Every family tree has at least one individual who is difficult to research because seemingly conflicting documents make it difficult to arrive at what we would consider "the truth" or a conclusion. The problem is compounded when the individual deliberately muddied the waters.
My research strategy is to collect as many primary documents as possible, put them in date order, look for patterns, and weigh what I am seeing against history and logic. Sometimes a calculator comes in handy. Documents generated by the individual are, in a way, the narrative of that person's life. Ultimately, I ask myself, "Is the narrator reliable?"
My great-grandmother's brother Lewis H. Kelley is one of those problematic individuals. Among the Kelleys, he was the brother who was the black sheep. As my grandfather once said, "Lewis Kelley was always one step ahead of the law." However, to the children Lewis raised under his alias Lonnie Cecil Clyburn, he was the illustrious Dr. Clyburn and long lost child of a prominent family in South Carolina. But which one was he really? Lewis H. Kelley or Lonnie Cecil Clyburn? That has been a question that family researchers chased for so many decades that now many of them are deceased.
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| Lewis H. Kelley |
Lewis H. Kelley was born 12 October 1877 in Kershaw County, South Carolina. He was the twin brother of Ross Tildon Kelley. They were the children of Mansel Pinkney and Elizabeth A. R. (Thompson) Kelley.
The Kelleys left South Carolina in 1892, traveling to Texas.
On 8 November 1899, Lewis H. Kelley married Ula Morgason in Red River County, Texas. He was about 21 years old. Below is a typed copy of their marriage license. A look at the original marriage license would be better. On the 1900 census, the newlyweds were living with his parents in Titus County, Texas. Lewis's birthday is noted as being in October of 1877 and his occupation is that of a farmer.
According to a letter written to Charles R. Kelley, son of Ross Tildon Kelley, by Madie Idell (Kelley) Beal, daughter of Lewis H. Kelley, her father abandoned their little family later in the year while she was still six years old. One of the most striking things about the letter is her attitude toward her father, which seems both plaintive and angry.
Sept. 15 - 85 -
Dearest Charles & Lore -
And a very good morning to you both.
So glad to hear from you. As I did not know I had a cousin that cared enough to write to me. in fact i did not know how many children unckle Ross [Kelley] had. I thought he only had one son and one step son. You see when my father left us I was only six years old. And we lost contact with papa's family until 1919 when papa came to see me.
I don't remember ever seeing unkl Ross. Just what my mother could tell me about him. Grandmaw Kelley came to visit me in Nov. 34 and spent about a month with me. We talked quiet [sic] a
lot about the babys [probably the twins] when they small.
Big Bear has sent me your letters. As I guess he has told you I am back in Texas on a visit. Guess he will come after me some time last of this month or some time in Oct. Would sure love for you all to come see me. When I get back home. We can talk a lot then.
You did not give me names and phon numbers or addresses off the ones in California. they don't live too far from us.
Sorry I don't have a picture off unkle Ross. Wish I did. You know back in those days they diden't make pictures like they do now.
I have a picture of Aunt
Aunt Annie [(Kelley) Price] and Aunt Carrie [(Kelley) Gunn] and Grandpaw & Grandmaw Kelley [M.P. and Eliza (Thompson) Kelley] - and one of unckle Hale [Kelley]. An one of unckle Richard [Kelley] and Wife with their first baby. which a son -
I have a picture off unkle Will [Kelley] and Aunt Eller. They used to visit me. And after Aunt Eller passed away unckle Will would come visit with me for week at a time. I sure loved him.
I am sure glad you got in touch with me. Maybe we can enjoy the company off each other for waht time I have left to live.
Will Say by for now. and hope to see you & Lore soon. Answer when you can -
My love to you both, Madie
P.S.
You ask why my father left us. Well he sold some morgased [sic] proprety. And the law was after him so he left, changed his name and lived happy ever after. he had rather give up his family than to go to jail or pay for the property.
In 1985 when this letter was written, Charles Kelley and other family researchers were trying to untangle the story of Lewis H. Kelley aka Lonnie Cecil Clyburn and his parentage. That quest made Madie Beal very popular. She was the recipient of many visitors and letters. She claimed that she had gone with Eliza (Thompson) Kelley to see a lawyer and had drawn up some papers that would reveal who Lewis's parents were. However, Madie did not intend to share them with anyone while she was living. She said those papers would be revealed after she died. When she died, no one could find these mysterious papers. My research indicates that she did, in fact, have papers drawn up. However, I think she also had already shared the document that her grandmother Eliza Kelley had written, but no one at the time recognized it for what it was.
More on Madie Beal and her legal papers later. The upshot is that Madie Beal believed that Lewis Kelley was the son of M. P. and Eliza Kelley, and that belief was based on what her grandmother Eliza Kelley told her.
One of the important details of Madie's letter is that her father did not reenter her life until 1919 when he came to see her. That is a very specific date. What made 1919 stick in her memory? The other significant event of 1919 was the death of Madie's elder sister Viola (Kelley) Hatch during childbirth in January of 1919. It seems very likely that Lewis Kelley aka Lonnie Clyburn reappeared in Madie's life because of the death of her sister. My guess is that he turned up for the funeral. Viola died at the age of 18. Madie was 15 at the time.
On 15 December 1911, Lewis Kelley married Mettie Bartlett in Lamar County, Texas. However, he married her under his new alias, Lonnie Cecil Clyburn.
It must have been around this time that Lewis claimed that his real parents were his Aunt Mary Jane Kelley and her husband Capt. Lewis Lee Clyburn of Camden, South Carolina. The biggest problem with this claim is that Mary Jane (Kelley) Clyburn gave birth to a daughter Edna Ann Blanche Clyburn on 28 March 1877, which would be less than seven months before the birth of Lewis H. Kelley. What really needs to be taken into account is that the Clyburns were a wealthy, socially prominent family with no motivation to give away one of their children. The Clyburn children were educated, and one son, who was about ten years older than Lewis, became a doctor. Did Lewis fantasize about belonging to the Clyburns instead of the Kelleys?
On 15 June 1912, L Clyburn filed this document in Red River County, Texas attesting to having a medical certificate issued by the State Board of Medical Examiners for the State of Texas.
This document has two interesting pieces of information. The first is that L. C. Clyburn's date of birth is given as 1876 instead of 1877. This is either a mistake made by the clerk or a deliberate attempt on Lon Clyburn's part to shift his date of birth by a year, perhaps to obscure his identity as Lewis Kelley. However, shifting his birth to a year earlier would not strengthen his case that he was Mary Jane (Kelley) Clyburn's child since that would place his birth less than five months before the birth of Blanche Clyburn. Since later documents repeat that his birth date was 12 October 1877, this seems like an error made by the County Clerk.
The other piece of information on this document is that L. C. Clyburn was educated at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Besides the not finding either L.C. Clyburn or Lewis H. Kelley among the graduating students of Johns Hopkins Medical School, there are other problems with this claim that make it highly unlikely.
Johns Hopkins Medical School opened in 1893 when Lewis H. Kelley was 16 years old. The first graduating class was in 1897 when he was 20 years old. In 1899 he was marrying Eula in Red River County and then farming in Titus County in 1900. At that point, he is a farmer in Texas - not a student and not a doctor. By 1903, Johns Hopkins was very proud of the fact that their exacting entry requirements kept their classes so small that they had graduated less than 500 medical students. In both 1904 and 1905, their graduating classes hovered at around 50 students. In 1905, they began requiring their students to have a bachelor's degree heavy in science course work.
In 1910, Lewis H. Kelley was farming in Marion County, Texas. At that point, he was not a student and not a doctor. However, just two years later, he had a new name, a new wife, and presumably a new education and career.
By 21 January 1913, Red River County, Texas filed suit against L. Clyburn for unlawfully practicing medicine. As of 1907, Texas had begun tightening its requirements for receiving a medical license in the state. In just a few short months, the state had reason to question L. Clyburn's qualifications. Lon Clyburn's new father-in-law had posted surety in July of 1912 for him and stood to lose a substantial amount of money.
By 27 June 1913, Lon C. Clyburn also had a new baby son, Lonnie Frank Clyburn.
On 4 May 1914, Eula (Morgason) Kelley obtained a divorce from Lewis H. Kelley in Wood County, Texas.
Eula also paid for both her attorney and the court filing fees.
In 1915, when daughter Thelma Louise Clyburn was born in Amarillo, Texas, L. C. Clyburn's occupation on her original birth certificate is given as a "business man" and not a doctor.
Years later, after the death of L. C. Clyburn, Thelma's birth certificate was amended. One of the changes on it is in regard to her father's occupation. On that document, he was a doctor.
This record, kept by the US Veteran's Dept. shows that in 1918, Lon Cecil Clyburn's birth date was given as 12 October 1877. He served in the Medical Department, but not as a physician.
Lon Cecil Clyburn's service records indicate that he served just shy of five months and was discharged with a 50 percent disability without ever being deployed overseas.
Lewis Clyburn died on 4 June 1924 in Chicota, Lamar County, Texas at the age of 46. His death certificate records his birth date as 12 October 1877. Remember, this is same birth date as Lewis Kelley's twin brother Ross Tildon Kelley. If Lewis/Lonnie was not the son of M.P. and Eliza Kelley, why didn't they ever tell him what his real birth date was? The parents on this death certificate are given as L. L. Clyhren and Mary Jane Kelley by an informant named Morris. This Morris has no known family connection, so the information provided is not first hand.
Dr. L. C. Clyburn's obituary appeared in the Paris News. It is an interesting example of trying to have it both ways. It states that he was "raised an orphan boy" and that he was "survived by his mother, whose home is at Mount Pleasant," which was a reference to Eliza Kelley.
Taken as a whole, these documents reveal a man who abandoned his first set of children for nine years, married a second wife without divorcing his first wife, claimed to be a graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School against all evidence to the contrary, and was charged with unlawfully practicing medicine. The idea that he was the cast off child of Capt. Lewis Lee and Mary Jane (Kelley) Clyburn seems highly unlikely.
This was my grandmother's (Lillian Kelley Cannon) uncle. She said he gave her dad (John Gary Kelley) an injection when he was sick and he died shortly after. They never liked him because he "killed their daddy."
ReplyDeleteI wonder what was wrong with John Gary and what was in the injection.
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