I found "Grandpa Celie"!

Last year I wrote a blog post about the mystery surrounding "Grandpa Celie". Thanks to genetic genealogy I can now put a name to my fourth great-grandfather, Andrew C. Kelley.

Photo from a Davis distant cousin who said 
"Grandpa Celie" is written on the back.

Meet Andrew C. Kelley

There remains much to learn about this man, but I do know that he and his first wife Mary, known as Polly, had at least five children:

• James Wesley Kelley, born about 1829 in Wayne County, Missouri
• my ancestor, Theresa Jane "Thursa" Kelley, born about 1833 probably in Arkansas.
• Martha Kelley, born about 1834 in Missouri
• Rebecca Massy Kelley, born 16 March 1836 in Arkansas
• son Kelley, born about 1838 

The family was living in Wayne County, Missouri, in the southeast corner of the state, from at least 1829. In as early as 1837 a record is found for Andrew in Ripley County, Missouri naming him Postmaster. Ripley County was formed in 1833 from part of Wayne County, so the family probably didn't move. They remained in Ripley County for the 1840 census. 

The son born about 1838 is only found on the 1840 census as a tick mark. Polly was living in 1840 but died sometime soon after. Neither can be found after 1840 where the family is listed as living in Ripley County, Missouri.

The marriage of Andrew C Kelley to Mary Wallis in 1842 took place in Randolph County, Arkansas. Randolph County, Arkansas neighbors Ripley County, Missouri to the south. In 1847 the couple welcomed a son, Thomas D. Kelley. Sadly, this Mary Kelley is believed to have died in 1849. 

Andrew married Lucy Ann McManus in 1849, soon after the death of his second wife. The 1850 census for Ripley County, Missouri shows the newlywed couple with his daughter Martha, his son Thomas, and her daughter Elender Meders. Eldest son James is living in a household as a laborer. Andrew's daughter Thursa has married John Davis and has her younger sister Rebecca living with them.

I found a listing in the 1860 census for A. C. Kelly in Ripley County, Missouri. He is the right age and in the right place, but has three females in his household who do not match any of Andrew's known female relatives. I have found him listed in other family trees with a death date of 1859, but because of this census record and its possibility of being Andrew, I think that death date may be wrong. I haven't found any proof of death or any solid records beyond the 1850 census.

So how do I know Andrew Kelley is "Grandpa Celie"?

A few years ago my great-aunt Joan took an Ancestry DNA test and has allowed me access to her results in order to research the family. At 91, she is the oldest living person in this branch of my family. Using her DNA matches and Ancestry's ThruLines I have been able to connect her to multiple descendants of Andrew C Kelley through his son James Wesley Kelley (17 matches) and his daughter Rebecca Massy Kelley (3 matches). These only include matches that have their DNA connected to a tree that includes these same people in the Kelley line. There are many other shared matches whose trees are not connected to their DNA, are private trees, or who don't have trees at all. 

Joan's ThruLines for ancestor Andrew C Kelley.

For Ancestry to populate the ThruLines connections with potential relatives, I had to first add Andrew to my tree. I had stumbled on a few of Joan's matches who had him in their trees, so I added him to mine, tagged as an Unverified Hypothesis. It took a few days for the ThruLines connections to populate. I was so excited to see the 17 matches with descendants of James Wesley Kelley. I already knew that Rebecca was Thursa's sister, but James was not verified. These matches that have come up in the ThruLines feature match at the right amount of DNA and are shared matches with other known matches to this family line. Because of this, I'm confident that Andrew C. Kelley is Thursa's father and my fourth great-grandfather.

Without Joan's DNA, this would have been much harder to prove. I'm two generations further away and only match a few of her Kelley DNA matches and at very small amounts. I am excited to share this information even though I've just begun digging into the research of these new additions to the family tree.

Who was "Grandpa Celie"?

This photograph was shared with me many years ago by a fellow Davis family researcher, Kate Lund. She had the original photo in her personal collection that had passed down from her ancestor, Rebecca Anne Davis. On the back of the photo was written "Grandpa Celie". 

"Grandpa Celie"
Copy of the original as shared with me by a distant cousin about 15 years ago.

Rebecca Davis was a younger sister of my second great-grandfather, Joseph Crockett Davis, so Kate and I share their parents as common ancestors. Their father was John T. Davis (1825 - abt 1871) and their mother was Thursa Kelley (abt 1833 - abt 1865). They were married in 1848 in Ripley County, Missouri. The man labeled "Grandpa Celie" is believed to be Thursa's father with the name spelled incorrectly. I haven't been able to solve the mystery of who exactly he was, though.

Thursa, a nickname, was given the full name of Elizabeth Theresa Jane Kelley when she was born about 1832 or 1833 in either Kentucky or Arkansas. The only records I find with any kind of "birth" info are two census records, in 1850 and 1860, and they list the two states as her place of birth. She was already married by 1850, so wasn't still in the home of her parents. She and John were living in Wayne County, Missouri and had one child. But, a clue, there was also a girl listed as Rebecca Massy, 13-years-old, born in Arkansas, living in the same household.

1850 Federal Census, Wayne County, Missouri
Image from Ancestry.com

A Rebecca M. Kelley married Uriah Duncan in 1853. In 1860, the Duncans lived next door to the John and Thursa Davis family, now in Texas County, Missouri. I believe Rebecca Massy Kelley was the sister of Thursa Kelley. This hasn't led me to their parents but does provide some clues that I hope might help to solve the mystery.

Rebecca's middle name might be a clue. Children were sometimes given the mother's maiden name as a middle name. Usually, it was given to a son, so perhaps the Kelleys had only daughters. I've looked for a Kelley man that married a Massey woman and so far haven't found anything.

Another possible clue may be in the naming of Thursa and Rebecca's children. Thursa's first son was named James E. Davis. Rebecca's first son was named Erasmus. Was Erasmus a family name? It wasn't a name found on either of their husband's sides of the family. Perhaps their father's name? So far I haven't found an Erasmus Kelley that fits to be their father. I really don't even know if the E. middle initial found for James stands for Erasmus, so it's just a guess at this point.

One more clue is that Rebecca's birthplace is consistently given as Arkansas and she was five years younger than Thursa. While it's still possible that Thursa was born in Kentucky, it seems clear that the family lived in Arkansas soon after. But how did Thursa and Rebecca get to Missouri? How long was the family even in Arkansas?

Also, in 1850, 13-year-old Rebecca lived with her older sister. Had their parents passed away? Maybe just their mother had passed and their father had either remarried or was off looking for work?

Clearly, there is still much work to be done to figure out who exactly "Grandpa Celie" was. Puzzling out these mysteries and breaking through "brick walls" is the greatest reward for a genealogist. I'll keep at it.