A Profile of Edward Kelly

Edward Kelly (abt 1780-aft 1840) is almost certainly my 4th great-grandfather. I say “almost” because, while I have no document stating that he is my 3rd great grandfather, James Kelly’s father, there is quite a lot of circumstantial evidence to that effect. And sometimes, in genealogy, that is as far as you can get!

The evidence

Edward Kelly is the only Kelly male with a son the right age to be James Kelly in Sumner County, Tennessee in 1820. That census, and other census records show that Edward had five sons and three daughters. Multiple court documents tie Edward to James Kelly, along with four other presumed sons, Warren, Bartholomew, Edward Jr and William Kelly. These men witnessed deeds together and are mentioned in other deeds as being neighbors.

Bartholomew named James as his brother and administrator in his 1853 will. Bartholomew was born in Sumner County, TN in 1817, so that places their mutual father in Sumner County at least as late as that year. At that time, there were only two or three Kelly men in the area who could be James and Bartholomew’s father. And property records do not place those other Kellys in the same area as the known Kelly brothers.

In short, the available evidence has convinced me that Edward is the father of all five Kelly brothers. In addition, he is almost certainly the father of a Harriett Kelly who married a Joseph Latimer in 1823 and died a widow in 1846 naming James Kelly as her administrator. It is very unlikely she would have done so if he had not been her brother.

I have tentatively named a Sarah Kelly and a Lucinda Kelly as the remaining daughters based on marriage records. These are probable daughters. But I have yet to find any stronger evidence of their relationship.

Oops, not that Edward Kelly

Previously I had linked this Edward to an Edward Kelly found in 1810 in Rockingham County, Virginia. I had traced him back his father, a James Kelly, and done a bit of research on this line. However, Family Search’s new full-text search blew that one out of the water. There is no 1810 census for Tennessee, which is why I never saw my Edward on it! However, court records show that Edward was in Sumner County by 1804, when he was sued for debt collection by John M Kean, with “no personal property being found.” He pops up again in 1810 at the estate sale of a Charles Elliott. And several more times between 1815 and the 1820 census. So, this Tennessee Edward Kelly is definitely not the same Edward Kelly as the one in Rockingham county.

Creating a profile in the absence of land records

Edward held very little property. The only record I can find of him owning any land is an 1816 court record in which his 60-acre tract on Maxwell’s Branch of the Red River, just northeast of Gallatin, was sold to satisfy a debt, again because “no personal property of said Kelly was found.” After that, Edward appears to have moved into nearby Gallatin for some time. He appears in Gallatin on an 1822 tax list with no personal property or real estate to be taxed.

A few years later, in 1828, Edward applied for funds for the “support and keeping” of Delilah Griffin, a “helpless old woman.” This was granted out of the county “poor fund” and continued regularly at a rate of $30-35 per year until 1838, when he applied to reimbursed for a coffin and shroud for old Delilah.

The odd thing is that there is no older woman found on Edward’s census entry for 1830. There is also no separate entry for Delila. It is possible Delila was simply missed on the census. I can find no other record for Delila at all, and no other record for Sumner County Griffins that would provide any kind of hint! But it seems likely that she was a close relative, perhaps Edward’s mother in law. I’ll just “put a pin in that” for the moment!

In 1831, Edward was the bondsman for Samuel Rogers Jr in his marriage to Eliza Martin. Typically, a bondsman was some kind of close relative to the groom, so I followed up on that a bit. It turns out that a Mariah Kelly was Samuel Rogers Jr’s stepmother, having married Samuel Rogers Sr in 1821. Samuel Rogers Sr had either moved away or died by 1830 so Mariah probably asked Edward to step up in Samuel Sr’s absence. I therefore think it is highly likely that Mariah Kelly was Edward Kelly’s sister.

Edward in the community

Though Edward Kelly didn’t hold a lot of property, he was literate, signing his own name to documents, and he likely had a trade of some kind. He was probably a saloon keeper or a moonshiner! In 1836, he was indicted by the state for “tippling.” At that time, this meant producing liquor rather than drinking it. Also, I see no reason why the state would concern itself with one man’s drinking habits. The indictment must therefore have been for selling booze without license. Tennessee required a license starting in 1831. The case was eventually dismissed because the witnesses did not show up. (I find this to be an interesting lack of support from the community for the state’s position on unlicensed “tippling.”)

Multiple court records show that Edward rented his land from a Thomas Perkins. He and his youngest son, William, narrowly avoided eviction due an ongoing dispute between Perkins and a neighbor, James Roney. This went on for several years beginning in 1833, and was only resolved by Thomas Perkins’ death in 1839. At that point, a lease agreement was formalized with James Roney in which Kelly rented the land for “two barrels of corn.” (Moonshine is made with corn. I’m just saying.)

Edward was also politically active. In 1833, he ran for the state legislature and lost. In 1836, the same year that he was indicting for tippling, he hosted elections at his house (or informal saloon?) in District 19 of Sumner County. A description of the district is included, and it seems that Edward lived in or near Fountain Head, just north of Gallatin, at that time. An 1836 order to build a road from Nashville to Scatterville (now part of Portland, TN) also mentions Edward as resigning from his position as overseer for construction, implying that he must have lived somewhere along that route. I may be able to narrow this location down further with more research into Thomas Perkins’ and James Roney’s property records.

The 1840 census is the last record I have for Edward Kelly. He was then about 60 years old. He must have died between 1840-1850, but I have not found any will or probate record for him, probably because he owned no real estate. His wife was still living in 1840, but I have not found any further record of her, either.

I do know that Edward Kelly came from North Carolina before appearing in Sumner County in 1804 because James Kelly, born about 1800, was clear on four different censuses that his birthplace was North Carolina. But beyond that, I do not have any information whatsoever on his origins. The Edward Kelly found in Rockingham County, NC, while too young to be my Edward’s father, may well be a relative. However, the name is not really unusual enough to draw any conclusions. The best hints may be the likely connection to the Griffin surname and possibly Warren, given that is normally a surname and Edward chose to bestow it one of his sons.

For now, I am pleased to be able to have worked up a profile from all these miscellaneous records. After all, my given name, Kelly, comes from this man, through my mother’s maiden name!

Edward Kelly, though unwealthy, was literate, sociable, an aspiring politician, and likely a moonshiner and/or saloon-keeper as well. It makes a change from the typical profile in my family tree, and that’s just kind of fun.