While I alone created this website I can not take full credit for its contents.
A great many others contributed, a big thanks goes to each person listed below.
None of the persons that I have listed received any compensation for their
efforts, they did it and continue to do it seeking no praise but I am going to
give it to them anyway.
| Kathleen (Smith) O'Kelley or my aunt
Kathleen. Probably 90% of the data on this website came from her
years of work, travel, and research. This website would have
likely never occurred if she hadn't took the interest and hers is a
legacy that will live on and hopeful encourage others descendants to
keep our family records alive for all to view. Dave McCullar a descendant of James Hadley ->James -> Thomas. has been critical in the discovery and correction of errors. Dave credits his mother for his inspiration and the source of his interest in the history of his family and he uses his natural talents as a very skillful investigator to follow the clues. Judith Reis a descendant of Dr Thomas K O'Kelley -> Francis Marion ->Benjamin. Judith answered many important questions that were critical in how the data on this website is presented. Before I met Judith I merely accepted what Alethea Jane Macon and J Fred O'Kelly presented but Judith introduced to me a very real possibility that as late as our Civil War our ancestor's name wasn't agreed upon, our family history had been lost during the time of the second born American generation and this allowed me to consider that both Thomas and James were likely constructed by family members based solely upon the remembrance of a story told by an elder. This realization allow me to consider the real evidence, the 1782 Meckenburg Va Head of Household census and the naming of the first American born grandson, William, who must have been named for his grandfather who was my ancestor. |
|
|
Paul McCurdy who provided me a copy of bible pages
dated
Dec 26 and 27 1835. Joyce Lambert, 4th Great-granddaughter of Charles and Mary who provided me the photos of the gravestones of our shared grandparents. |
|
| Sandra Clare Thompson a descendant of Dr Francis Dean -> Thomas Dean -> Francis. Sandra cleared up many mysteries for me including the orgin of the belief that James was the name of our ancestor. Sandra also aided me greatly in locating the bible that J Fred O'Kelley mentioned in his 1966 book as proving the Kelleys of Mecklenburg were the O'Kelleys who settled in Oglethorpe Georgia at the beginning of the 1800s. | |
| Charles Carlton Walker the current holder of the bible of his mother, Effie Kate, who J Fred O'Kelly wrote in his 1966 book proved the Mecklenburg Va Kelleys and the Oglethorpe Ga O'Kelleys are the same. | |
| Anne Beirne who descends from Anthony -> William Kelly of Buckfield -> John of Keenagh -> James O'Kelly of Aughrim Co Galway Ireland. Anne's descent is from a long line of Irish Kings and Chiefs of Hy-Many and she contributed records that may prove critical in connecting our ancestor to his family line in Ireland. Anne provided contact with a living male descendant of James O'Kelly of Aughrim for DNA testing. The testing of my DNA has indicated a 65% possibility that the Aughrim line could be the Irish family of our ancestor. While 65% is barely passing in most schools, in DNA 65% is pretty high probability and when the additional data is factored in, the Aughrim line is the most likely documented line of Kellys that could be our Irish family. DNA testing of a traceable male descendant of this line is pending. | |
Webmaster
I am Rick O'Kelley a descendent of William Kelley and Elizabeth Dean, of (2)Charles O'Kelley and Mary Crowder, of (3)Charles Dean and Mary Stamps, of (4)James Stamps and Lucy Woodruff England, of (5)Charles Williams and Mary Miller, of (6)Albert and Julie Bowen, of (7)Conley Horton and Azana Peters; eight generations from our last Irish born ancestor and a retired Captain and former Chief Investigator for the Washington Co AR Sheriff's Department. I am an experienced homicide investigator, I have testified in capital murder cases, and court certified as an expert in photography and firearms in Arkansas and photography in Oklahoma and have a lot of experience tracking people who work hard to not be discovered but I have little experience as a genealogist. My training is as an analyst used to analysis criminal conduct to aid in solving crimes, I have thousands of hours of class room training. years of experience, and in 1992 I graduated from the Northwest Technical Institute as a Computer Systems Analyst so I use a combination of skills and experiences and apply to genealogy research. None of this makes me more right than anyone else, I just bring a different experience to the research. I don't just look at the data a document provides but also at the paper, writing, and style of an original document as well as its date of creation to learn more. I look at the time an ancestor lived in, as well as their experience. I try to date when a gravestone was created to learn how it impacts what is engraved into that stone. Many valuable clues can be learned from documents beyond just information contained within them. If you have O'Kelley documents that you would like a free evaluation to see if there is more than can be learned, please contact me. This is but a brief description, you may read my detailed life's history here.
After retiring from Law Enforcement in the early 90s I opened a computer business then in 1995 expanded that business to include my wife and our young son, Ryan and made it into one of the first Internet Service Providers in Northwest Arkansas. Sixteen years later my wife and I continue in business today providing dialup and DSL Internet as well as email accounts and web hosting. In 1997 my Aunt Kathleen asked if I would host the family genealogy on a website. The purpose was to encourage others to do the same to allow discovery and sharing. I doubt one will find another site that has more O'Kelley information and documentation. I am actively researching and documenting as much of the data from official sources and I have posted my email address and ask anyone who may have data especially family Bible trees that contain data of ancestors to contact me. I know there must be more O'Kelley bible pages out there and while many may just look at the data, I look at how the data is presented and try to determine when it was recorded. My primary goal is to aid in the rediscovery of family history. There is much about the Irish that is not known so many false beliefs are passed down and I seek to uncover the truth behind some of these beliefs.
Before I started my investigation in the spring of 2009 I had not read Harold O'Kelley's book Four families through Georgia: a southern history of the Adcock, Blackwell, O'Kelley, Yates and related families or Alethea Jane Macon, Four O’Kelley Sons and Some of their Descendants – Allied Families. I wanted to approach this investigation fresh and not allow the conclusions of other authors to influence my discoveries or shade the evidence uncovered. I did not wish to feel pressured to either proven or disprove someone else's earlier work but at some point I hoped to read both books in their entirety to see where we agreement and disagree. I had read J Fred O'Kelly 1966 book, titled "Some Descendants and Ancestral Kin of James Stamps O'Kelley and Lucy Woodruff England" many times as it was the book my parents acquired in the 60s when it came out. James Stamps O'Kelley and Lucy Woodruff England are my great great grandparents, I grew up just a few miles from their graves and I have been there many times. When I took up this task I had many false starts and went down many dead end roads but in October with my DNA results in hand it changed and focused my search on the Ui Ceallaigh family of Ui Maine Ireland. Feeling that my research was firmly planted and could not be influenced that easily I in January 2011 I began to read bits of both Harold O'Kelley's and Alethea Jane Macon's works. Since that time I have read Macon's book in its entirety and I find much of it accurate to match my own research. I would love to see her notes as I suspect she has a great deal of information not included in her book but it is unknown if those notes still exist. Due to the kindness of a descendent, I read a portion of Harold O'Kelley's book beginning with Chapter 20 and ending with page 216 but then later in 2011 Shannon a daughter of Harold O'Kelley made me a gift on behalf of her father a beautiful red bound copy of her father's book. I will discuss my observations and opinions of all three author's works based upon my research:
Alethea Jane Macon published 1969
Harold O'Kelley published 1985
J Fred O'Kelly published 1966As for this website my approach is simple. Any data that that I have which can not be documented by an official source such as church records, government records, news paper articles or something in a early ancestor's hand is changeable. If you have documentation that tells us that my data is wrong, I would like to change my data so everyone will have access to the most accurate data available. Feel free to contact me and I hope this website aids your quest to know more about our family history.
Additional Webmasters needed.
One of the problems that hinder family research is books drop out of print and become difficult to find and once published they can not be updated to include new descendents, a new version has to be published requiring the reader to buy the new book. Macon and Harold O'Kelley both updated the family with their books but their books are now out dated and out of print. My goal is to solve these problems by this website and while I will attempt to keep it fresh, correct, and up to date, using information provided to me from documents and descendents what happens when I pass from this earth? Who will keep this site going?
I am seeking younger members of our family who are interested in aiding in keeping this website active and to step in when I am gone. It is my hope that my successors will follow always passing this site down to the next generation. No monetary investment will be required while I am alive but upon my passing someone will have to pay the modest annual fees needed to keep this site alive. Currently that costs is about $100 a year but some of this is paid when descendents purchase through Amazon via a link on this site. This could be a great opportunity for an interested younger person as they can learn the skills necessary to do these tasks. If you are between the ages of 14 and 40 and would like to assist with the goal of taking over when I pass and continuing this site, please email me.