At a dead-end...

Question

I have not been able to find any further information on my 2X Great Grandfather, E.W. Kelly. I have searched ancestry.com as well. Can anyone offer any suggestions/advice?

Thanks!

Marla Rich

Comments

West Virginia became a State in the Union: 20 June 1863. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia 

E W Kelly was born then in Virginia 1830 ?

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The only info I have is from the 1880 Census. It says he was born in Virginia in 1830 and resided in TX in 1880.

Answer 1

Do you Know E W Kelly full name,When born,where lived.Who he married.

too.

Comments

Looks like his middle name might be Waldo, according to the bio

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OK. At least I found the 1880 Family Search record on him:

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFFT-P67 : accessed 6 May 2016), E W Kelly, Precinct 4, Cass, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district ED 13, sheet 166A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1295; FHL microfilm 1,255,295.

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Question: Is there anything else you know about him? I see in the 1880 Census that he was a carpenter. That might be a small clue.

Also, both children were born in Arkansas, one 3 years ago and the other 6 years ago. So there's a possibility that an E W or E Waldo Kelly might show up in Arkansas in the 1870 Census. There might also be birth records for the two from the Arkansas birth records that could help.

The last name doesn't match, but this record is of interest, because Margaret's middle initial is "M" and it's from Arkansas:

"United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934", database with images,FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDB3-V9M : accessed 6 May 2016), Waldo Kelley, 1893.

And likewise, here's a Waldo and Margaret, who had a child with the initials AP (like in the 1880 Census, who would have been born approx 1874) named Albert P Kelley who died in 1953. Her last name is Margaret Aaron here. Or possibly Aaron is her middle name? Or they got it wrong - it happens. But this is definitely his family.

"Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K37Q-YRH : accessed 6 May 2016), Waldo Kelley in entry for Albert P Kelley, 23 Jul 1953; citing certificate number 36213, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,113,927.

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AHA!

I see where Margaret was remarried - to a Brewer and a Jackson. And died in Texas in 1923. Odds are they met in either Mississippi or Arkansas, married, had kids in Arkansas, moved to Texas. So the record showing Brewer is about 95% likely to be correct. That's the pension files record above. If he was in a war, it was most likely the Civil War. Being from Virginia or even West Virginia, he could have been on either side of the fight, but I suspect with the Pension Plans being involved, he probably fought for the North.

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Based on the document, he served with the I 180 Ohio Infantry and she filed for his pension on September 9, 1893. It is likely he died by that time.

If someone has a Fold3 account they might be able to look into who served during the Civil War or thereabouts with the 180 Ohio Infantry and see if they can find his records.

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Also, based on the timing of her filing, it appears that her second husband, Thomas Brewer, had recently passed away (or they divorced) and she may have needed the pension to live while between husbands. She married M T Jackson in 1894, at which point she may have stopped collecting the pension. Just a bit of speculation there.

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Sorry for the choppy responses - if he did indeed serve with the 180 Ohio Infantry during the Civil War, this is a short write-up of their service:

http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/cw180.html

No specific mention of him, but amazing that in less than a year they lost 6 people due to battle fatalities and 85 people due to illness/disease.

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Found him - 180 Ohio Infantry - page 20 of the document - part of company I (that's EYE) - Waldo Kelley, age 31, enlisted September 22, 1864 for a period of 1 year, mustered out July 12, 1865.

http://www.civilwarindex.com/armyoh/rosters/180th_oh_infantry_roster.pdf

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So provided the information is reasonably accurate, it appears he was born in Virginia or the western reaches of Virginia in or around 1830-1834, at some point prior to 1864 he traveled to Ohio, joined the volunteers, served for nearly a year in the Civil War, survived the war, and after 1865 but before 1873-1874, ended up in Arkansas where he had two children (one in 1874, the other in 1877), moved to Texas by census time in 1880, had a third child in Texas in 1880, and possibly passed away prior to 1885 when his wife remarried.