James G Kelly
JAMES G. KELLY, who has owned and occupied his present place in Bethel township, Armstrong county, since 1886, was born Oct. 14, 1841, on his father�s farm in North Buffalo township, son of William Kelly, who came from Westmoreland county, Pa. The paternal grandparents were from Ireland.
James Kelly, the great-grandfather, was a native of Ireland and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. In 1750 he came to Lancaster county, Pa., later removing to Cumberland county and in 1771-72 to Indiana county, where he was on of the very first settlers. He took up four hundred acres of land at what is now Tunnelton, his property lying on both sides of the Conemaugh river, and lives on the Indiana side. He had four sons: John; James, who married and had a family; Samuel, a soldier in the Revolution, who married Elizabeth Hemphill; and Alexander.
Alexander Kelly, the fourth son of James Kelly, settled in Armstrong county. He married a Miss Morrison, and was the father of the following children: James, who never married; William; Joseph, who married Sarah Green; and Hamilton, who married Lydia Wolf.
William Kelly married (first) Margaret Green, daughter of John and Polly (Gould) Green, and she died in 1845, the mother of six children, of whom but two survive, James G. and Rebecca, wife of Joseph James, residing at Hersey, Mich. For his second wife Mr. Kelly married Miss Nancy Hancock, but there are no descendants of that union. He died in January 1883, at Kelly Station, this county, aged eighty-three years.
On Sept. 28, 1862, James G. Kelly enlisted at Kittanning, this county, in Company M., 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry (159th Regiment), which company was composed entirely of Armstrong county men, under Capt. Charles W. E. Welty, who entered in as orderly and was mustered out as captain. Mr. Kelly was mustered in at Pittsburgh. He took part in the engagement at Winchester, and in all the battles in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, Averill�s great raid, and thirty important battles and skirmishes. Of the original command, but thirty-one men survived to the close of the war.
Upon his return to his native State after his discharge from the army Mr. Kelly was engaged as a boatman for a short time, but he has since devoted his time to farming, in which he has met with prosperity. He now lives on the farm in Bethel township, which he has owned and operated since 1886.
On Nov. 13, 1867, Mr. Kelly married Amanda A. Walker, daughter of James and Jane (Bigham) Walker, of Allegheny county, and they have had a family of eight children, two sons and six daughters, namely: Margaret J. is deceased; Albert, who lives at New Kensington, Pa., is married and has one child, Helen; Ada, who is the wife of R. M. Heggley and lives at Braeburn, Westmoreland Co., Pa., has four children, two sons and two daughters; Edwin lives at New Kensington, Pa.; Bertha married A. H. Atkinson, of Callery Junction, Butler Co., P., and has two daughters; Carrie, the wife of I. F. Mansfield, is residing in Bethel township; Minnie, who married Charles Myers, of Armstrong county, died Feb., 2, 1910; Lula died when nineteen years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Kelly are members of the Crooked Creek Presbyterian Church. He belongs to the G. A. R., holding membership in John A. Hunter Post, No. 123, at Leechburg.
Source: Pages 698-699, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 1998 by Carl Waltenbaugh for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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