Margaret Annetta (Maxwell) Kelts (1865 - 1939)

Born 20 Dec 1865 in Lanes Mills, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Daughter of Alexander Maxwell and Mary Ann (Smith) Maxwell

Wife of George Edwin Kelts — married 4 Sep 1886 in Linwood Cottage, Wayland, New York

Descendants

Died 18 Sep 1939 at age 73 in Washington, District of Columbia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Lynn Kelts [send private message] and George Kelts [send private message]

This profile is Genealogically Defined.

Biography

Maggie Maxwell was born in western Pennsylvania in 1865, the fifth of nine children born to Alexander Maxwell, a Scotch-Irish immigrant farmer, and his wife Mary Ann.^[1] She married George Edwin Kelts in 1886,^[2] and they settled near their parents, although George, a carpenter and millwright, sometimes worked elsewhere, including in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

Maggie and George had a daughter, Irene, in 1887. Maggie gave birth to her second child in the summer of 1889, a few months after her young husband had been killed in a sawmill accident. Something about the accident caused an estrangement between Maggie’s family and George’s—maybe a dispute between Maggie and her in-laws over insurance money. Or maybe it was the fact that the mill that killed George was owned by Maggie’s brother-in-law.

As her granddaughter Jean Kelts Stevenson put it: “Margaret Annetta Kelts, my grandmother, was 20 when she married, 23 when she was widowed, 2 children to raise, no marketable training, no welfare programmes to fall back on….” Maggie did have her Maxwell relatives, though. She worked at the Logan House, a hotel run by her aunt and the aunt's husband. Maggie never remarried. Her father Alexander provided son George with the only father figure in his life.

In 1900, Maggie is found on the census in Brockway, Pennsylvania, living with her two children.^[3]

When her children graduated from high school, Maggie moved her small family to Warren, Ohio, just across the state line from Pennsylvania, so that her children could attend a business college there. Again she had the support of family, staying initially at a boarding house run by her sister Jennie.

Maggie lived with Irene for the rest of her life.^{[4] [5] [6]} Irene was “devoted to her” according to her obituary, and according to family lore, had never married out of concern for having to care for her mother. They moved to Washington, D.C. around 1931 when Irene was lucky to get a government job during the depressed times. Maggie died there in 1939 after a three-year illness.^[7] She is buried in Wildwood Cemetery in Brockway, Pennsylvania.^{[8] [9]}

-- Julie Kelts, written August 2014 (and later)

DNA confirmation

Margaret Annetta Maxwell is proven to be the daughter of Alexander Maxwell by six DNA matches between Julie Kelts, Maggie's great granddaughter (and/or her siblings and paternal cousins) and descendants of two other children of John Maxwell and Rebecca Maxwell (Alexander's parents). The strongest of these matches is 90 cM. Three of these matches are on GEDmatch, nos. M099229, M359070, and M513379.

Maggie is proven to be the daughter of Mary Ann Smith by three DNA matches between Julie Kelts (and/or her siblings or paternal cousins) and descendants of two other children of Robert Harrison Smith and Elizabeth McElhaney (Mary Ann's parents). The strongest family match is 38 cM on Ancestry.

Susan Maxwell ^[10] and Julie (and her siblings and cousins) are third cousins through Alexander Maxwell and Mary Ann Smith. Shared DNA is on chromosomes 8, 12, and 20. Susan and Julie (and her siblings and cousins) were in the Alexander Maxwell DNA circle on Ancestry.^[11]

Julie Kelts has created a set of chromosome maps for herself and her siblings, using a method outlined by Blaine Bettinger in an article entitled "Visual Phasing" posted on-line in 2016. This method identifies all of each person's DNA by the grandparent it was inherited from. Each GEDmatch match has been placed on the maps and determined to be consistent with the family branch that has been identified. In many cases, especially when a large number of matches have uploaded to GEDmatch (or used a testing company such as FamilyTreeDNA that provides chromosome detail), some of these matches also match each other, creating three-way (or greater) triangulated groups.

Sources

1. ↑ U.S. census, 1880, Washington, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania (Ancestry source): Maxwell, Margaret A., white, female, age 14, Daughter, birthplace Penna.; in the Alexander and Mary A. Maxwell household image
2. ↑ see marriage record in family Bible at right
3. ↑ Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census; Census Place: Brockway, Jefferson, Pennsylvania; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0058; FHL microfilm: 1241416: Name: Margaret Kelts Age: 34 Birth Date: Dec 1865 Birthplace: Pennsylvania Home in 1900: Brockway, Jefferson, Pennsylvania Sheet Number: 6 Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation: 101 Family Number: 110 Race: White Gender: Female Relation to Head of House: Head Marital status: Widowed Father's Birthplace: Ireland Mother's Birthplace: Pennsylvania Mother: Number of Living Children: 2 Mother: How Many Children: 2 Can Read: Yes Can Write: Yes Can Speak English: Yes House Owned or Rented: R Farm or House: H; also in household: Irene Kelts, age 12, and George Kelts, age 10. image
4. ↑ Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census, Census Place: Warren Ward 2, Trumbull, Ohio; Roll: T624_1235; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0234; FHL microfilm: 1375248: Name: M Margaret Keltz Age in 1910: 44 Birth Year: abt 1866 Birthplace: Pennsylvania Home in 1910: Warren Ward 2, Trumbull, Ohio Street: Linden Ave House Number: 15 Race: White Gender: Female Relation to Head of House: Head Marital status: Widowed Father's Birthplace: Ireland Mother's Birthplace: Pennsylvania Native Tongue: English Occupation: OP Home Owned or Rented: Own Home Free or Mortgaged: Free Farm or House: House Able to Read: Yes Able to Write: Yes Number of Children Born: 2 Number of Children Living: 2 Household Members: Name Age M Margaret Keltz 44 O Irene Keltz 22 G Frank Risher 22 [boarder] image
5. ↑ Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census, Census Place: Warren Ward 1, Trumbull, Ohio; Roll: T625_1443; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 307: Name: Margerite Keltz Age: 54 Birth Year: abt 1866 Birthplace: Pennsylvania Home in 1920: Warren Ward 1, Trumbull, Ohio Street: Roosevelt St House Number: 20 Residence Date: 1920 Race: White Gender: Female Relation to Head of House: Head Marital status: Widowed Father's Birthplace: Ireland Mother's Birthplace: Pennsylvania Able to Speak English: Yes Occupation: None Home Owned or Rented: Rented Home Free or Mortgaged: Free Able to Read: Yes Able to Write: Yes Household Members: Margerite Keltz 54 Irene Keltz 32 image
6. ↑ Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census, Census Place: Warren, Trumbull, Ohio; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 0019; FHL microfilm: 2341617: Name: Margaret Keltz Birth Year: abt 1866 Gender: Female Race: White Birthplace: Pennsylvania Marital status: Widowed Relation to Head of House: Mother Homemaker?: Yes Home in 1930: Warren, Trumbull, Ohio, USA Map of Home: View Map Street address: Roosevelt St N W Ward of City: 1st House Number: 766 Dwelling Number: 390 Family Number: 414 Attended School: No Able to Read and Write: Yes Father's Birthplace: Scotland Mother's Birthplace: Pennsylvania Able to Speak English: Yes Household Members: Name Age Irene O Keltz 42 Margaret Keltz 64 image
7. ↑ see death certificate and obituary at right
8. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #128543946
9. ↑ much of the information in this biography is from recollections confided to Julie Kelts by her aunts Jean and Marian (Maggie's grandchildren)
10. ↑ Susan Maxwell Nelson is a former WikiTree member whose DNA test was once listed on this profile. She is GEDmatch no. A372819; permission to include this information obtained by e-mail from Susan, October 2020.
11. ↑ Ancestry has since replaced their DNA Circles with ThruLines. Ordinarily, Susan and Julie would be shown as related on the ThruLines for Alexander Maxwell and his parents, but due to an Ancestry problem with Susan's account, that relationship is not currently displayed.

• Paternal relationship is confirmed by DNA as described above.
• Maternal relationship is confirmed by DNA as described above.
• FamilySearch profile no. LDBY-57W; Kelts-Van Wye-Cecil-Austin Family Tree on Ancestry (tree no. 71402081)