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O'Kelley Migration
The same
DNA science used to convict citizens and condemn them to death and
also exonerate the innocent and restore their freedom tells us that
every human on the planet descended from a single black female
living in Africa 150 thousand years ago. Every human
living is genetically
99.9% the same and we all share that common African
ancestor. We are all related. Our ancestors moved out of
Africa about 60 thousand years ago and into central Asia which was a
very cold area forcing them to cover their bodies in animal skins to
keep warm. Our ancestors bodies needed the sun to make vitamin
D and because most of their skin was now covered, their skin color
lightened to allow it to take in all sunlight possible. From
Western Asia about 35 to 40 thousand years ago our ancestors known
as the Artisans moved west into Europe and about 10 to 12 thousand
years ago as the Ice age began to thaw, our ancestors moved into
Spain, France, Briton, Wales, and Ireland and from Ireland settled
Scotland. My family line settled and lived in a area near
Galway Ireland in a land come to be known as Hy Many. It is
not possible to know how long our ancestors lived there or when they
arrived but DNA does confirm that they lived there at least a
thousand years or more before coming to America. Source:
National Geographic:
The Human Family Tree.
The Genographic Project.
Who were the Celts by Kevin Duffy
It is unknown when our ancestor came to America but
is likely that he came around 1740 to 1760.
He may have married Elizabeth Dean whiile in Ireland or married her
her but I thinik it is a certainty that she was Irish. There are many events in Ireland that could have forced them here.
The greatest and most deadly battle in Ireland occurred in Aughrim
in 1691 but in 1740 there was a great freeze and ice storm so great
that all crops failed in 1741. The harbors were frozen over
for more than 7 weeks. Many died all over Europe that year
from starvation and disease. It is also unknown as to where
our first ancestor lived. Harold O'Kelley surmised that
because Benjamin Kelly b 1761 stated in his
Revolutionary War pension application that he was born in Kings and
Queen County but that application also says he was born in 1761
making it very unlikely that he was of our family. Both J Fred
and Macon did research at the DAR and our National Archives and
neither mention this application. According to both J Fred
O'Kelly and Alethea Jane Macon our ancestors can be traced to
Mecklenburg Virginia and then to Oglethorpe Georgia and a
1782 Mecklenburg
Virginia Head of Household Census makes it certain that our
ancestors name was William Kelley as he is the only Kelley, Kelly,
O'Kelley, or O'Kelly found living with ten others in his household
just three years after Charles Kelley appeared on a Mecklenburg
Militia roster. If William was native born Irish then he
and his family woudl have been living like native Irish at that
time, all living in the same home and that is why Charles Kelley
would was marred with two children in 1784 does not appear as head
of his household in Mecklenburg. We know he was there, there
are land records and military records proving he was there but he
does not appear on this census and that must mean he and his family
was lving with his father and mother, William Kelley and Elizabeth
Dean. This is further proven as the first gand child the first
grandson was born to Charles and Mary and they named him William
certainly after Charles's father and just two years later the first
grand daughter was born and Charles and Mary named her Elizabeth
Dean Kelley.
Both J Fred
O'Kelly and Alethea Jane Macon make a claim that Charles sold his
land in Mechlenburg in 1805 and moved to Oglethorpe GA but below
there is an earlier land record for Charles O'Kelley before the
creation of Oglethorpe Co GA. I wonder if the sale in 1805 was
made when they moved or if the sale came years later when tey knew
they were never going to move back. Also in Wilkes Co George
we find two land records for a William Kelley so it may be the
entire family moved to Wilkes Co and they were living there when
their portion they were lving in became Oglethorpe Co. There are
also records showing Francis won a 400 acre
land prize in the 1805 Georgia lottery. Virtual Georgia has the land records for the Headright System online and so far I have only found Charles
O'Kelley and several Kelley's who received lands in
Wilkes Country from which Oglethorpe Co George was formed in
1795:
Four
of James and Anna's children have no
confirmed descendents listed on this
website so there is still hope that
someone not yet known to the family may
have the missing piece of this puzzle
and it is for that reason I host this
website.
Migration of the
descendents of Wiliam and Elizabeth
I thing it possible that William and
Elizabeth may have lived well into the nineteen century and are
likely buried in Georgia.
(1)William Dennis
O'Kelley (abt 1754) It is unknown what happened to
William after the war.
(2)Charles
O'Kelley (1756 Va)
migrated between 1797 when their last child was born in
Mecklenburg and 1805 assuming that the place of birth on these
children are correct. It is certainly possible that
Charles came much sooner and some of his children were born in
Ga. Charles reportedly
died and was buried in Oglethorpe.
I now have photos of his gravestone posted on his record.
It is from this ancestor that most of the Arkansas
O'Kelleys seem to have originate.
(4-3)George
Washington O'Kelley (1783
Virginia) was living in
Oglethorpe GA according
to the 1830 Federal Census.
(4-3-10)William
Alvin O'Kelley (1831 Oglethorpe GA) and he is
buried in a yet to be located Cemetery in
Benton Arkansas having
died in 1905.
(4-3-10-1)John
Henry O'Kelley (1854 Banks Co GA) and he is
buried in a yet to be located Cemetery in Benton
Arkansas
(4-3-10-1-1)
Leonard Alvin O'Kelley (1879 Benton AR)
and he is buried in a yet to be located Cemetery
in Benton Arkansas
(4-10)Charles
Dean O'Kelley (1795 VA)
appears to have lived in
Oglethorpe most of his
life. He reportedly died and is buried in Alabama.
It is unknown if he was living there at the time or died
while traveling or working in Alabama but given that he died
in 1865 he may have been living with the Stamps to avoid the
war and could be buried in the Stamps Cemetery in Lafayette
Alabama. He was a Justice of the Peace for Walton Co
GA.
(4-10-1)James
Stamps O'Kelley (1824
Walton County Georgia
(created in 1818 from Jackson Co)). James and his
wife Lucy lived in Gordon County Georgia (created in
1850 from portions of Cass (Bartow) and Floyd) with
their children until sometime
after the 1870 Federal Census and before the 1880
Federal Census they moved to Lafayette, Crawford,
Arkansas. James and Lucy are buried in
the Love Cemetery just east of US 71 Hwy north of Alma
Arkansas at
35° 31' 53.44"N 94° 13' 0.43W Row 9.
James and Lucy may be the source for most all of the
O'Kelleys who now live in Washington, Crawford, and
Sebastian Co Arkansas.
(4-10-1-1)Charles
William O'Kelley (1848 in Gwinnett Co GA)
Appears to have moved with his father and mother to
Crawford Co Arkansas. He
homesteaded property just north of 81 Church
Community north of Rudy, Crawford Co Arkansas.
Charles and his wife are also buried in the Love
Cemetary at Alma Arkansas on the same row as his
father and mother.
35° 31' 53.44"N 94° 13' 0.43W Row 9
(4-10-1-1-9)Thomas
Milburn O'Kelley (1893 Landcaster
Crawford Co, AR) He married Julia Cress but they
had no children. Thomas was drafted in WWI
and served from Sep 1917 to Feb 1918. He
was registered for the draft during WWII.
in my lifetime he lived in Fayetteville Ar and
worked for Senator Fulbright as a grounds
caretaker for Senator Fulbright's Maple Street
Manson. Thomas is buried in the National
Cemetery in Fayetteville, AR. I have
memories of Uncle Tom as we knew him traveling
by train to Rudy in the late 1950s and early
1960s. Later when the train passenger
service shutdown, he would ride the bus and at
the Dean Springs stop near my childhood home.
(4-10-1-1-13)
Albert Henry O'Kelley (1900 Crawford Co
Ar) He was my grandfather. My father told
me that the Charles O'Kelley homestead passed to
my grandfather Albert when his father passed
away but he allowed it to go back to the county
for taxes during the depression believing land
would never again be worth as much as the taxes
owed on it. My grandfather and grandmother
lived just down the road from the old O'Kelley
homestead when I was born. Albert and his
wife are buried at Morrison Cemetery near Rudy
Arkansas.
(5)Thomas
O'Kelley (1748 VA)
(5-1)
Francis D O'Kelley (1785 VA)
There is an 180 marriage record that places him in
GA.
(5-1-?)
Thomas O'Kelley (1808 GA)
1850 Census puts this family in Old
River, Arkansas Co, Arkansas.
This may be the first O'Kelley in Arkansas.
I believe this is the source of the O'Kelley's living in
central Arkansas and parts of Oklahoma.
(6)Benjamin
O'Kelley (1757
Virginia) He is
believed to have died in 1850 in
Buncombe Co NC which
interestingly because for a brief period around the turn of the
19th century the area now known as Buncombe County North
Carolina was
Walton Co in Northeast Georgia
(1802-1811). Benjamin and his family may have moved to the
first Walton County Georgia during the
headright system and while they lived there the state
boundary changed after the Walton Co War and Buncombe Co NC was
formed. Georgia later created another Walton Co on the
western side of the state. Benjamin O'Kelley is the
ancestor that most if not all of the Missouri
O'Kelleys originate.
(6-2)Francis
Marion O'Kelley (1787
NC) The 1850
Federal Census puts the family in
Rhea Tennessee. The 1860 Census puts the
family living on the Kings River in
Madison Co Arkansas. My records came
to me with his death in 1865 in Bollinger Co Mo but the 1870
Census puts him living in Union,
Bollinger MO.
(6-2-5)Dr
Thomas Katlett O'Kelley (1833 Henderson Co NC)
Military records show a Thomas O'Kelley joined the Union
Army in Mo during the Civil War and the 1870 Federal
Census puts the family in German, Bollinger Co MO.
(6-3)Nimrod
O'Kelley
(6-3-1)
Charles O'Kelley (1811 TN)
Appears in the 1840 Census
Wonagle, Madison Co Arkansas.
Might be the first O'Kelley in Arkansas.
1850 Federal Census put the family living in
Barry, Missouri.
(7-1) Francis O'Kelley
(1760 Va) 1830 Federal
Census puts him in Georgia.
He won 400 acres in the Georgia Land Lottery in 1805. It
appears most if not all descends of this family line remained in
Georgia and did not migrate before or after the Civil War.
(8-1) George O'Kelley
(1763)
Nothing is known of him. Please contact me if you believe
you descended from this ancestor. My contact info is on
the main page. His birth is recorded in Dr Thomas K
O'Kelley's Bible but I have no documentation on his death and
burial, that came to me from my Aunt.
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