George B. Kelsey Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 319

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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GEORGE B. KELSEY. This name will be readily recognized by the citizens 
of the village of Victor and vicinity as that of the postmaster 'end 
general storekeeper of that place, and who also holds rank among the 
leading. agriculturists of Blendon township. 

Mr. Kelsey is a native of Ohio, and his father, Philander Kelsey, a 
Baptist minister, was born in Massachusetts. He died in Ohio at the age 
of eighty-eight, after holding his charge to within a few months of his 
death. Our subject's mother was born in Connecticut and bore the maiden 
name of Phila Bennett. She died in 1858. Our subject first opened his 
eyes to the light of day October 8, 1847, and, although his father held 
a country charge, he was also engaged in farming, and so our subject 
was reared on a farm and learned that vocation. When he had attained 
his majority, he succeeded in purchasing a farm and made that his home 
and farming his occupation for a number of years. He subsequently sold 
out, however, and entered the employ of Kilborn & Jacobs, the Columbus 
Scraper Company, as traveling salesman, and represented that firm for a 
time in Illinois and Iowa. In 1881 he came to Dakota in company with 
his, two brothers, Asa B. and Grover C., and each filed a claim to a 
strip of land in Davison county. Grover C. Kelsey has since died, but 
the other brother is making his home with the subject of our sketch. 
After making his home for five years on section 9, Mr. Kelsey pre-
empted one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm of eight hundred 
acres and at once set about to develop it into one of the finest 
estates in the community. He has now five hundred acres under the plow, 
and is also giving special attention to the raising of dairy cows. The 
farm is also well improved, being furnished with three artesian wells 
and a line of farm buildings which is above the average in this section 
of South Dakota, all of which are the rewards of a life of thrift: and 
economy. For the past ten years Mr. Kelsey has been the postmaster at 
Victor. In political matters he uses his elective franchise in the 
support of the candidates of the Republican party, and heartily 
endorses the policy of prohibition. A number of the local offices have 
been entrusted to his care among them being that of school treasurer, 
which he held for ten years, chairman of the township board, and last 
fall he was elected county treasurer, rented his farm and moved to 
Mitchell to personally take charge of that responsible office. In 
religious matters he affiliates with the Baptists and is a member of 
that denomination. 

Mrs. Kelsey, who fore the maiden name of Miss Ella Worthington, is a 
native of Ohio, her natal day being April 24, 1855. She became the wife 
of our subject in 1883, and their wedded life has been blessed to them 
by the advent of a family of seven children, whose names in the order 
of their birth are as follows: Raymond G., Edmund T., Harrison H., 
Alfred E., Philander, Henry A. and Hattie E.