Investigating the Kinsman House

On February 18, 2018, we traveled to Warren, Ohio, and investigated the Kinsman House on Mahoning Ave. We brought a couple of friends with us on the investigation, and the experience was not disappointing. We loved the experience.

If you've been to downtown Warren, Ohio, especially the amphitheater or "Millionaire's Row," you know this house. It sits back from the street, but it is definitely a recognizable structure. The Kinsman House is located at 303 Mahoning Ct. NW, Warren, Ohio.

While we were putting together information for this blog post, we found that most of the videos we made for our investigation at this location were taken down from our YouTube channel and never put back up. Thankfully, we had a backup of the previous videos. We immediately compiled all of the previously backed-up videos and created one comprehensive video that includes the entire investigation. Despite its length, we have provided the video below for those interested in joining us on our paranormal investigation at this location.

The Kinsman House in Warren, Ohio, was built in 1832 by General Simon Perkins as a wedding gift for his daughter. The Dana School of Music used its many rooms to hold classes after Hiram College received it as a gift. The Kinsman House is open to the public on the first Sunday of every month. Located along Millionaires Row in historic downtown Warren, this Greek Revival mansion is included on the National Historic Registry and features white marble mantles and black walnut staircases, woodwork, and arched doorways. The Warren Heritage Center currently manages the house.

This video is extremely long because it includes our raw footage from all the areas we investigated, along with interviews and a section displaying all the photographs from our paranormal investigation. We had a few good friends with us during the investigation, and we interviewed them after each site. Watch as we provide you some real ghost communication and real ghost stories.

We had a wonderful investigation the night that we spent at the Kinsman House. We were able to conduct sessions on all three levels of the building and did document some evidence that could be considered paranormal. We want to compare our findings with those of another investigation or group since this was one of the first studies done in this house.

Additional Information about the House from the history section in the video

Construction on the house began in 1832 and concluded by 1834. Isaac Ladd, a master mason, carried out the construction. In 1835, the house's valuation was $1,572.00. The house underwent an addition in 1846, followed by another addition in the 1860s. James A. Garfield was known to visit the house often during his congressional years. He got support from Kinsman and other Trumbull County residents in his election to Congress in 1863. The house also served 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. Frederick Kinsman and his cousin Olive Douglas Perkins received it as a wedding gift on February 1, 1832. Her father, Simon Perkins, was the one who gave it to her. Frederick & Olive had 3 children together. Nancy, 11/14/1832-1/7/1833; Thomas, 1/11/1835-4/25/1836. Olive lived from 9/10/1837 to 7/20/1838, and as you can see, all the children died in infancy.

Olive passed on 9/13/1838; she was 29 when she died. I haven't had any success in finding the cause of death for Olive and the children. Frederick worked with his uncle/father-in-law, Simon Perkins, at The Connecticut Land Company. The office is right next to the Kinsman house. Frederick remarried 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. Who 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. A caretaker named Greely Thoms was present at the house and took care of the property and gardens for many years. Eventually, Thomas became the last family member to live in the house.

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. This donation was intended to support the Dana School of Music. So they could be affiliated with an accredited college. This event was during the time of the Great Depression. Enrollments weren't being met. Trumbull Co. purchased the house for $26,500 by 1938. 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.