Charity, John Kelly Sr's Wife

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

After years, dare I say decades, of trying to identify John Kelly Sr.'s wife, I have finally found documentation for her.

John Kelly Sr. died in Fairfield County, South Carolina in January 1842. He was a Revolutionary War soldier, who died intestate. His probate contains a list of his several children.

His son Hampton H. Kelly of Richland District filed a pension application on 29 July 1851, stating "his said father, John Kelly, deceased...left no widow, this Despondent's mother having died previous to his father. That after his father's death and at the sale of his father's property this declarant's brother, Frost Kelly, who has since moved to the state of Mississippi, bought an old trunk containing the old papers of his said father and a portion of his said father's horseman's uniform which he had in his lifetime declared was part of that which he wore in said service in said war."

Various secondary sources have stated that John Kelly's wife was Charity. The most notable source is Mary Collins Landin's book The Old Cemeteries of Hinds County, Mississippi: From 1811 to the Present. Her work seems to indicate that the tombstones of both John Frost Kelly and his sister Lydia (Kelly) Seastrunk's tombstones provide the information that they are the children of John and Charity Kelly. There are just one or two big problems with that. There is no tombstone for Frost Kelly in the Utica Cemetery. I've searched a large portion of the cemetery myself, and I've had a request for a photograph of the tombstone on Findagrave. I've been told by a volunteer that no tombstone could be found. Lydia (Kelly) Seastrunk's is buried on private property, that ironically was and may still be owned by...Mary Collins Landin. No one seems to be able to gain access to that little cemetery to take photographs.

Every time someone states that Charity was John's wife, I always contact them asking for documentation. Either no one responds, or they finally tell me that they don't have any.

Finally, I've pinpointed a primary source, other than Landin's work or a tombstone, to document that John Kelly Sr.'s wife was, in fact, named Charity. In 1839, Littleton Kelly filed the deed for property that he had purchased from his father John Kelly Sr. in 1825. Charity Kelly signed a release of her dower, with her mark, on 11 May 1826.

This deed can be located in Fairfield County, South Carolina deed Bk. NN, p. 205.

So, as of 11 May 1826, Charity Kelly was still living and signed her release of dower. It is reasonable to think that she was the mother of Littleton Kelly b. c. 1821 and Obediah K. Kelly b. c. 1823. It is impossible to state with any certainty that she is the mother of Hampton H. Kelly or any of the older Kelly siblings. 

In 1830, John Kelly of Fairfield District, South Carolina had a wife who was 10 - 20 years his junior:

John Kelly 020120001 - 1020001

The eldest man in the household, John Kelly, was 60 to 70 years old.

The eldest female in the household, John Kelly's wife, was 40 to 50 years old.

In order to be John Kelly Jr's mother, she would have to be closer to fifty. That would have made her a young 16 when he was born in about 1786. Plus, it would mean that she was bearing children over more than 30 years. It seems very unlikely to me that she was the mother of all of John Kelly's children.

More needs to be documented about Charity, and researchers need to be open to the very likely possibility that John Kelly had an earlier wife.