Descendants of Unknown Kelly

 

 

Generation No. 1

 

1.  UNKNOWN¹ KELLY

 

Notes for UNKNOWN KELLY:

I have seen many people claim ancestry through Walter Kelly (the first white settler in the Kanawha Valley)  but I have yet to see any proof of ancestry.

Brief History:

 

     Walter Kelly came to what is now know as Kelly's Creek Rd. in 1773/4 after being warned that the Shawnee Indians were raiding white settlements in the Valley.  The Shawnee Indians, in order to keep white settles from further encroaching on their territory and in retaliation for the massacre that killed Chief Logan's family on April 30, 1774, were murdering settlers throughout the Kanawha and Monongalia Valleys.

     Walter, who was said to be a refugee from South Carolina, claimed the land at the mouth of Kelly's Creek with a Tomahawk Title and apparently wasn't about to give it up.  After the massacre of Logan's family on April 30th, runners were sent to warn settlers and get them back to the fort in Lewisburg.  It seem apparent that Walter did not take this seriously because Col. John Fields of Culpepper was with him at the time of his murder.  Col. John Fields was supposed to meet up with his troops and Gen. Lewis who were marching from Lewisburg to confront the Indians led by Chief Cornstalk.  Gen. Lewis left Lewisburg around September 1, 1774 and it took them about 30 days to reach the Elk River.  There is also an article in the Virginia Gazette bearing the date of September 1774 stating that Walter Kelly was killed by Indians.

     Col. John Fields of course was meant to be in the battle and in fact lost his life there, so I'm sure that once he explained this to Walter he took it seriously enough to send his family back to the fort.  His wife, children and at least a brother, whose name seems to be recorded as William, did not get far before they heard to attack.  Walter, and two unknown persons were killed but Col. John Fields escaped and ran toward Lewisburg where he met Lewis' men enroute and explained what had happened.  It took Lewis' men a little over a month to reach the mouth of the Kanawha and battle commenced October 10, 1774 in a little town that we know now as Point Pleasant.

     A year after the murder of Walter, his daughter was kidnapped and his brother William was killed by Shawnees.

     There is yet to be found a record of Walter's children.  It is said that when William Morris moved to the land at Kelly's Creek that they buried Walter's bones and gave his male heirs a horse and leather patterns as compensation for their fathers land. 

 

WHAT WE KNOW:

 

1.  Walter's wife may have been called Sadie and could have gone back to South Carolina

2.  There was a man named James Kelly who lived in Pittsylvania who joined up to fight Indians because      they killed his father (could have been another Kelly killed by Indians)

3.  The children could have belonged to his brother William

4.  There was another Kelly family living in Greenbrier County when Walter arrived that have no       connection to him at all.   

5.  Aaron and Moses Kelly were born long after Walter was killed.

6.  Walter was a very old man when he died so the likelyhood of him having infant children is slim

 

Theory:

 

The names Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Reuben were all biblical names and they did in fact live near each other when they first settled Kanawha County and they were living relativily near the Morris family according to the 1810 census.  Jacob, who was born around 1765 is probably the only one who could be a child of Walter but considering Walters age I doubt it.  If these children were connected to Walter, which they may not be, I think that they would in all likelyhood belong to one of Walters sons or possibly his brother.

       

Children of UNKNOWN KELLY are:

2.                i.    AARON² KELLY, b. 1776, Virginia; d. 1855, Kanawha County, Virginia.

3.               ii.    MOSES KELLY, b. 1782, Kanawha County, Virginia; d. 1850, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

 

 

Generation No. 2

 

2.  AARON² KELLY (UNKNOWN¹) was born 1776 in Virginia, and died 1855 in Kanawha County, Virginia.  He married (1) FRANCES HUDNALL June 01, 1801 in Kanawha County, Virginia, daughter of JOSEPH HUDNALL and MARY TAYLOR.  She was born 1777 in Fauquier County, Virginia, and died Bet. 1811 - 1812 in Kanawha County, West Virginia.  He married (2) KEZIAH SMITH 1812 in Kanawha County, Virginia.  She was born 1779 in Virginia, and died February 1880 in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

 

Notes for AARON KELLY:

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF AARON KELLEY

 

In the Name of God Amen,

 

I Aaron Kelly of the County of Kanawha in the State of Virginia, being feeble of body but of sound mind and memory as usual, and knowing the uncertainty of life, do desire to make some distribution of my temporal effects, do by these present make this my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills.

 

First~~As to my real estate, Having this day conveyed by Deeds Severally and jointly, duly acknowledge by making such assines on the face of each as I desire ~ and the reserve of the dower of my beloved wife Kiziah, on all the said deeds of land ~ namely~ First I have conveyed by deed as aforesaid to my two Daughters Sarah Arthur and Mary Slater jointly two Entries, one of 60 and the other of 75 acres of land being all I intend ~~ Bequeath them.

 

Second ~ I have conveyed to my son Hyram a lot of 150 acres by deed position taken off the lower end of a 500 acre survey brought of John L. Thomas being all I intend to bequeath to him.

 

Third ~ I have conveyed by deed to my son John Kelly a lot of land suppose to contain 125 acres lying above Hyrams being all I intend to bequeath him.

 

Fourth ~ I have conveyed by deed to my son William a lot suppose to contain 125 acres of land, lying adjoining Johns lot on the afar side which is all that I intend to bequeath to him.

 

Fifth ~ I have conveyed by deed to my son Jesse Kelley, my daughter Francis Thomas, and the 2 minor children of deceased daughter Lucinda Goff jointly a lot of land suppose to contain 100 acres lying on the upper end of said 500 acres survey, which lot of 100 acres all that I intend to bequeath to them ~ being all the real estate I possess item the sixth ~ I give and bequeath at my death unto my beloved wife Kiziah all my personal property whatsoever to be disposed of by her in such a manner as she may desire. In testimony wherefore I hereunto set my name and affix my seal this 24th day of December in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and Fifty Four

 

His

 

Signed sealed & delivered in Aaron X Kelly

 

presents of ~ Hezekiah Agee Mark

 

John R. McClanahan

 

Asa W. Smith

 

 

At the Court held for Kanawha County the 19th February 1855

 

This last will and testament of Aaron Kelly Dec 24th this day presented in court sponsed by oaths of Hazekiahl Agee & Asa W. Smith subscribing witnesses there to and ordered to be reorded

 

 

Teste A W Quarrel, clk

 

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1810 census through 1840 census only lists the names of the head of household with age groups of family members etc.  In 1810 there are 6 Kelly families in Kanawha County at least four of them could possibly be children of Walter, the other 2 are likely grandchildren: 

 

James Kelly born bef. 1765

                     1 male born bet. 1795-1800 (probably the youngest son)

                     1 female born bet. 1766-1784  (probably his wife)

Benjamin Kelly born bet. 1766-1784

                     2 males born bet. 1800-1810

                     1 female born bet. 1766-1784

                     2 females born bet. 1800-1810

 

Benjamin and James are on the same page (pg 130) living near Levi Morris.  In 1825 Benjamin received a land grant for land on Loop Creek.  I do not know what happened to him after that.  Levi Morris owned land in what is now Montgomery WV and is near Loop Creek.  Montgomery WV is 9 miles east of Cedar Grove, WV (Walter Kelly's cabin).  Loop Creek is 6 miles west of Montgomery.

 

Jacob Kelly born bef. 1765 (next two census years put his age after 1770)

                     1 male born 1795-1800

                     1 male born bet. 1785-1794

                     3 females born bet. 1800-1810

                     1 female born bet. 1795-1800

                     1 female born bet. 1766-1784 (Jemina)

 

Jacob is listed on pg 131 and lived close to John Morris, John Hansford, Benjamin Johnson etc.  John Hansford lived at the mouth of Paint Creek in present day Crown Hill WV.  Crown Hill is a little under 6 miles west of Montgomery WV and about 12 miles from Loop Creek.  Jacob was granted land on Loop Creek in the 1820's and possibly before.

 

 

Aaron Kelly born bet. 1766-1784 (1850 census b. 1776)

                     1 males born bet. 1800-1810 (William b. 1809)

                     1 male born bet.  1785-1794 (may be a brother or other relative)

                     2 females born bet. 1800-1810 (Sarah b. 1805 Mary b. 1808)

                     1 female born bet. 1785-1794 Frances Hudnall his wife

                     1 female born bef. 1765 (may be one of their mothers or another relative)

 

John Kelly born bef. 1765

                     2 males born bet. 1800-1810

                     1 male born bet. 1785-1794

                     2 females born bet. 1785-1794

                     1 female born bef. 1765 probably his wife

 

Aaron and John lived near Cedar Grove, Kelly's Creek in the Cabin Creek district.  I think John is actually Aaron's father and could possibly be a son of Walter.  They lived near John Proctor who settled on Kelly's Creek and his land was bounded by William Morris.  Aaron and Moses bought land near the Putnam County border and that land is also named Kelly's Creek for them.

 

Moses Kelly born bet. 1766-1784 (born 1781 according to 1850 census)

                    1 male born bet. 1800-1810 (Robert)

                    1 female born bet. 1800-1810 (Elizabeth)

                    1 female born bet. 1766-1784 (Katherine Aultz his wife)

 

Listed on census pg 120 near Aaron Stockton.  Aaron Stockton was William Tompkins brother-in-law and they built boats at the mouth of Kelly's Creek with the above mentioned John Morris.  I'm not positive the exact location of Moses but the census page ends with Charleston.  The last names are Reuben Slaughter and Andrew Donnally who lived between Marmet (Leonard Morris property) and Kanawha City Donnally and Noyes families.  Aaron Stockton sold "Cedar Grove" to his in-law William Tompkins so my best guess puts Moses between Shrewsbury WV and Chelyan WV which is just under 5 miles west of Cedar Grove toward Charleston.

 

 

My ancestor John Proctor settled on Kelly's Creek with his in-laws the Hudnall's below is a narrative by Nathan Hudnall that not only tells their story but gives a date to Walters death as July 17, 1774.  I think William Kelly was probably the one that was killed July 31 1774.

 The Charleston Daily Gazette Thursday August 26, 1897

THE EARLY DAYS

Nathan Hudnall's Death Suggest Many Stories

He Had Lived Over a Century And All His Manhood Was Spent

In the Kanawha Valley--Interesting Stories of Pioneer History of the Kanawha And Ohio Valleys

Died on the 14th of July, 1897, Nathan Hudnall, at the home of his grandson, on Kelly's creek, one mile above Cedar Grove.

In the summer of 1809 Nathan, with Benjamin Hudnall, his father, and his uncle, John Proctor, moved to the creek on which he died. At the time of their removal he was sixteen years old, and drove their cattle from the home they left at May's Lick, twelve miles south of Maysville, Kentucky, to Kelly's creek, where his uncle, John Proctor, purchased from John Morris 250 acres, the upper end of the old Walter Kelly and William Morris settlement right, for their future home.

Between 1780 and 1790 the Hudnalls and Proctors had gone with Capt. John May from eastern Virginia as tenants to settle and mature his newly acquired title in Kentucky county, which was then Virginia's most western county. Proctor and Hudnall, some twenty years before, in emigrating west, had followed the wilderness trail blazed out by Walter Kelly, the first settler of the Kanawha Valley, to Kelly's Station, at the mouth of Kelly's creek, where the emigrants had to wait for the building of a moving boat. The time was spent in providing wild meat for their voyage on westward. Proctor and Hudnall had noticed the creek bottom, surrounded by rugged mountains that at that time were filled with buffalo, elk, bear, deer, wild turkey and smaller game. And when the settlements drove the game from their Kentucky home their recollection and to Kelly's creek.

In February 1790 their Kentucky landlord, Capt. May, with his clerk, Chas. Johnston, was returning to his Kentucky land by way of Kelly's trail. After leaving Lewisburg they lay out one night and awoke in the morning covered with a heavy snow. They, however, reached Kelly's Station, and while they are awaiting the building of a boat we will mention that sixteen years previous (July 17, 1774) Logan, in avenging the death of his kindred, had killed Walter Kelly, at his station, and Patrick Flinn and his wife on Cabin creek, and taken Rebecca and John Flinn, their children, prisoners. Rebecca married a subchief, a Shawnee ally of Logan, who had killed her parents and captured her. The tradition is that Mad Ann Bailey had in the fall of 1789 heard from an escaped prisoner that Rebecca was in an open, leaky wigwam on the bank of the Scioto, and about to become a mother, and if the event occurred under those conditions, it would be the death of any white woman. She enlisted the sympathies of Boone, who was then trapping with Tice Van Bibber on the Gauley. Boone through the influence and with the aid of her brother, John, and with the promise that she and her child should be returned to her husband who was then, with the other warriors, engaged in their annual hunt on the Walbash, induced her to accompany him back to her kindred in Montgomery, now Monroe county.

The comforts of civilization and the kindness shown to her and her Indian baby, won her heart back to her own people and she refused to return to her husband.

This placed her brother John in an uncomfortable position. He was constantly in dread of meeting some one who would recognize him as a participant in the many Indian cruelties inflicted on the whites by the tribe that had adopted him. On the other hand he was afraid to return to his tribe without the wife and child of his chief.

At that time there was tramping through the settlements of the Kanawha Valley a character named Daniel Divine,whose only principle and object in life was to live. The only written evidence of his existence that I have is his deposition in the case of George Washington's heirs against George Alderson about a 250 acre survey at the mouth of Burning Springs hollow, and the only tradition that I have is from old Leonard Morris in explanation of why Divine was in Burning Springs bottom in 1775, when John Stuart and Samuel Lewis were making that survey. Leonard's explanation was that Divine was known as a gleaner from the first settlement of the valley. He never cleared or planted for himself, but followed the corn gatherers and picked up enough of the overlooked nubbins to make a johnnycake or bait his turkey pen. He was not a hunter with a rifle buted by trapping small game and fish and ate bread only when he could glean it. He was considered as harmless as a crow, and as much at home with the Indians as with the whites, and it was not certain to which race he was nearest akin. Flinn perhaps had known him before, found him and enlisted his sympathies.

Divine watched the progress of the building of May's boat and reported to his employer, who was skulking in the woods. In the meantime, by some system of telegraphy known only to the Indians he communicated with two females in low condition of life named Dolly and Peggy, the latter a particular friend of Flinn, and the former was ostensibly her traveling companion. They seemed to have been women with whom Flinn and his brother in law chief had been acquainted in Pittsburg on their frequent visits there to dispose of the spoils of the hunt.

About the middle of March, 1790, May, with his clerk and Jacob Skiles embarked from Kelly's Station for the mouth of Limestone creek, where he and Simon Kenton had laid out the town of Maysville, which they owned. Flinn and his woman were lying in wait at the mouth of the Kanawha, and Divine was well on his way to the Scioto. When the boat landed at Pt Pleasant, Flinn, after prompting them, sent the two women aboard to do the talking. They told the Capt. that they were relatives of Col. John Flemming, who had moved out from May's neighborhood, near Petersburg and settled in what is now Flemming county, not far from May's new settlement. This was a sufficient credential, and the old Virginia Captain took the three aboard, the veteran scouts of Pt Pleasant suspected the new passangers, and warned May to stick to the middle of the river and heed no cry of distress coming from the Ohio shore.

However, at daylight on the 20th, the cry of distress suggested at Pt Pleasant was heard near the mouth of the Scioto. And not withstanding the warning, with Divine on the beach howling for help, and the two women on their knees pleading for his rescue, what could the old Virginia gentleman do but run himself, his boat, cargo and crew head foremost into the jaws of death? His boat had hardly reached the shore when five hundred Indians sprang from ambush. May and Dolly were killed outright, Skiles wounded and with Flinn, Peggy and Johnston captured. Flinn had thought that Dolly would be a compensation for Rebecca--that the scalps and prisoners of the crew and the spoils of the boat would restore him to good standing with Chic-a-tom-mo, the chief, and the tribe. But the sequel showed that Chic-a-tom-mo was an ethnologist and appreciated family blood--he barbecued John Flinn; and one of the braves, who had partaken of the flesh, declared to Johnston that Flinn's flesh was sweeter than bear meat. Peggy was redeemed from the stake naked, painted black and ready for the pot. Skiles got back to the Kanawha Valley, where four years later he obtained the patent for forty thousand acres on Bell creek, Kelly's creek and c., now owned by Lewis, Dickinson and Deall, and thirty two thousand acres on Peter's creek and twenty Mile of Gauley.

After the capture the Indians made the prisoners convert May's craft into a sort of gunboat, adding additional oar locks and oars. While this was being done Divine and a prisoner named Thomas, who was forced to play his part, had a little side-show; they decoyed to shore a canoe containing six men, all of whom were murdered. After this tragedy there passed a fleet of three moving boats commanded by an old Virginia gentleman, built after the model of our most level-headed native miner--he ignored all calls of distress from the Ohio side--insisted on paddling his own canoe and taking care of himself and people. This want of etiquette necessitated the turnout of the gunboat. The prisoners were ordered to the oars, while the Indians stood in the bow and stern, with rifles and tomahawks, hungry for the scalps and spoils in sight.

The commander of the fleet stood at the helm of the hindmost boat in his shirt sleeves with a red silk handkerchief bound round his head, where he maintained his position despite the shower of shot from the gunboat. But having only one pair of oars when he saw that capture was inevitable he transferred his passengers and crew to the middle boat and abandoned the hindmost to the enemy. When Johnston, among the things captured in this boat, recognized two horses and a cocked hat belonging to Capt. Tom Marshall, the friend of his father, he tearfully and silently thank god for the want of skill or will in the oarsman to overtake his Virginia friends.

In the abandoned boat whether intentionally or not, had been left a keg of whiskey that perhaps effected the escape of Marshall, his crew and passengers. All the Indians except the sentinels, drank to deep intoxication. Flinn went into the social drunk as naturally and recklessly as the bravest of the braves, got into a fight, forgot his disguise, white manners, language and nature and was suddenly transformed into the barbarity of one of the red devils.

Johnson's diary was a faithful one, closely showing throughout the treachery of Flinn and the woman without the author's suspecting it. This diary, Filson's Life of Boone, Border Warfare, Doddridge's Notes and the Bible, were the old field school books of the upper Kanawha Valley, for old David Millburn, who had been shot through the breast and had his own silk handkerchief drawn through the wound by the Indian who shot him, was our only instructor. He taught the sons of John Hansford, Leonard Morris and his brothers who had known Walter Kelly and Patrick Flinn and perhaps John May. These old men discussed the school books and corrected the mistakes of the authors, and said that the man whom Johnston called Wm Flinn was named John Flinn.

I should have stopped this digression and returned to Nat. Hudnall when I followed John May, his Kentucky landlord, to his death; but I had to drag John Flinn, Skiles, Johnston and Peggy into the account, and it would have been impolite to have left them standing when they witnessed the death of May on the hostile shore in the hands of the enemy. So, having disposed of them I return to my subject.

Nathan Hudnall spent sixteen years of his life in Kentucky and eighty years on Kelly's creek.

When his father and uncle came back in 1809, the elk, and buffalo had followed the Indians westward, but the rugged mountains of Kelly's creek, Hughes' creek and Bells creek still abounded in bear, deer, wolves, panthers and smaller game. Nathan spent a great part of that eighty eight years in building salt boats for John Morris, Aaron Stockton and Wm Tompkins in the same boat yard in which was built the boat that carried his ancestors west, and the boat that carried his Kentucky landlord to his death. The balance of his eighty eight years on Kelly's creek was spent with his brothers, Fielding and Ward, in the chase. They kept a pack of disciplined bear dogs, and seldom used the rifle, because a shot from the rifle that drew blood without killing outright set the dogs crazy and got them killed or crippled. Therefore, when the dogs brought the bear to bay, the brother that was ahead in the chase laid down his rifle, drew his long knife, which was a signal that the trained dogs understood as well as a soldier understands the call of the bugle; they closed in on the bear, the hunter reached over the bear to the side from him, and drove the long blade to the heart. The bear bit at the pain, and sometimes smashed the handle of the knife but seldom caught the hand of the expert butcher. It is said that the three Hudnall brothers killed more bears with the use of less powder and lead, than did any other three men in Virginia.

In 1850 I was called to find a survey on Kelly's creek, calling to begin where Kelly's old road took to the mountains. Old Ben Hudnall, Nathan's father, came to show me the place. He looked then to be in his eight or ninth decade. He took us to near the Flint Falls of the Hurricane Fork of the creek. I was not a pathfinder at that day and could see no sign of a trail or a corner, but A. P. Sinnet, in 1875 followed the old road and cut out trail blazes that then counted 102 years, which were filed in the suit of Lewis and Belcher in the Kanawha circuit court.

Nathan Hudnall was a good citizen, an honest man, a kind neighbor and an affectionate husband and father. The writer had known him for sixty years, and never heard of him being engaged in any difficulty of any kind. He commanded the respect of all classes for his rugged honesty and devotion as a friend. Many years since he connected himself with the Baptist church and had ever since been a genuine Christian. When too feeble to attend church he rejoiced in having Christian people and ministers visit him and hold religious services at his house. He passed quietly away without fear of death and feeling assured of a better life beyond the grave.

John L. Cole

 

 

 

Below is a history that mentions the "little brick church" at the mouth of Kelly's Creek, now known as Virginia's Chapel and also Walter Kelly which he spelled Kelley.

 

Reminiscences of Alvah Hansford

 

    I was born 7th of May, 1803, below Paint Creek, on the Kanawha River, in the house built and finished in 1799 by my father, John Hansford. He not only built it himself, but made all the furniture in it, except the chairs, which had come from Pittsburg. At that time there was only a small cabin and small clearing between said house and Paint Creek, just where my brother Felix afterwards (about 1824) built his brick house. Going west, the first house was that of John Harriman, a log house on the site where he later built the brick house now occupied by Mr. Shaver, at East Bank. Near where William Pryor lives, John Milburn then lived, also in a log house, with a small clearing about it. James Pryor, father of said William, lived in another log house, not far from Mr. Buck's present house on an Indian grave. The next house was built by _____ Johnson, near where the late James Johnson lived. He had a small clearing. There were no more houses as far as Cabin Creek. The whole river bottom from Paint to Cabin Creek was in forest, except as before stated. Below Slaughter's Creek, John Starke lived, where one of the Calvert's now lives - the same old house - and between Cabin and Slaughter's Creek, no one lived. To the east of Paint Creek, lived John Jones, near the present site of J. B. Johnsons house, in Dego. He was the only occupant of that bottom, and had but a few acres cleared. No one then lived on Paint Creek.

    Game was plenty when I was young - bear, deer, wild-cats, panthers, wild turkeys. I and my brothers used to catch turkeys in pens, the turkeys being tolled in by a bait of corn. I have seen twenty-five or thirty so caught at one time. They abounded in the woods.

    When I was about nine years old, I heard of the war with England. My father was at that time a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and indeed was a member for several years. He used to go to Richmond on horseback; the journey taking seven days, and he kept his horse there till his return. We lived on the only road which then crossed the State. The track passed over Cotton Hill, and crossed New River at Bowyer's Ferry.  I remember my brother Felix being sent up Cabin Creek to notify some men that they were drafted as soldiers. My brother Hiram volunteered and went to the war. I went to school at the mouth of Kelley's Creek, on opposite side ot the river, where the little brick church now stands and Hiram, in his uniform as Lieutenant, and some of the soldiers, stopped to dinner near the schoolhouse, one day, on their way east. My grandmother, Jane Morris, widow of William Morris, one of the first settlers in the valley lived on the bottom now owned by the brothers Tompkins. Rather, she lived in the old house on the hill east of the creek, which wes standing not many years ago. William Morris bought that land of the family of one Kelley who had lived there, but had been killed by the Indians. The family sold the land, bottom and hill, to Morris for a pattern of deer skins; that is, enough to make a pair of breeches. It was not in the bargain, but as each of the Kelley children grew up and came of age, Morris gave them a horrse and saddle and bridle.

    My father kept "entertainment " and all men who came to the country looking for land, and members of the Legislature, or of Congress, used to stop there. The house was the first framed house built on the Kanawha River. I remember Henry Banks, Henry Clay, and others, at the house.

    My father used to make fine peach brandy and apple brandy which he would keep for several years till it become something superior. (Uncle Alvin here smacked his lips at the thought of it). He was Captain of the Militia Company for several years, while I was young and there were two musters of troops at our place yearly, one in spring, one in fall. On these occasions everybody came from ten miles around. Father would order out a barrel of brandy, after the muster was over, and pretty soon the fighting would begin. It was the regular thing in fights to bite, bite off noses ears, cheeks, fingers, and to gouge out eyes. There was scarcely a fight when gouging did not take place. When the under dog squealed "enough" the gouging was let up. It was the custom for fighting characters to let the thumb- nails grow long, and to trim them sharp, in order to gouge neatly.

  Father was a Magistrate, but on these occasions he took care to be out of the way. Let them have their own fun, he would say. He was a very religious man; had joined the Baptist Church before I was born.  I never heard him swear, not would he allow anyone to swear on the premises. If they did he charged them one and a half dollars, and made them pay. I remember his collecting Three Dollars ($3.00) on one occasion in this way. Nor would he allow dancing or fiddling in  his house. 

    I did not go to school much, about three months only in the winter, and I and lived at home mostly till I was about twenty years old. Had been at the "Licks", five miles east of Charleston, when about eighteen years old, but was never at Charleston till on my way to Missouri, in 1823.

    I was principally employed in lumbering, cutting saw logs, building salt boats,  and the like. I bored for salt water on the home place. My father had two salt furnaces, one of which he rented out, the other he worked himself; one of these was just where the house owned by the Maury estate stands; the other was at the mouth of the Meeting House Branch, between the present Crown Hill and Belmont.  These wells were about 650 feet deep. I helped build the furnaces, and tended the kettles for a year or more. I could cut more wood (we used wood altogether then in making salt) than any man in the neighborhood but one, and that was Oakes, the father of Ben and Ira Oakes, and others now living.  Charles Hansford was my next  older brother two years older than I, and we always bunked together. My parents had twelve children, eleven sons,one daughter, all of whom grew up, and the one had reached the age of twenty-one before there was a death among them. The daughter, Sarah, married William Morris, who lived at the Falls, and Fenton Morris  was their son. 

    Up to 1823, but few settlers had come in, and the bottoms were nearly all still in forest.  People did not come in much till the James River and Kanawha Turnpike was made in 1823-4. This, for a few years, was made only so far as the  place at which Geo. P. Huddleston lived, six miles below the Falls.

    In 1823 my brother Charles and I took a notion that we would go to Missouri, where our older brother, Hiram, had settled some time before, and also our Uncle,  John Morris, near Clarksville, above St. Louis. Charles was of age, I not quite.  We intended to depart secretly, believing that father would not let us go. We dug out a canoe, working at it Sundays only, on the mountain side below Belmont,  at the entrance of the Narrows. We brought it to the water, and found that it  would not carry us; was too narrow. Then we split it and put a four inch piece in the bottom, calked it and put it back into the river. But to do this we had to bring it to my father's landing, near the house, and had to tell what we were  about. But my father consented readily to our going.  He said I had been a good  boy, and had never disobeyed him on asking his consent. I had ten dollars of my own money, which I had expected to go on, but when the day of parting came, father  called me in and gave me an hundred French Crowns in silver, worth 106. My  mother gave me a five dollar gold piece, and though I am 81 years old, I have this now. Have carried it in my pocket from that day to this, and I can say that I have never seen the day when I had not Five Dollars about me. (At Mr. Hansford's  death in 1886, this gold piece was found in his pocket, in a purse of buckskin).

    We started in our canoe, went to the mouth of Kanawha river, hitched the boat  (locked it) to a tree on the south side, opposite Point Pleasant and went into Ohio  25 miles to see some girls who had gone from Kanawha.  Stayed there a week; returning, found the canoe all right, and went on down the Ohio to Cincinnati. There  we stayed over one night; never went to bed, but walked about to see the town,  then went to the Falls at Louisville. There we inquired for a pilot; found one, who came and looked at the boat; said he would not go in it for all the money we had.  I asked if he would tell us on which side of the river to go. He said he would do  that and gave us directions, and we ran the boat ourselves, and got through  with no trouble. This was in March. We went to Shawneetown, near the mouth of the Ohio, and sold the boat for our dinners. The river was then high, and the town was surrounded by water, and we had to pay a fellow a dollar to put us on  the main land. Just then, as we were half way over, came along the steamer Virginia, from the Kanawha river down, and the only boat running on the Ohio. We  had been hoping to be overtaken by that steamer but now having missed her, we had to walk across the country to St. Louis, over the prairie, 140 miles. When we got  opposite St. Louis, we saw the steamer coming up, at five miles distance; got on  her and took a deck passage to Clarkesville.

    On the way down the Ohio we saw no end of wild geese, brandt, pelicans, ducks; the river was full of them. We saw many deer and turkeys along the edge of the  water. At that time that region was all wild; the houses were few and far apart.  Occasionally there were half a dozen together, and this was called a town. We went from house to house, laying up of nights. Always before starting in the  morning we learned where we could stop fo

 

More About AARON KELLY:

Census: 1810, Kanawha County, (West) Virginia

 

More About AARON KELLY and FRANCES HUDNALL:

Marriage: June 01, 1801, Kanawha County, Virginia

 

More About KEZIAH SMITH:

Address (2): Kelly's Creek Rd. Tyler Mt. West Virginia

Cause of Death (2): 1880, listed as Old Age

Census: 1850, Kanawha County, (West) Virginia

Occupation: House Wife

Where Buried: Goff/ Machlanahan Cemetery, Tyler Mtn. W.V.

 

More About AARON KELLY and KEZIAH SMITH:

Marriage: 1812, Kanawha County, Virginia

       

Children of AARON KELLY and FRANCES HUDNALL are:

4.                i.    SARAH³ KELLY, b. 1805, Kanawha County, Virginia.

5.               ii.    MARY KELLY, b. May 01, 1808, Kanawha County, Virginia; d. May 18, 1884, Kanawha County, Virginia.

6.              iii.    WILLIAM KELLY, b. 1809, Kanawha County, Virginia.

7.              iv.    JESSE KELLY, b. 1810, Kanawha County, West Virginia; d. 1882, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

8.               v.    FRANCES KELLY, b. 1811, Kanawha County, Virginia; d. Bef. 1869, Kanawha County, Virginia.

 

       

Children of AARON KELLY and KEZIAH SMITH are:

9.              vi.    HYRAM³ KELLY, b. 1817, Kanawha County, Virginia; d. 1886, Kanawha County, Virginia.

10.           vii.    LUCINDA KELLY, b. 1820, Kanawha County, Virginia; d. Bet. 1850 - 1854, Kanawha County, Virginia.

11.          viii.    JOHN KELLY, b. January 1813, Kanawha County, (West) Virginia; d. Bet. 1900 - 1910, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

 

 

3.  MOSES² KELLY (UNKNOWN¹) was born 1782 in Kanawha County, Virginia, and died 1850 in Kanawha County, West Virginia.  He married KATHERN AULTZ 1807 in Kanawha County, West Virginia, daughter of ADAM AULTZ and ELIZABETH.  She was born Abt. 1785 in Kanawha County, Virginia, and died Aft. 1850 in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

 

Notes for MOSES KELLY:

 IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN.  I Moses Kelley of the County of Putnam

and State of Virginia being of sound mind and disposing memory(for which

I thank God) and calling to mind the uncertainty of human life, and being

desirous to dispose of all such worldly estates as it hath pleased God

to bless me with.  I do hereby give and bequeath the same in the manner

following, to-wit: that is to say: First- after the payment of my just

debts and funeral expenses, I give and bequeath to my beloved wife

Catharine Kelley, the use and possession of all my estate real and personal,

including my land and slaves for and during her natural life, or so long as

she shall remain my widow and live on the place and after her death I give

and bequeath the same, that is to say, all my said estate real and personal

including all my lands negroes and other estate of any kind and description

whatever to my son Robert Kelley, for and during the term of his natural

life, and after his death to his children and their heirs forever to be

equally divided among them.  Secondly, I give and bequeath to two daughters

Elizabeth Melton and Mary Bailey the sum of five dollars each and no more,

and the reason for my giving more to my son Robert than to my said two

daughters above named, does not arise from favoritism or partiality, but

from the fact that my said son has for years past contributed largely by

his labor to the support of myself and wife, and because I have heretofore

given to my said daughters as much as I intended to give them-Lastly- I

hereby constitute and appoint my son the said Robert Kelley my sole

executor of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all other and

former wills or testaments by me heretofore made- In witness whereof I

have hereunto set my hand & seal this 26th day of April 1849-

 

                                                     his

                                               Moses  X  Kelly, (SEAL).

                                                    mark

Signed sealed published and delivered by Moses Kelley as and for his last

will and testament in presence of,

                                                Matther Dunbar.

                                                Jesse Watton.

                                                Vincent R. Rust.

                                                John Vanden.

Putnam County Court October term 1850

        This the last will and testament of Moses Kelley was this day

proved by the oaths of John Vanden & Vincent R. Rust withnesses thereof,

and ordered to be recorded.  And on the motion of Robert Kelley the executor

therin named who made oath, and together with John Vanden his security

entered into and acknowledged a bond in the penalty of $50. conditioned

as the law directs, certificate is granted him for obtaining probate

of the said will in due form.          

                                        Teste: H.H. Forbs, Clerk.

 

WEST VIRGINIA, PUTNAM COUNTY COURT CLERK'S OFFICE:      June 10th, 1915

        I J.M. Henson, Clerk of the County Court of Putnam County, West

Virginia certify that the foregoin is a true copy of the will of Moses Kelley

and the certificate therto annexed, as transcribed by me from original

Will Book No. 1, Page 5.                Teste: J.M. Henson

 

 

 

More About MOSES KELLY:

Address (2): Kelly's Creek Rd. Cabins Creek, West Virginia.

Census: Bought land on the banks of the pocatalico

Occupation: Farmer

Where Buried: Goff/ Machlanahan Cemetery, Tyler Mtn. W.V.

 

More About MOSES KELLY and KATHERN AULTZ:

Marriage: 1807, Kanawha County, West Virginia

       

Children of MOSES KELLY and KATHERN AULTZ are:

12.              i.    ROBERT³ KELLY, b. 1823, Kanawha County, Virginia.

                  ii.    ELIZABETH KELLY, m. ? MELTON.

13.            iii.    MARY KELLY, b. 1810, Kanawha County, Virginia; d. Bet. 1880 - 1900, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

 

 

Generation No. 3

 

4.  SARAH³ KELLY (AARON², UNKNOWN¹) was born 1805 in Kanawha County, Virginia.  She married GILBERT ARTHUR 1821 in Kanawha County, Virginia.  He was born 1800, and died Abt. 1866 in Kanawha County, Virginia.

 

More About GILBERT ARTHUR and SARAH KELLY:

Marriage: 1821, Kanawha County, Virginia

       

Children of SARAH KELLY and GILBERT ARTHUR are:

                   i.    ELIZABETH⁴ ARTHUR, b. 1826.

                  ii.    AARON ARTHUR, b. 1829.

                 iii.    MARTHA F. ARTHUR, b. 1832.

                 iv.    ELI ARTHUR, b. 1832.

                  v.    CHARLES ARTHUR, b. 1836.

                 vi.    SARAH L. ARTHUR, b. 1840.

 

 

5.  MARY³ KELLY (AARON², UNKNOWN¹) was born May 01, 1808 in Kanawha County, Virginia, and died May 18, 1884 in Kanawha County, Virginia.  She married JOHN SLATER November 11, 1828 in Kanawha County, Virginia.  He was born February 04, 1807 in Virginia, and died November 1892 in Kanawha County, Virginia.

 

More About MARY KELLY:

Burial: Slater Cemetery

 

More About JOHN SLATER:

Burial: Slater Cemetery

 

Marriage Notes for MARY KELLY and JOHN SLATER:

Married by Reverend John Ulen

 

More About JOHN SLATER and MARY KELLY:

Marriage: November 11, 1828, Kanawha County, Virginia

       

Children of MARY KELLY and JOHN SLATER are:

14.              i.    ELKANAH W.⁴ SLATER, b. 1831, Kanawha County, Virginia; d. August 07, 1875, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

                  ii.    GREENBURY SLATER, b. 1833, Kanawha County, West Virginia; d. Aft. 1880, Kanawha County, West Virginia; m. SARAH JONES, December 23, 1858, Kanawha County, (West) Virginia; b. 1833, Virginia; d. Aft. 1880, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

 

More About GREENBURY SLATER and SARAH JONES:

Marriage: December 23, 1858, Kanawha County, (West) Virginia

 

                 iii.    JESSE PRIOR SLATER, b. 1835, Kanawha County, West Virginia; d. 1901, Kanawha County, West Virginia; m. LOUISA ANN KELLY, April 28, 1860, Kanawha County, West Virginia; b. August 25, 1836, Kanawha County, West Virginia; d. February 05, 1922, Kanawha County, West Virginia.

 

More About LOUISA ANN KELLY:

Burial: February 06, 1922, Goff McClanahan Cemetery, Martins Branch, Kanawha County, West Virginia

Where Buried: Goff/ Machlanahan Cemetery, Tyler Mtn. W.V.

 

More About JESSE SLATER a