Land Records For Kelly And Related Families
Some census records included. Find links to current lists of land records after this message.
INTRODUCTION:
One of my 4gfathers was Patrick Stuart McGee. His wife was Mary Speer (Spear). The McGee family from earliest records lived in Iredell County, North Carolina. Their marriage records were found there, and records of land taxes indicate McGee family owned a lot of land in Iredell County.
My other 4gfather was Kelly. Although several names crop up as possible first name of this Kelly, his name is still unknown.
Also unknown is the name of his wife. We know their son was 3gfather Hiram Kelly who married Elizabeth Speer (Spear) McGee in 1813 in Burke County. Marriage and land records for this family are first found in Burke County, North Carolina. Those records suggest first name for 4gfather Kelly and his wife by virtue of living next door..........or very nearby.
About 1822 the Kelly and McGee families moved to Habersham County, Georgia. As the families grew and moved slowly west, marriage, death and marriage records are found in Habersham, Forsyth and Cherokee Counties for Kelly, McGee, and other sons-in-law additions to the family like surnames Owen and Phillips.
My 2gfather was Jesse R. Kelly, last son of Hiram who was born 1833 in Habersham County. His wife, probably met in Cherokee County, was Mary Elizabeth Richardson who may have been a daughter of Reverend Jesse Richardson who also came from North Carolina by wagon train in 1822 to settle in Habersham County, GA.
1855 finds 22 year old Jesse and wife Mary in Cherokee County, GA with my grandfather Marcus Lafayette Kelly.
Jesse was attending Medical School at Atlanta where he graduated in 1859 as a medical doctor.
Meanwhile Hiram's wife Elizabeth McGee died apparently in Forsyth Co. about 1845 as the 1850 census of Forsyth County finds Hiram married to Melinda Anderson with three daughters under five years old.
Hiram and his wife with three young daughters and a couple of older sons in 1858 moved to Arkansas and settled on land around Hindsville, Madison County, Arkansas.
When Jesse graduated from medical school in 1859, he and his young family joined his father in Madison County where he settled land and practiced as an MD. They were there when the Civil War came to visit with disastrous results.
Thereafter this family developed various records in Madison, Benton and Washington Counties, Arkansas. Before his death in 1863, Hiram owned farms (some say totalling 7,000 acres) around Madison County near the Colbaugh Church and School, which is still there with Colbaugh cemetery situated next door.
We have broken down land records, including other records, by state. Follow the links below to read those. This section will grow fast because we have hundreds of records.
From here on the Arkansas land records will be broken down into counties.
This first link points mostly to census records showing Kelly and McGee living close to each other in North Carolina and Georgia.
Click For Land Records In North Carolina
This second link points mostly to census records for Habersham, Forsyth and Cherokee Counties, but introducing an apparent Owens married into the McGee family.
Click For land records in Georgia
This third link introduces new surnames who married into the family of Hiram Kelly.
Click For land records in Arkansas
The three following links point to images of land titles owned by Hiram Kelly before 1863, the year in which he died of yet unknown causes. He was about 73 years old.