Notes:
Allen Christopher Kinnaman, the first child of Walt and Lou, was born 22 November 1897, on a farm east of Wheatland, Indiana owned by a man named Robinson which Walt worked as a tenant.
As a boy Allen, or Al as the family called him, worked on the farms and poultry enterprises of his father, and saved what money he could towards his eventual college education. Always a mild mannered and compliant youngster, Allen often chafed under the harsh discipline of his dictatorial father, and as soon as he could find enough money to escape the farm he did so,
In 1918 Allen enrolled in Indiana University at Bloomington, and supported himself fully by waiting tables, firing furnaces and washing dishes. As a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, as each male student at a Land Grant college is required to be, Allen may have been deferred from active duty during World War I. He graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science degree in commerce in 1922.
For awhile Allen returned to Wheatland as he actively sought employment. In 1922 he went to work for the Miller-Parrot Company in Terre Haute, and shortly after found a job with the Richmond (Indiana) Light, Heat & Power Company, where, by 1926, he had risen to Secretary and Assistant Treasurer.
On 30 July 1925 Allen married Kathleen Pegg whom he had met when they were students at I.U. Kathleen was the daughter of Milo Pegg of Farmland, Indiana, who besides farming had other business interests in the Farmland area.
Allen's and Kathleen's only child, John Allen, was born 27 June 1926, probably in Richmond, Indiana.
In the late 1920s Allen associated himself with D. Holmes Morton who had many business enterprises, and Allen served as an officer in some of Mr. Morton's businesses. In June 1930 Allen and his family moved to Charleston, West Virginia, where Allen was a manager in one of Mr. Morton's companies. Growing in prominence in the Charleston community, Allen in 1946 was instrumental in starting a movement to give Charleston a nonpartisan city manager, acting as chairman of the "Committee of 100" in its unsuccessful proposal for revising the city charter. Also during the decade of 1946-1956 Allen served on the City Council of Charleston as chairman of the finance committee, on the West Virginia Turnpike Commission as secretary and treasurer, and as president of the Kiwanis Club. He was also on the board of directors for the Charleston Post of
the Salvation Army, served as trustee of the Charleston General Hospital, and served as trustee and treasurer of Christ Church Methodist of Charleston.
In 1955 Allen resigned his position with the West Virginia Turnpike Commission and joined the Kanawha Valley Bank as vice president in the trust department, as he continued to serve on the City Council.
On 12 April 1960 Allen suffered a heart attack while at his home on 711 Beech Avenue, and died later at the Charleston General Hospital. He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery, Charleston, West Virginia.
Kathleen lived at Beech Avenue until her death in February 1979.
Data source is Jim Kinnaman. E-mail jkkinnaman@aol.com