The O’Kelley story

Thomas O'Kelley was a Protestant immigrant father who came to the US from Ireland settling in Virginia in 1748. Thomas had several sons - Thomas, George, William, Benjamin, Charles and Francis.

Charles (my 6th great grandfather) was born in 1756 in Virginia and died in Oglethorpe County, Georgia in 1810. Oglethorpe County is about 90 miles east of Atlanta and close to Athens, Georgia.

Charles married in 1778 in Mecklenburg County, VA to Mary (Polly) Crowder. Polly's sister Delilah married Francis O'Kelley, Charles brother.

Charles was a solider of the American Revolutionary War. He served with his brother Benjamin in the 8th Virginia Regiment. In 1782 he owned land in the Lower District of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, but sold his plantation in 1805 and joined his brother Francis in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, where he lived in the Cloud's Creek District.

Charles had a son James that was born in 1792. James was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, but came with his parents to Oglethorpe County, Georgia. With his father Charles' death in 1810, Francis, Charles's brother, became James' guardian. James made his home in the Beaverdam District of Oglethorpe County, Georgia. He died in 1862.

James had a son named James Francis O'Kelley who was born in 1825 in the Beaverdam District of Oglethorpe County, Georgia. He died in 1898 on his plantation near Athens, Georgia.

In November of 1983 there was a marker dedication by the DAR (Elijah Clarke Chapter) for Charles as a Revolutionary War Patriot in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. The chain linked cemetery exists today but is not maintained by the DAR anymore.

The lineage continued in Georgia with my great grandfather, grandfather and father.

This information is extracted from the book Four O'Kelley Sons and Some of Their Descendants, compiled by Alethea Jane Macon. This book was published in 1969. Alethea is in the same descendant line as Thomas, Charles, James and his wife Dicey Stamps.