UPSON COUNTY, GA - HISTORICAL HOUSES Kelly, M.L. House

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Historic Houses printed in Upson Historical Society Newsletters:
August 1999



GRAND OLD HOUSES

THE M. L. KELLEY HOUSE 

You see here a 1920's view of the home built by Mr.
Marcus Lee Kelly [in some records it is spelled Kelley]
and his wife, the former Lillie Jackson. The house was
built in the early 1900's a few years after the Kelly's
married in 1900. This photograph shows the west side of
the house without the carport which was added later.
Notice the gingerbread woodwork at the top of the porch
posts.

M. L. Kelly had moved to Thomaston in 1895 to work in
the buggy factory.

Here he met Miss Lillie. The Kelly's were: staunch
Baptists. They had four children: Lamar, Jack, Hugh,
and Vir-ginia. Virginia died shortly after gradu-ating
from R. E. Lee in 1927. In Sep-tember 1931, Hugh lost
his life in the process of saving the lives of some
friends during a boating accident. Jack moved away, but
Lamar stayed on in Thomaston. His son Edwin and grand-
son Mark still reside here.

The Kelly family occupied this house until the second
Mrs. M. L. Kelley moved away and the house was
purchased by Miss Martha Stamps. Miss Stamps had sold
her previous home, now known as the Pettigrew-White-
Stamps House, to the C & S Bank in order to make way
for a parking lot. That bouse was then moved to its
pres-ent location and deeded to the Upson Historical
Society as a house museum.

Miss Martha Stamps then lived in the Kelly house until
she died.on November 1, 1984 at the ripe old age of 92.
Since that time, this grand old house has been the home
of Miss Mar-tha's neice.