Mason County, West Virginia Biography of ALONZO C. KELLY This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: ********************************************** ***The submitter does not have a connection*** ********to the subject of this sketch.******** ********************************************** This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 639-640 Mason ALONZO C. KELLY is county superintendent of schools for Mason County, and has given about thirty years of his active lifetime to educational affairs. He was born in Putnam County, West Virginia, May 29, 1863, son of Isaiah Kelly, a native of Pennsylvania, whose active career was spent as a flour miller and farmer in Gallia County, Ohio, where he died in 1875. He was a Union soldier in the Civil war. The mother of Superinten- dent Kelly was Samantha Jane Barcus, who was born in Ohio in 1844 and died in Mason County, West Virginia, in August, 1918. Her children were Alonzo C.; John, deceased; Nelson, of Huntington; Maggie; and Isaac, Alonzo C. Kelly acquired his early education in the rural schools of Gallia County, and in 1878 his mother moved to the Arbuckle District of Mason County, where he continued to attend school and at the age of twenty-one began teach- ing. In the intervals of teaching he attended Marshall College at Huntington, in 1884-5-6 and in 1915, took a teacher's training course at Lebanon, Ohio, in 1890, and for two and half years was a student of medicine at Louis- ville, Kentucky. Mr. Kelly was elected county superinten- dent of schools of Mason in November, 1918, and his four year term began July 1, 1919. Under his supervision are a staff of 194 teachers and a scholarship enrollment of 5400. Mr. Kelly has figured prominently in the affairs of the county for many years. For four years he was justice of the peace in Arbuckle District, where he owns a farm of 100 acres, and has a residence at Henderson. He was elected on the republican ticket to the State Legislature in November, 1907, and again in 1911. He served during the sessions of 1908-09 and 1912-13. For two terms he was assistant member of the Teachers Examining Board of Mason County, and is active in all the school organizations. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. Point Pleasant Lodge No. 33, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Junior Order United American Mechanics. In 1895, at Gallipolis, Ohio, he married Miss Cora Lay- well, daughter of Rev. Abraham H. and Catherine (First) Laywell. Her father, now deceased, was a minister of the Missionary Baptist Church. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kelly: Lowell C., the oldest, saw service in Prance for a year, being assigned to clerical duty, and is now an employe of the post office department at Washington. Maggie May is a teacher in the rural schools of Mason County. Gladys is the wife of Robert Durst, a mechanic at Henderson, West Virginia. The younger chil- dren are Marvin L., Evelyn, Vivian and Lawrence.