Built in 1833 by Frederick Kinsman. Had a basement and 2 stories. A brick addition to the north was built in 1846, replacing the former kitchen wing. A frame addition providing a wood shed and 3 servant rooms was added in 1860. The building is of the early colonial type of architecture. The main portion in the 1st edition is a brick. Hand wrought iron railings, an important Florentine class, sidelights, and a transformation of the front door adorn the building.

The gardens were the most beautiful in Warren.

Frederick Kinsman was born March 4th, 1807. He attended Plainsfield Academy and was engaged in business with his uncle Samuel Perkins in the Connecticut Land Company until he was elected judge in 1845.

He had attended the National Republican convention as a delegate in 1864. President Garfield was a frequent visitor at the Kinsman home and was assisted in his political career by Frederick Kinsman.

The building was deeded to Hiram College by Mrs. Thomas Kinsman, heir of Mr. Frederick Kinsman.

The house started to be built in 1832 and was finished by 1834. By master mason Isaac Ladd. The house was valued at $1,572.00 in 1835. In 1846 there was an addition added to the house, and then in the 1860s another addition was added. James A. Garfield was known to visit the house often during his congressional years. He got support from Kinsman and other Trumbull Co. residents in his election to Congress in 1863. The house is also thought of as a stop on the underground railroad. In the basement a bricked-up dome area is believed to have been a passage to a tunnel that led to the Mahoning River. It was built as a wedding gift to Frederick Kinsman and his marriage to his cousin Olive Douglas Perkins on February 1, 1832. By her father, Simon Perkins. Frederick & Olive had 3 children together. Nancy: 11/14/1832 - 1/7/1833. Thomas: 1/11/1835 - 4/25/1836. Olive 9/10/1837 - 7/20/1838. As you can see, all the children passed as infants.

Olive passed on 9/13/1838; she was 29 when she died. I haven't had any success with finding her cause of death for her, as well as the children. Frederick worked with his uncle/father-in-law Simon Perkins at the Connecticut Land Company. The office right next to the Kinsman house. Frederick remarried to Cornelia Peace on 3/25/1840. Together they had 5 sons Frederick, John, Thomas, Charles, & Henry. Henry was the youngest and the first of his siblings to pass in 1889. Whom was not 30?

Cornelia Peace Kinsman was a relative of President U.S. Grant. The president and his father, Jesse Grant, also came to visit this home. Frederick Jr. and John both served in the Union Army during the Civil War. There was a caretaker that was there at the house, Greely Thoms. Who took care of the property and gardens for many years? Thomas eventually was the last of the family to live here.

The house had stayed in the family until it was donated to Hiram College in 1932 by a surviving daughter-in-law, Emily Kinsman. The house was deeded to Hiram College by 1934. To help Dana School of Music. So they could be affiliated with an accredited college. This was during the time of the Great Depression. Enrollments weren't being met. By 1938 the house was sold to Trumbull Co. For $26,500. It was then used as a courthouse annex to house various county offices during the next three decades. Including the county Board of Education. And the county superintendent of schools.

Today the house is being maintained by the Warren Heritage Center. As a historical museum.

On a more haunting note. The house was built on the Perkins farm land. Simon and his wife Nancy Anna Bishop Perkins together had 9 children. There are no living descendants today. He worked for the Connecticut Land Co.

In 1807 he established a mail route to Detroit by negotiations with Native American tribes. In 1808 Perkins became a brigadier general in the Ohio militia. In the War of 1812, he defended the northwestern portion of Ohio from Native American and British attack after General Hull's surrender of Detroit in the fall of 1812. He commanded. Approximately 400 men.

Obviously he wasn't a friend of the Native Americans, so in my opinion, I think Simon Perkins was cursed. Not only does he not have any living descendant today. But from my research I have found that most of the residences held by a Perkins have paranormal claims. For example, Henry Bishop Perkins house ( City Hall). The Upton House was once a Perkins farm house. The Kinsman House and the Stone Mansion in Akron. All have paranormal claims to them. I can attest to there being activity in the Kinsman House.