HOMEPLACE and CEMETERY MARKERS
Wartburg, Morgan County, TN
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STORAGE SHED |
Gravesites: KELLY CEMETERY (behind the Kelly house, up the hill)
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Sacred to the memory of Malindy Kelly Who died in the true faith of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ Died January 11, 1872 Aged about 64 yrs |
(daughter of James Martin & Malinda) born February 6, 1828 died August 14, 1843 |
"HISTORY"
The Kelly House on Beech Fork Creek in Morgan County was built in 1814 when settlers with landgrants for Revolutionary War service were moving into the Tennessee wilderness. The gravel road in front of the house, with its plank bridges across the creeks, was at one time the main turnpike between Petros and Wartburg.
Ezra Stonecipher, Lillie Kelly's maternal great-grandfather, built the
house and subsequently sold it to her paternal great-grandfather, James
Martin Kelly. Four generations of Kellys have lived in the old house, and
descending
grandchildren, through the eighth generation, have visited here and
climbed the staircases beside the huge stone chimney to view the loom on
the third floor.
The original construction of hand-hewn poplar logs can be seen in a storage room on the second floor where valuables were hidden from the soldiers during the Civil War. The second floor bedroom ceilings have hand-planed joists with beaded edges, and the rafters, clearly visible on the third floor, are put together with wooden pegs.
The kitchen initially had a huge fireplace for cooking and heating. The dining room and kitchen doors have the nail-head trim peculiar to early American houses. Lillie recalls that the house once had shutters at the windows and an upstairs porch to air their bedding.
The old house has stood one hundred and sixty-nine years, sheltering against the cold of winter and the heat of summer's sun. Its rooms have rung with joy and laughter. It has rejoiced when babies were born and stood bleak and silent when sickness and death have taken their toll.
Most of all, it has always been a house of love and warm hospitality,
reflecting the spirit of those within.
Union Cemetery:
Most of the Children (& their spouses) of Daniel Martin Kelly & Mary Jane Jones
Rachel A Kelly & Calvin Joyner
James B. Kelly & Barbara Robinson
W. C. (William Church) Kelly &
Martha A. Wilson
Samuel W. Kelly & Julia Ann Stonecipher
DANIEL MARTIN KELLY
Inscription: |
MARY J. KELLY (1st wife of Daniel M. Kelly)
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RUTHA WILSON
Thy life was beauty, truth, goodness and love |
Rachel A Kelly & Calvin Joyner |
JAMES B. KELLY
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BARBARA ROBINSON
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 WILLIAM CHURCH KELLY b 11-6-1854
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MARTHA WILSON KELLY
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b 2-15-1857 d 6-13-1922 ~ JULIA ANN STONECIPHER b 4-1-1855 d 10-15-1943 |
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Brasel Cemetery:
LEVI BRASEL
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The following was found at the Wartburg Public Library, in a Kelly Family folder. I do not know who wrote or donated it, but it appears to have been an interview, with Lillie Kelly, abt. 1983.
"REMEMBERANCE"
Many family stories have been shared on a summer evening on the Kelly
porch,
or around the warmth of the old fire-place on a winter night:
The story of Malinda Hall Kelly, who rode her horse through the
Union lines to the grave of her husband;
About Lillie's grandfather, Daniel Kelly, who escaped from a
Union prison in Kentucky and walked all the way home to Beech Fork;
How her Grandmother Stonecipher, a tiny little woman knocked her
churn from the hands of a soldier who had snatched it;
And stories told by John Kelly about his World War I experiences
as an American Soldier in Russia.
The Kelly Homestead is now owned by Vita? (Vida) McCartt. Her sons G.M. McCartt and J. D. McCartt are caretakers of the old homeplace. They are VERY Protective of the House and all the property. I spoke with G.M., and he agreed to let me and Tim take photos "because we were family". The old home is on private property, and obtaining permission to visit the house would be advisable, just in case someone else would like to visit homestead.
Info and photos courtesy of:
Timothy & Diane Kelly
Corbin, Whitley County, Kentucky
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