Alfred James Kinnersly (1867 - 1949)

Alfred's immediate relatives including parents, siblings, partnerships and children in the Kinnersly family tree.

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Alfred's Family

Kinnersly Thomas Kinnersly

Eliza Nicklyn Kinnersly

Alfred James Kinnersly

Parents:

Kinnersly Thomas Kinnersly

Unknown - Unknown

Eliza Nicklyn Kinnersly

Unknown - Unknown

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In 1867, in the year that Alfred James Kinnersly was born, on March 30th, Alaska was bought by the US from Russia for $7.2 million dollars, which worked out to about 2 cents per acre. The newspapers called it "Seward's Folly" because United States Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the purchase and Alaska was seen as frozen, useless land.

In 1905, when he was 38 years old, the first movie theater opened in the United States in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the first theater to show nothing but movies - silent films. Two men, John P. Harris and his brother-in-law Harry Davis, opened the Nickelodeon on Smithfield Street - charging 5 cents for admission. The first day, 450 people watched movies at the new theater - on the second day, more than 1500 people stood in line to get in.

In 1925, Alfred was 58 years old when in July, the Scopes Trial - often called the Scopes Monkey Trial - took place, prosecuting a substitute teacher for teaching evolution in school. Tennessee had enacted a law that said it was "unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school". William Jennings Bryan headed the prosecution and Clarence Darrow headed the defense. The teacher was found guilty and fined $100. An appeal to the Supreme Court of Tennessee upheld the law but overturned the guilty verdict.

In 1938, at the age of 71 years old, Alfred was alive when on October 30th, a Sunday, The Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast Orson Welles' special Halloween show The War of the World's. A clever take on H.G. Wells' novel, the show began with simulated "breaking news" of an invasion by Martians. Because of the realistic nature of the "news," there was a public outcry the next day, calling for regulation by the FCC. Although the current story is that many were fooled and panicked, in reality very few people were fooled. But the show made Orson Welles' career.

In 1949, in the year of Alfred James Kinnersly's passing, on January 25th, the first Emmy Awards (for television) were handed out in Los Angeles. Shirley Dinsdale won for the Most Outstanding Television Personality and Pantomime Quiz Time earned an Emmy for the Most Popular Television Program.