anaconda, the West Gallatin Irrigation Company's 80 mile canal, one division of the Milwaukee Road, and an irrigation project in the Madison Valley. He served as commander of the Montana Department of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1908 and attended the national encampment in his home state that same year. Kinney retired due to complications from Bright's disease (Chronic Nephritis). Edward Kinney died on January 16, 1910 and his wife Harriet died on September 13, 1931. Both are buried at the Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman.
From the description of Edward C. Kinney Papers 1864-1931. (Montana Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 640144674
