Thomas Kelly

     Thomas Kelly was born in 1747. He was the son of Parick Kelly and Rachel Winas. Thomas Kelly married Margaret Peggy Boyles, daughter of William Boyles, in 1765 at Augusta County, Virginia Colony, America. Thomas Kelly died on 29 April 1808 at Clifty Creek, Pulaski County, Kentucky, at age 61 years.
     When a young man, despite the earnest entreaties of his mother - thrusting his fingers in his ears to shut out her pleadings - he left home to avoid being impressed into the British army, and made his way to Virginia.

Soon after arriving in that State he enlisted and was sent to the frontier to fight Indians; he later had command of a military post in that wild region. The next we hear of him, he is married and settled on a farm in Botetourt County, Virginia. His wife was Peggy Biles, a young woman whose sweet voice had won her quite a reputation as a singer; she afterward became a doctor for women and was widely known for her helpfulness in sickness and distress. She is said to have left her impression on succeeding generations.

From Botetout, Thomas Kelly moved to Greenbriar County: subsequently leaving Virginia about 1800, with a large family, intending to the far west, Illinois; but falling in with General Canada, who persuaded him, on account of the unhealthy climate of that state, to abandon his journey and he turned aside into Lincoln County, Kentucky; afterward going into Pulaski County, where he and his sons settled on adjoining lands near Somerset. He passed into the unseen from the home of his son Samuel, on Clifty Creek, a few years after; his wife following in the year 1814.

Nature plans on a grand scale in Kentucky; her trees and her men tower toward the skies. On one of the windblown knobs of Pulaski County, within a mile of Mount Gilead Church, under some spreading giants of the forest, were laid these two - Thomas Kelly and Peggy Biles, his wife.

In the year 1882, two pilgrims from Oregon paid homage at the shrine of the Kelly home; they visited the spot made sacred by the burial of their great-grandparents, and piled a heap of stones on the lonely graves. The lands had passed into stranger hands, and the mighty denizens of the forest were being laid low; doubtless, ere this, all trace of their resting place has been obliterated, but that hallowed spot is ever under the Eye That Never Sleeps.

From the Kelly Clan by Richmond Kelly, MD, Portland Oregon, 1901

When a young man, despite the earnest entreaties of his mother- thrustin his fingers in his ears to shut out her pleadings- he left home to avoid being impressed into the British Army, and made his way to Virginia. Soon after arriving in that state he enlisted and was sent to the frontier to fight Indians; later he had command of a military post in that wild region. The next we hear of him he is married and settled on a farm in Botetourt county, Virginia. His wife was Peggy Biles, a young woman whose sweet voice had won her quite a reputationas a singer; she afterward became a doctor for women, and was widely known for her helpfullness in sickness and distress. She is said to have left her impression upon succeeding generations.

From Botetourt, Thomas Kelly removed to Greenbrier county; subsequently leaving Virginia, about 1800, with a large family, intending to go to the far West, Illinois; but falling in with General Canada, who persuaded him, on account of the unhealthy climate of that state, to abandon his journey, he turned aside into Lincoln County, Ky; afterward going to Pulaski County, where he and his sons settled on adjoining lands near Somerset. He passed into the unseen from the home of his son Samuel, on Clifty Creek, a few years after; his wife followed him in the year 1814.

Nature plans on a great scale in Kentucky; her trees and her men tower toward the skies. On one of the windblown knobs of Pulaski County, within a mile of Mount Gilead Church, under some spreading giants of the forest, were laid these two- Thomas Kelly and Peggy Biles, his wife.

In the year 1882 two pilgrims from Oregon paid homage at the shrine of the Kelly home; they visited the spot made sacred by the burial of their great-grandparents, and piled a heap of stones upon the lonely graves. The lands had passed into stranger hands, and the mighty denizens of the forest were being laid low; doubtless, ere this, all trace of their restin place has been obliterated, but that hallowed spot is ever under the eye that never sleeps.

Thomas Kelly had nine children: James, John, Samuel, Isaac, Elias, Abigah, Molly, Leah, and Rachel. For a time they lingered near the burial place of their parents; then the spirit of unrest seems to have possessed them.

James removed to Indiana, but returned to end his days in Kentucky. His offspring were James S., a teacher and preacher in Somerset; Alfred, a physician; John, and a daughter who married James Kelsay and became the mother of Judge Kelsay, formerly of Corvallis, Oregon. Judge Kelsay, deceased, had one son and one daughter. The son enlisted in the Second Oregon Volunteers, and gave up his life in the Phillippines; the daughter lives in California.

Alfred was an odd character; many were the stories told of his hairbreadth escapes on the account of the outspoken abolition sentiments which he held in common with his kindred. The fingers of his left hand were webbed to the second joint.

The descendants of James Kelly settled in Indiana.