Jeremiah Kinner

Ancestor Number

A209220 »

Date of Birth

July 14, 1758

Place of Birth

Brueklin, Kings, New York

Date of Death

November 1, 1838

Place of Death

Wading River, Suffolk, New York

Spouse(s)

Sarah Knapp

Children

Caleb Kinner, Almy Kinner

American Revolution Service

Volunteer private soldier

State of Service

New York

Donor

Margaret Ann Kinner O’Connor, Ciara Christine O’Connor, and Fiona Margaret O’Connor

Jeremiah Kinner enlisted in February 1776 as a volunteer private soldier in the Town of Brookhaven, New York, in the company of Captain Selah Strong, First Lieutenant Caleb Brewster, and Second Lieutenant Nathaniel Brewster.

He served at Mount Misery in the Town of Brookhaven to guard the cemetery until August 1776 when he went with his company to the west end of Long Island where they composed a part of the regiment commanded by Colonel Josiah Smith in General Nathanial Woodhull’s brigade. Kinner retreated with the Troops under General Washington into the City of New York where he remained under the command of Lieutenant Caleb Brewster as Captain Strong was sick at home with a fever.

Grave stone of Jeremiah Kinner Cedar Hill Cemetery, Port Jefferson, LI, NY. Photo by: Peggy O'Connor.

President General Denise Doring Van Buren giving a speech at the Minisink Monument when she served as NY DAR State Historian around July 22, 2004. Photo by Jean Hayter.

Minisink Monument. Photo by Jean Hayter.

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When the British overtook Suffolk County, he left Long Island and went to Goshen, Orange County, New York, where he remained until Iroquois Indians burned Minisink Ford on July 22, 1779.

Kinner and five others left Goshen on the day of the attack and rode as far as Howell’s Tavern where they stayed that night. The next morning, they returned to Minisink Ford which was then occupied by the Iroquis Indians. Fearing that Major General Light Horse Harry Lee was coming, the Iroquis Indians retreated into the woods when Kinner, in the company of a detachment of 133 men, followed the Iroquis Indians. They had several skirmishes with the Iroquis Indians when Colonel Thurston was killed near Kinner, who was wounded.

Kinner returned home to Goshen where he was unable to work for about three months due to his injury. During this period, he was ordered by Captain McDowell to report to West Point; however, Kinner was unfit for duty. Soon after his recovery, he was sent to a log fort about 10 miles north of Minisink near the residence of Captain DeWitt. He proceeded to that fort and remained there for a period of three months when his term of enlistment of service was completed. This was the only battle of the Revolutionary war fought in the Upper Delaware River valley.