There can be no doubt that a William Denis
Kelly was a line officer with the 4th Virginia Reg during our
Revolutionary War but there is some doubt in my mind that he is
represented correctly in our family or if he is of our family.
The sole source for William D O'Kelley was
Alethea Jane Macon and she makes
the claim that she obtain the names of the six sons from the family
of Francis, I suppose Macon must have received her information from
Kate Walker as she is the
only descendant of Francis that Macon thanks in her book. I
have found no documents that prove a relationship between my
grandfather Charles and
William.
Military Officers in the time of William most
often receive their appointments because of wealth and influence of
either of themselves or their family or from previous actions such
as the French and Indian War. One has to wonder that if our
early family had such wealth and influence then why would William be
the only one of our family to be an officer in our revolution, why
is he the only one that appears to be able to read and write?
His first record in our Nation Archives is dated August 1777,
Harold O'Kelley states in his book
that William was commissioned as an ensign July 10 1777 and he
served a several years and most of his records bear Wm. D.
Kelly
including his
signature card where he signed a report as Wm D Kelly
and only a handful of his records bear O Kelley. O'Kelly or Kelley.
I have doubts that the D in William D's name was
Denis. I think it more likely was Dean and that William Denis
O'Kelley is not of our family. It seems certain that William
Denis was educated while every early member of our family signed his
name with an X.
J Fred O'Kelly
in his 1966 book only provides us with the name of William
O'Kelley believed to have been born in 1754. He makes no
mention that our William was the William who served in our
Revolution. Alethea Jane
Macon tells us she received her information about who the six
sons from the Francis branch of the family and she lists him as
William D O'Kelley but she tells us nothing is known about him and
see provides neither a suggested birth or death date. To
my knowledge only Harold O'Kelley and
Patrick O'Kelley the author of "Nothing
but Blood and Slaughter: Military Operations and Order of Battle of
the Revolutionary War in the Carolinas - Volume One 1771-1779"
make the claim that William Denis O'Kelley was of our family but
neither provide any proof.
William Dennis O. Kelley as he sometimes
appears does have many Revolutionary War Records. They are
contained in two folders below on this page and that is because they
are actually stored under two different names. Capt William
Croghan who commanded the company in the 8th Reg when Charles and
Benjamin were active was promoted to Major and took over command for
the company that Lt William D O'Kelley served in. This was
years after
Charles
and Benjamin
were discharged.