Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Kelsey, James J. 1842 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 22, 2006, 12:13 am

Author: T. H. Ball (1904)

JAMES J. KELSEY.

    The pioneers of the country, those who blazed the way to civilization and
made the wilderness to bloom and blossom like the rose, are as a class rapidly
passing away, and it is a pleasure to be able to record while some of them are
yet living their achievements and their place in society and the world. Mr.
Kelsey is one of this worthy class of citizens in northwestern Indiana, and has
passed many years in this vicinity and in eastern Illinois.

    He was born in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1842, and is the
second of the three children, being the only son, of John D. and Eunice
(Johnson) Kelsey. His sister Mary is still living, being the widow of Otis
Townsend and a resident of Duluth, Minnesota. John D. Kelsey was born in Vermont
about 1809, and died in 1876. He was a farmer by occupation. He was reared to
young manhood in Vermont, thence moved to Pennsylvania, some years later to New
York, and then to Lake county, Indiana, where he passed away. He had enjoyed a
common school education in his youth, and was a man of superior intelligence and
capability. In politics he was a Whig and then a stalwart Republican, with
pronounced anti-slavery sentiments. Fraternally he was a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife were members of the
Christian church. His remains are buried in the Lowell cemetery.

    Mr. Kelsey lost his mother when he was three years of age, and it was about
the same time when the family moved to New York state, where he was reared to
the age of eighteen. Part of his education was obtained in an old-fashioned
hewn-log cabin school with slab seats resting on four wooden pins, and with the
desk for the big boys and girls a broad board running part way round the room
and resting on pins driven into the wall. The room was heated by a box stove,
for which the big boys by turn cut the wood used as fuel. His pen was a
goosequill, and he conned his lessons from Davies arithmetic, the Rhetorical
reader, and the Sanders speller, and the school was supported on the
subscription plan. From these facts it will be seen what a change has been
wrought in educational matters since Mr. Kelsey's youth.

    Mr. Kelsey began life at the bottom of the ladder. He worked out at nine
dollars per month in order to earn money with which to bring his parents to
Indiana. And when they arrived at Cedar Lake in this county they had twenty
dollars only. He began working at wages as low as fifty cents a day, from which
it is seen that he has made great progress in this county. His father rented a
farm in West Creek township in the spring of 1860, and the son began with him
and remained there two years, and then his father gave him his time. He did not
have enough to buy his winter clothing, and he began to earn wages by chopping
wood. From Lake county he went to Momence, Illinois, where he found employment
in a distillery, and then hired out to a farmer at thirteen dollars a month.
This continued until August, 1862, at which date he joined Company K, One
Hundred and Thirteenth Illinois Infantry, and was in service as a part of the
Army of the Tennessee until February, 1863. Part of the time he served as guard
for the provision train, and for about a month was in the hospital at Keokuk,
Iowa. On receiving his honorable discharge he returned home and resumed his
farming operations.

    September 18, 1863, he married Miss Nancy J. Kile, and their three children,
two sons and one daughter, are all living, as follows: Laura E. is the wife of
A. B. Chipman, whose history is given elsewhere in this volume. Merritt, the
elder son, is the popular liveryman at Lowell, where he has a splendid business
and a pretty home; by his wife, Catherine Stubbs, he has two daughters, Vernal
Nancy, in the seventh grade of the public schools, and Ethel Pauline. Leroy
Elkin, the younger son, is a machinist, residing in Lowell, and he married Miss
Mary Ponto, by whom there is a son, Cecil Glenn.

    Mrs. Kelsey was born in Yellowhead township, Kankakee county, Illinois,
January 3, 1842, being a daughter of Reason C. and Nancy Jane (Hayden) Kile, and
she was reared and educated in that county. She is a kind and loving wife and
mother and has always stood by her husband in his life work. The first land that
they purchased was one hundred and forty acres in Yellowhead township, and Mr.
Kelsey went in debt for it, but with characteristic energy and with the aid of
his good wife and children paid of! every dollar. And to that original tract he
has subsequently added, first one hundred and twenty acres, and then one hundred
and eighty-two acres, all of which lies in Yellowhead township, and the
improvements on the old homestead are of the very best. This is an admirable
record for a man who began life without twenty dollars to his name, and he has
prospered deservedly. At one time he was paying as high as sixteen per cent
interest on his indebtedness.

    Mr. Kelsey and his wife came to Lowell in 1899 and purchased a pretty and
comfortable residence where they are living a retired life. He is a Republican
in politics, and cast his first vote for the Rail-Splitter President Abe
Lincoln, since which time he has always supported that party's principles. For
twelve years he served as a public school director in Kankakee county.
Fraternally he is a member of Burnham Post No. 226, G. A. R. He and his wife are
kind, loving people, respecters of Christianity, and have many friends in Lowell
and in Kankakee county.

    The following paragraphs, which appeared in the local press, indicate
further facts anent the life and character of Mrs. Kelsey's parents:

    Reason C. Kile died at his home one and one-half miles northeast of
Sherburnville, on Friday, February 10, 1899. The funeral was held at the
residence on Sunday, and interment took place at West Creek. Mr. Kile was born
August 10, 1817, in Knox county, Ohio. He came to Kankakee county in 1837, and
located on section 36, Yellowhead township, where he cleared a farm, and
remained there about seven years. He then removed to the location which was his
home when he died. He was married in 1840 to Miss Nancy Hayden, daughter of
Nehemiah Hayden, one of the pioneer settlers of Lake county, Indiana. Five
children came from this union, three of whom are still living—Nancy, wife of
James J. Kelsey; Mary Ellen, wife of George W. VanAlstine; and Flora, wife of
William Hatton. Mr. Kile commenced for himself without anything, but through
industry and economy has acquired a competency.

    Mrs. Nancy Jane Kile died at her home in Yellowhead township, Kankakee
county, Illinois, last Sunday morning, after a prolonged illness of about four
years, her malady being in the form of a gradual decline, but for the past four
weeks before her death she was confined to her bed and was as helpless as a
babe. The best of care and attention was bestowed upon her by relatives and
friends during her long period as an invalid. The funeral services were held
from the West Creek Methodist church Monday forenoon at 10 o'clock, at which
services a very large concourse of relatives and friends were in attendance, and
the expressions of sorrow and sympathy were sincere and heartfelt for the
bereaved. The services were conducted by Elder John Bruce. The remains were laid
to rest in the West Creek cemetery, Funeral Director Clifford Stowell conducting
this part of the service. Edgar, Jake, Lute, John, Cyrus and William Hayden,
brothers of the deceased, acted as pall-bearers.

    Nancy Jane Hayden was born in the state of Pennsylvania, April 27, 1823, and
when but a child her parents, Nehemiah and Harriet Hayden, moved to Knox county,
Ohio, where she spent her early childhood. In 1836 she came with her parents to
Lake county, Indiana, they being among the first pioneer settlers of this
county. She was united in marriage to Reason C. Kile. To this union five
children were born, three of whom are living, namely: Nancy, wife of James
Kelsey, Mary E., wife of George VanAlstine, and Flora, wife of William Hatton.
After her marriage to Mr. Kile in 1841 they settled on the farm near
Sherburnville, which has been the home of the deceased until death, preceded by
a long and severe illness, took her away on October 19, 1902, at the age of 79
years, 5 months and 22 days. Mrs. Kile was well known and highly esteemed by
all. Her many relatives and friends mourn her loss.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
Genealogy and Biography
OF
LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA,
WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 
1834—1904

A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and
the Founding of a Nation.

REV. T. H. BALL
OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO   NEW YORK
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1904


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