Second Generation
NEEDED: A male O'Kelley descendant of Benjamin O'Kelley to join the Kelley DNA Project and submit a DNA sample to compare to other known samples of our family. Benjamin is only known to make a mark as his signature but what we must understand is at the time his father and mother came from western Ireland, English was rarely spoken, most native Irish spoke Gaelic and read and wrote in Latin a language that most all nations used for common communication. What is know is the next generation appear to be very well educated which I think would not be possible if Benjamin and his brothers came from a poor Irish family. Education wasn't valued with the poor, it was a past time of the wealthy lords, the poor had no money or time to waste on such pursuits. I do not believe that the Benjamin born in 1761 and whose pension application appears on file with our Nation's Archives could possibly be the brother of Charles and Francis. Benjamin in his pension application states he was born in 1761 in King and Queen Co VA making him 15 years old when our Benjamin served with his older brother Charles in 1776 and 1777 in the 10th Company of the 8th Virginia and while that was not unheard of, contrary to what many believe about our early family I find no burning patriots, they served only the time required by law and no more, my grandfather Charles hired someone to served in his stead when he was drafted for the second time. The problem with this pension application is Harold O'Kelley uses the pension application in his 1985 book to take our family to King and Queen Co and on into Caroline Co VA and to a William Kelley living there but without this pension application this can not be supported. What we know from the American Revolutionary War Pension application of Benjamin born in 1761 is it lists him as Kelly and states he was born in 1761 in King and Queen Co Va and he served twice in the North Caroline Militia, both times he was drafted, about 12 to 18 months apart and both times he served for 3 months. He severed in Captain Parrish's Company under the Command of Col Farmer in the NC Regiment. On his second draft he served in a Col Taylor's NC Reg again in Captain Parrish's company. You can view the hand written documents here. He gives the year he was born on the bottom of page 5 and continued on the top of page 6 as 1761. I am certain this Benjamin is not the Benjamin of our family born in 1757/58, I do not know what happened to our Benjamin but I suspect his descendants are either lost in obscurity or they do not survive. It should be noted that in Ronald Lansings 2005 book about Nimrod, one of Benjamin's sons, reprints data he gathers from 1880 news papers where they reportedly claimed Nimrod was born about 1781 or at least four years before Benjamin's descendants believe Benjamin and Mary were married. I am not sure why this could not have been possible certainly Benjamin and Mary could have married before 1784 but a newspaper article written in 1886 about Nimrod made a claim that he was born in Ireland and educated to become a priest giving me further cause to suspect two Benjamin lines may have been incorrectly tied. Alethea Jane Macon makes a claim that Benjamin purchased 200 acres of land in the lower district of Mecklenburg Co VA in 1796 which he sold in 1803 to Jacob Shelar. I think it reasonable to believe this is Benjamin of our family who was born in 1757/78. He died in 1850 in Buncombe Co, NC. He appeared in the census in 1850 in Buncombe, North Carolina.19 Benjamin Kelley and Mary Williams were married November 22, 1784 in Warren Co NC. Mary Williams father Nimrod Williams posted the marriage bond. Benjamin O'Kelley and Mary Williams had the following children:
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