Eliza (Thompson) Kelley's Tribal Application

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

This post might just as easily be entitled "Chasing Down a Rabbit Hole Pays Off."

In my previous post, I speculated that if Madie (Kelley) Beal applied for membership in the Eastern Band of Cherokees, then other family members might have applied, especially Madie's great-grandmother, Eliza Ann Rebecca (Thompson) Kelley, who was still living in 1924 and who also happens to be my great-great-grandmother.

Well, be still my heart, she did. Eliza Ann Rebecca (Thompson) Kelley's rejected application for membership in the Eastern Band of Cherokees reveals a wealth of family information that I've never found anywhere else. Her rejected application is in the record group known as the 1924 Baker Roll. As near as I can tell, applications for the Baker Roll closed in 1928, so people were actively applying in 1926 and 1927 when most of these family applications and depositions were given.

This is the value of conducting whole family research. Ultimately, it leads backward. In this case, a comment on the blog caused me to gather up my research on Lewis H. Kelley/Lonnie C. Clyburn and finally post it here. Then I fleshed out my information on his daughter Madie (Kelley) Beal, and in the process, I stumbled across a record of her in the 1924 Baker Roll applications.  Those papers sent me back into that database looking for an application from Eliza Kelley, which for some reason was indexed as Solomon R. Thompson, who I knew was her father. I might have overlooked that because Solomon R. Thompson died long before 1924, but I've learned that it always, always pays to take a look.

Because Eliza's application is 24 pages long and not all of it reveals direct information on the family, I am only going to include a few pages of it. Her application was dated 5 May 1926.

The first page confirms what my great-grandmother, Henrietta Elizabeth "Bessie" (Kelley) Brown always said about the Kelleys leaving South Carolina in 1892 to go west. This document also adds one new interesting piece of information: the Thompsons removed to Concord, North Carolina in 1861. On the surface that seems like an error since the family seems to have only been in South Carolina before moving west. However, it makes a certain kind of sense. Eldest son Rev. Eugene W. Thompson went to North Carolina to serve in the Conference and from there he entered the Confederate army as a chaplain. Since the Civil War was just getting started, with South Carolina being the center of the initial action, they may have felt that North Carolina would be safer. However, we also know that they were back in South Carolina by 1863 when Eliza Thompson married M.P. Kelley.

The second page is genealogy gold. First, it confirms that Eliza's mother was Asenith Williams. Better yet, it places the marriage date for Solomon R. Thompson and Asenith Williams in 1832. That would make Asenith the mother of all of Solomon R. Thompson's children. Since there are huge gaps between their births, it has been difficult to determine if the eldest son Rev. E.W. Thompson was a half-brother or full brother. She also states that after her parents married they lived in Lancaster and Kershaw Counties.

She then provided the information that Solomon R. Thompson was the son of Lodwick Thompson and Priscilla Reeves. Then comes the new information regarding her maternal grandparents, who were Lawrence Williams and Rachael Hogan. Even after blowing Rachael's surname up on my computer screen, I am not certain what her surname was. That ink blotch at the end makes it unclear. My strategy will have to be to search for all names of about that length which begin with Hog. Right now, I can see that research will include Hogue as well as Hogan.

Eliza's application, like her granddaughter Madie Beal's, contains a deposition from J.C. Montgomery who lived with Solomon R. Thompson at the time of his death.

In addition, there was a deposition from T. P. Robinson, another resident of Titus County, Texas, who also knew Solomon R. Thompson in Lancaster County, South Carolina.

In the following letter, Eliza (Thompson) Kelley listed all of her children, related how many children each of them had, and then listed her children who were still living. Note that daughters were mostly referred to by their maiden names. One page of this letter provides the names of her living children with the daughters' married names and their residences. What is striking is that Eliza also thought to include her deceased sister's children in this record. While this is not a Bible record, it is the next best thing since Eliza herself can be considered a primary source in terms of her own children:

Mt Pleasant Texas
April 23, 1926
Cherokee Indian
School
Cherokee North Carolina

Mr A W Simington
Special Allotting Agent
Dear Sir    I
Mrs Eliza A Kelley am asking to file an
aplication to enroll for my
claim in the cherokee
Indian of the Eastern Band.
I am the mother of
Mrs Annie R Price Mrs
Madie I Beal grandmother

and I would be glad to prove
our claim I am
the mother of 13 children here
are the names
John G Kelley Father of 11 children
Willie H Kelley - 6
Mancil P Kelley - not any
Nannie J Kelley - mother 1
Richard S Kelley - Father 8
Henretta B Kelley - mother 9
Ross T Kelley - Father 3
Lewis H Kelley - 5
Eugene F Kelley - 5
Edna V Kelley - not any
Joseph H Kelley - not any
Annie R Kelley - mother 3
Carrie I Kelley - 3

there are 7 of my children
living and 6 dead All
married but one if we
can get on roll we
sure would be glad for
we are all poor but
thands God we try to live
for good and if we
can get our claim
onest we are entiled to
it My Father Solomon R
Thompson
always taught us that
we was a part cherokee
Indian and his mother
Persilla Reeves

always told him that he was
apart cherokee Indian and she
come
from West Virginia to SC
and if I am not mistaken
I have two letters concerning
our Indian blood and
there are two men in
Titus county that came
from SC that no us
well I will close hope to get one
The Roll I am as wel
your friend
Mrs Eliza A Kelley
Mt Pleasant
Tex

R S Kelley  Riply RFDH
W H Kelley Briant Mill Tex RI
Mrs Henretta B Brown Avery Tex R3
E. F. KelleyAvery ex
M P Tallahesse Florida
E W Foster 411 Adam Wichita Falls
Annie R Price Mt Pleasant Tex
this is my childrens
also that are alive

My sister died Nov 16
And these are her children
names that are a live
Mrs Della Owens Mt. Plesant
Mrs Ema Thomas
Mrs Lulu Buchanan Jacksonville Tex
Mrs Minnie Landem Mt Pleasant
Shellie Floyd Mt Pleasant Tex
Alline Mays Mt Pleasant Tex
Charlie Floyd C? Tex
Ida Gingles Denison Tex
there are the names of
my Sisters children her
husband Mr J W Floyd
is Still a live but
? low with carbunkle
on his neck the Dr dont
think the will get well

My new family tree looks something like this now: