Sara Thomson was born April 21, 1842. Her parents were Dr. Charles Steele Thomson (1801-1890), who graduated from Yale University Medical.School in 1822, and Susan Coit Belcher (1809-1890), daughter of Colonel William Belcher of the War of 1812. On March 7, 1867, Sara Thomson married John Coddington Kinney (1839-1891) who fought during the Civil War under Farragut at the Battle of' Mobile Bay on the frigate Hartford. John Kinney, son of Rev. Ezra Denison Kinney, graduated from Yale in 1861. By profession he was a journalist. A white woman, Mrs. Kinney was a leader in many organizations, including the Connecticut Indian Association, Connecticut Societies of the Colonial Dames of America, United Daughters of 1812, Daughters of Founders and Patriots, and Society of Mayflower Descendants. This collection appears to have been gathered by Mrs. Kinney at her home on Winthrop Street in Hartford, Connecticut. It includes earlier materials collected by her mother, Mrs. Susan Belcher Thomson of Fair Haven, Connecticut, and by Professor John Stuart Blackie of the University of Edinburgh. The collection includes albums or scrapbooks of letters and autographs of prominent people; records of the Connecticut Indian Association; materials pertaining to Sara Kinney's activities in various organizations; John C. Kinney's letters and papers; family records and assorted genealogical information; printed publications; memorabilia; and photographs. The collection presumably came to the Connecticut State Library sometime after Mrs. Kinney's death in 1922.
