The purpose of this thesis was to trace seven generations of the Krinn family in America and to explore how the major events and changes of the past 150 years affected them. Research was done by collecting data about members of the Krinn family from birth, marriage, and death certificates, county histories, land records, plat books, family bibles, personal letters from family members, interviews with Krinn descendants, and from various other sources. This data was compared to historians’ accounts of what was occurring in America, and specifically in Indiana and Ohio, at the times these people lived. The conclusion of the research is that the Krinn family was an “average” American family of German heritage, from the area where the first three brothers settled, to the second generation’s involvement on the side of the United States in the Civil War, to the family’s occupations and migration patterns. This thesis also includes a genealogical appendix, listing all known Krinn descendants and their vital statistics. / Department of History