The George Harmon Family
The Next Generation
1) George W. Kelsay, born May 13, 1817 (tombstone) or May 31, 1817 (his brother John's family bible) in Wayne County, Kentucky (the 1850 census states Kentucky) or Greene County, Tennessee (some Kelsay geneolgists state his parents were still in this county at the time of his birth). George was raised in Wayne County and married there on January 12, 1838 to Permelia Catherine Gipson (known as Millie), daughter of Larkin and Elizabeth (Austin) Gipson, born August 19, 1819 in Wayne County, Kentucky.
On the 1850 census it states George was a farmer in Wayne County and that his farm was valued at $120. The following year George and Millie, with their young family, joined other members of the Kelsay family and traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, (a family story states that Millie walked all the way), and from here took a boat by way of the Mississippi and Missouri River to their new farm in Ray County, Missouri. Most members of the family became afflicted with malaria in this county, but it is not known if this was the cause of George's death there on March 11, 1859. He was buried in the Sylar Cemetery near Taitsville.
In 1861, Millie and her children joined the Harriman Party (which consisted of at least sixteen members of the Kelsay family. The story of this trek is written about earlier. When they eventually reachedCalifornia the Kelsays settled in Lake County, California. Millie took up a farm near the present town of Finley, where she remained until her death on July 2, 1902.
She is buried in the Hartley Cemetery in Lakeport. George and Millie are the third great grandparents of Tom Goldrup (author of this history) and second great grandparents of film actor Richard Boone (Paladin on tv's Have Gun-Will Travel).
2) Nancy Kelsay, born January 4, 1818 (Tombstone) in Greene County, Tennessee or on January 17, 1821 (her brother John's family bible) in Wayne County, Kentucky. Nancy married in that latter county on December 12, 1842 to Robert Alexander Rankin, son of Arthur and Jane (McCutcheon) Rankin, born October 27, 1823 in Kentucky (probably Wayne County). They remained there until about 1872 when they came west to Lake County, California. They lived there about nine years and then moved north to Pilot Rock, Umatilla County, Oregon, where Robert ws a sheepherder. Robert died there January 13, 1893. Nancy later moved to the home of one of her daughters in Pendleton, Oregon,where she died December 28, 1901.
3) John Kelsay, born January 17, 1819 in Wayne County, Kentucky. John, who was usually called Jack, learned the trade of gunsmith from his father. He moved to Tennessee and married in that state in 1839 Emma Jones, daughter of Solomon and Catherine Jones, born February 4, 1817 in Tennessee (probably Campbell County). They lived several years in Marion County, Tennessee, and by 1843 moved west to Ray County, Missouri, and purchased a tract of land near the town of Knoxville in that county on September 27, 1844. It was probably because of his writing to his parents back in Kentucky that prompted most of the rest of the family to move there in 1851.
After his parents and other members of the family moved west to California in 1861, John moved to the town of Richmond in Ray County. During the Civil War he was employed by the Federal Government to repair the rifles and pistols for the Union Army. In 1866 John was elected to the office of Treasurer for Ray County and held this office for several years. In the early part of 1873, John and Emma (in company with their son William and his family) moved from Missouri and made the long trek across the plains and mountains to California, settling near his parents in Kelseyville.
It is said that John was a short, stocky person with blue eyes and sandy hair. He was good-natured and well-liked by most of all who were acquainted with him. Emma died in Kelseyville on March 14, 1899, and John died there September 28, 1908.
4) Cornelius Harmon Kelsay, known as Kile, was born December 29, 1822 in Wayne County, Kentucky. Kile also became a gunsmith and moved to Ray County, Missouri and purchased 80 acres for seventy dollars on August 29, 1845. He returned to Wayne Co., Kentucky, where he maried on October 31, 1850 to Deniza Janette Shearer, daughter of Jacob Shearer, born August 14, 1833 in Wayne County, Kentucky.
In 1851, probably in company as his parents, moved to Ray County, Missouri. Kile moved in 1856 to neighboring Clinton County. During the Civil War, with his brother Alexander, Kile served with the Union Army. He enlisted on August 18, 1862 and served as private in Company H of the 48th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia under Captain Bigelow. He was relieved of duty on January 15, 1863, at which time he returned to his farm in Clinton County.
Sometime later he moved to Lathrop, in the same county, where he remained until his death on April 1, 1882. A story told by his sister Susan states that Kile had an enlarged heart the size of a coffee pot and his grave had to be guarded for a time by family members as doctors desired to study his heart. Deniza died at the home of her son, William, in Plattsburg, Clinton County, Missouri, on January 15, 1894.
5) Nathaniel Kelsay, born January 8, 1825 in Wayne County, Kentucky. He married there on August 27, 1848 to Angeletta J. Frost, probably daughter of Cordon Frost, born in Kentucky. By 1850, Nathan had joined his two older brothers in Ray County, Missouri, and was also a gunsmith. His wife died sometime between 1852 and 1856, and he married (2) in Ray County on June 1, 1856 to Martha Elizabeth Lamb, born about 1830 in Missouri.
In 1861, Nathan joined the Harriman Wagon Train (with his parents and other family members) and encountered the same hardships of that journey that has been written of earlier. They settled in Kelseyville, Lake County, until he sold his land in 1867 to his brother-in-law, James Tryon. At this time they moved east to Mount Konocti.
On November 9, 1869 Nathan and Martha were legally separated, but the following June, Nathan and wife Martha A., born 1839 in Missouri, is living with all his children in neighboring Yolo County, where he was working as a blacksmith. Either Nathan married a third time to another Martha, or they got back together. He had another son born in 1872.
In 1874, Nathan sold his land and moved north to Wasco County, Oregon (a story has it that he climbed Mt. Shasta on this route) and went into the sheep business with three of his brothers. In 1884, Nathan sold his land inWasco County to Polk Mays, his niece's husband, and moved east to Westfall, Malheur County, Oregon where he continued in the sheep business. Nathan died there in late 1899.
6) Susan Kelsay, born March 8, 1828 in Wayne County, Kentucky. She married there on May 10, 1850 to Arthur Rankin, son of Robert and Janet (Stephenson) Rankin, born November of 1823 in Paisley, Scotland. A descendent says they were married in Adair County, Kentucky, but there are no records of this there in the county archives. Arthur had come to America with his parents on the ship Swaatara, leaving Liverpool, England on August 30, 1846 and after a somewhat stormy journey landed at New Orleans, Louisiana.
They walked up the Mississippi River and then went to Frankfurt, Kentucky. From here they walked to Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky. It is said that Billy Simpson, preacher and County Clerk of Wayne County, preached to Arthur, baptized him, issued his marriage license and performed the marriage ceremony (which points to their being married in Wayne County, although this marriage is not recorded there either).
Arthur became a Naturalized citizen of the United States in 1851. In this same year, Arthur and Susan packed up all their possessions in a wagon, and with their animals (farm stock, horses and cattle), they traveled overland to St. Louis, Missouri, where they changed over to river travel and went to Ray County, Missouri, by way of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. This area was much afflicted with malaria and Arthur, being ill with chills and fevers from this disease, could not do the farm work.
In 1854, Arthur and Susan decided to return to Wayne County, Kentucky, and did so in the same manner that they had come. Arthur, with his brother Thomas, bought a grist mill on Fall Creek (which had formerly been used as a moonshine still), and used it for grinding corn and wheat. They also built a sawmill, a country store and a blacksmith shop. Arthur and Susan lived in a log house at Fall Creek until a new home could be built, which was not until after the Civil War.
During the war Arthur worked his mill to full capacity: flour, corn meal and farm produce was shipped by river steamboat (which Arthur was part owner of) to Nashville, Tennessee. All produce was paid for in Confederate money, but Arthur exchanged most of it into U.S. currency before the end of the war.
Susan spent many of her days in weaving, as all spinning, dyeing the thread, weaving the clothes and house-hold linens and the like were done at home. Susan taught all these skills, plus more, to the black woman who lived with them, and who helped in the home. About 1880, Arthur sold out all of his holdings in the mill due to poor health and rheumatism, which was a result of his standing in rain, snow or whatever bad weather on the riverbank whenever he had a supply of produce to be picked up for market. and as the boat schedule had much to be desired, these waiting periods could be quite long.
They lived a short time with their son, and then decided to have their own farm so purchased an adjoining farm. Here they lived out the remainder of their days. Their home had four rooms and a kitchen, the kitchen separated from the other rooms. These four other rooms were "weatherboarded" on the outside and sealed on the inside with wide poplar boards. The kitchen was built of logs, large enough for the cooking and dining for a large family. They also had a barn built of logs. Their first farm animals were a milk cow, a yoke of oxen named Bill and Buck, and saddle horses. Susan's mare was named Ginnie, and it was her duty to have a colt every year, which was fulfilled for fifteen years. Arthur died at Fall Creek, Wayne County, Kentucky on October 14, 1895.
An ordeal Susan had to face was to have her teeth extracted. This took place under a big locust tree in front of her son's home. The operating chair came from the kitchen. It had good strong rungs, and without any anesthetic, Susan caught hold of these rungs, leaned her head back, and in time all of her teeth were out. The dentist was Dr. Butler Kelsay, the grandson of Susan's Uncle John Kelsay. Susan died at Mill Spring, Wayne County, Kentucky on April 26, 1913, and she is buried next to her husband in the Steubenville Baptist Church Cemetery.
7) Alexander Martin Kelsay, born May 20, 1829 in Wayne County, Kentucky. He married there on December 3, 1850 to Louise Emaline Shearer, daughter of Jacob Shearer, born August 2, 1831 in Kentucky. They moved to Ray County, Missouri (probably at the same time as his parents in 1851). After 1860, Alex moved to Clinton County, Missouri, settling near his brother Cornelius at Haynesville. On August 18, 1862 he enrolled in the 48th Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia and was ordered into active service the same day, being in the Union Army in the Civil War. He served until his release on January 15, 1863.
During the early 1870's (probably in company with his brother John in 1873) Alex moved west to Lake County, California, where he had a farm.Louise, his wife, died here during child birth on February 21, 1874. In 1875, Alex took his family north to Antelope, Wasco County, Oregon, and had a sheep ranch. He and his brothers (Nathan, William and Burton) all ran sheep together. Alex joined the Masonic Order Lodge #89 at Fossil, Oregon on January 3, 1891. He died in Antelope, Wasco County, Oregon on July 15, 1900.
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