My Childhood Memories-Page 7
Chapter 11-My Great Grandmother-Hannah Kelley
My great grandmother on my father's side, Hannah Kelley Westfall (1837-1918) was married to my great grandfather Emanuel Westfall. She Was the daughter of William and Sarah (Bice) Kelley. My great grandmother Hannah Kelley's father William W. Kelley was the son of Nathan Kelley born 1750 in Salem, NJ and Elizabeth (Jarman) Kelley. Nathan Kelley was the son of John and Elizabeth (Cushlow) Kelley. Nathan's father John Kelley was born in 1743 in Ireland and came to America in the 1760's from Ireland on the ship Delaware, and he married Elizabeth Cushlow born 1750. John Kelley died in 1798. John Kelley who originally came from Ireland was my great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall's great grandfather.
Some family members said she may have been of part Native American ancestry, but I have found no information or confirmation that she was. She was of Irish ancestry, Kelley, on her father's side. She died before I was born, but my father told me she lived with them when he was a boy. She lived with my Westfall grandparents for a time on their farm near Fieldon, IL when my father was a little boy. She was the mother of my grandfather, my father's father Jasper Mifflin Westfall.
My father said she knew all about herbs and plants that were good for healing. She used to ask my father to help her gather the healing herbs and plants from the woods each summer. My father mentioned one of the plants she gathered was the leaves of the mullein plant which she used as a kind of poultice. Other medicinal herbs she gathered were gensing, goldenseal, pennyroyal, sassafras roots, and other plants my father told me about, but I have forgotten the names. She used the roots and leaves of the various herbs and plants to boil and use in poultices and as medicine.
At some time, I'm not sure when, My great grandmother moved away to live with her other son, my father's Uncle Emanuel, who lived on a farm with his family in the northern part of the state of Illinois, near Gibson City. She never returned to live with my father's folks, and died there with my father's uncle in Gibson City, IL in 1918.
I received the following email information recently 2-18-04 from (Joe) Stephen (SJ) Willams SJWilliams@dow.com that my great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall may have remarried after my great grandfather Emanuel B. Westfall's death in 1863, and also who her parents may have been.------
This is the email information sent to me by Mr. Williams concerning Hannah Kelley Westfall:
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{My great great great grandfather John Williams married Barbara Varner. She died in 1853 and is buried in Slab Camp Cemetery in Upshur County, WV. John is listed in the Upshur County 1860 census. In 1868 John remarried. He married a Hannah Kelley Westfall. She was a widow. I only know that her husband was a Westfall. Her parents were William H and Sarah Kelley. It is estimated that she was born in 1840. There is nothing of either to be found in the 1870 census for Upshur County. No one has any information on them. No deed, death records, nothing. They just disappeared. My question is does your Hannah Kelley match mine? Did she ever remarry? When did she leave Upshur County, WV. Please let me know. This has been an unanswered question in my family. Regards, Joe}
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I also recently received the following email information From mildredz@roadrunner.com (Mildred Zickefoose) Date: Wed, Mar 9, 2005 concerning my great grandmother Hannah Kelley.
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Walter, I read you article on Hannah Kelly. I have some info you might like to have. Hannah was the daughter of William W. Kelly and Sarah (Bice) Kelly. Hannah's parents were married 2-12-1827. Her mother Sarah Bice was born in Fayette, PA in 1805 and was the daughter of William and Sophia (Shreve) Bice. Sarah's cousin was Thomas Bice the son of Morrel Bice who was a brother to Sarah's father William Bice. They all lived in Fayette Pa when Sarah was born in 1805. They relocated to Harrison Co WV in 1810. William Bice was listed in 1810 census in Harrison Co. Hannah was born in 1837. She was a Sister to my G. Grandfather James W Kelly. She had the following Brothers and Sisters-Marshall Kelly b.in 1829, James b. in 1830, Massina in 1831, Hannah in 1837, Nathan b. in 1842, Elizabeth in 1847, and John in 1849. They were living in Taylor Co WV in 1850. In 1860 Sarah and Nathan and Elizabeth were living with my G.Grandfather James W. Kelly in Lewis Co. By then Hannah was married to Emanuel Westfall and had one son Jasper M. Westfall who was one years of age.
I have in the marriage records from Upshur Co WV Hannah Kelly Westfall married John Williams Feb. 27 1868. John was the son of Robert and Lydia Williams, and She was the daughter of William W. and Sarah (Bice) Kelly. I have been tracing my Kelly Ancesters. I found James W. Kelly had devorced his first wife in Upshur Co and
remarried in 1880 in Gilmer Co. I found where He was buried. He also had a daughter by his second wife and they are all buried in the same cementery in Gilmer Co. William W. Kelly was born in 1803 and Sarah was born in 1805. Since I cannot find no trace of William W. Kelly after 1850 He probably died sometime in the 1850's I am trying to find Marshall and John. Elizabeth married David Helmick from Lewis Co. If you can find anything on the others Let me know. My e-mail address is mildredz@roadrunner.com
Mildred Zickefoose from OH---Orginally from WV.
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This information I received from Mildred Zickefoose regarding the ancestry and family of my great grandmother Hannah Kelley (although the spelling of her ancestor Hannah Kelly's name is different from my great grandmother's spelling of her name Hannah Kelley), but otherwise her information seems to coincide with the information I received from Joe Williams....
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I recently received this email from Mildred Zickefoose mildredz@roadrunner.com Date: Wed, Mar 30, 2005 with information which explains the different spellings of the Kelly name.
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Hi Walter: I have found that the name Kelly or Kelley are all the same people. My mother spelled hers as Kelley, and in the census they spelled it as Kelly. In the marriage record for John Williams and Hanny Westfall It gives her parents as William W. Kelley and Sarah (Bice) Kelley. I think alot of it depended on the census taker.
I haven't been able to find when William W Kelley died. They were living in Taylor Co in 1850. In 1860 Sarah ,Nathan and Elizabeth were living with My great Grandfather in Lewis Co. Hannah was married by then.
I finally found a Marshall Kelly living in Iowa. The census gave his birth place as Virginia or now WV. I dont know if this is the Marshall that was a brother to Hannah and James W. Kelley. It was the right age for him. Have you found any other Kelley's living in Ill. at the time that Hannah moved there? I am still missing one Sister and one brother.
John Kelley was born in 1850. If you could know all the John Kelley or Kelly's I have found. You could never seperate all of them. The Sister I haven't been able to find is Masinna Or it could be Casinna. The way some of the census are written It is hard to decipher. It was nice to hear from you again.
We are having a Kelley re-union in WV this Summer. They only have it every two years I went to the last one they had. I really enjoyed it I met relatives I never knew I had. Take Care, Mildred Z---------------I recently received updated information from Mildred that her great-grandfather James Kelley and and his brother Nathan were both Civil War veterans. James and Nathan would be my great-great uncles.
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I believe now that my great grandmother Hannah Kelley is the sister of Mildred Zickefoose's great grandfather James Kelly, and her parents were William and Sarah (Bice) Kelly. 1863. My father didn't have much information about his grandmother's past, or of his parent's family history either. It didn't seem to be something they discussed much. Hannah Kelley's sister Elizabeth Kelley born in 1847 married 9-21-1865 David Helmick born in 1826 from Lewis County, West Virginia, the son of John and Mary Ann (Hacker) Helmick. David S. Helmick died Feb. 28, 1903 in Lewis County, WV, and is buried in Jacksonville Cemetery near Walkersville, WV.
My great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall's sister Elizabeth (Kelly/Kelley) Helmick died March 17, 1904 and was buried next to David on Mar. 26, 1904.
Elizabeth's obituary from the March 22, 1904 Weston Independent Newspaper: "Mrs. Helmick. Aged widow, died at the home of her son, Press Helmick of Oil Creek, Thursday. Interment Saturday at Jacksonville."
When Elizabeth Kelly Helmick died, her son Press (Presley Alfred Helmick) must have provided her death information (she was living with him at the time of her death). The cemetery record shows her maiden name spelled "Kelly".
David and Elizabeth (Kelly) Helmick had these children-Sarah F. Helmick, b. abt. 1867, Mary A. born abt. 1868, Fernando Helmick born Apr. 21, 1874, Cora Elizabeth Helmick born Sept. 30 or Oct. 1, 1876. Presley Alfred Helmick born Feb. 25, 1879 (altho his death record shows 1876... which is year Cora was born), Minier Helmick born abt. 1878, Martha Helmick born abt. 1880, Armintie E. Helmick born Mar. 1881 and Bertie Helmick (not sure this name is correct) born July 1884.
David S. and Elizabeth (Kelly) Helmick's daughter Cora Elizabeth Helmick married Omar Graham Stutler of Doddridge Co, WV on 8-15-1899. They moved to Washington, DC where he worked in the US Marshall's office. A daughter Helen G. Stutler was born in Apr, 1901. Another daughter, Thelma Graham Stutler was born Aug, 1903 but died shortly after birth. Cora died in Dec., 1903. Omar and Cora (Helmick) Stutler's daughter Helen was raised by her Stutler grandmother and never learned anything about her Helmick relatives. Helen had a grandaughter Susan Nye who emailed me information and the photos below of her family. Her email address is- sllydick@yahoo.com
Below are photo thumbnails of John and Mary Ann (Hacker) Helmick parents of David Helmick, and of Elizabeth (Kelly/Kelley) Helmick who married David Helmick son of John and Mary Ann (Hacker) Helmick and sister to my great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall, and Omar and Cora (Helmick) Stutler. Cora was the daughter of David and Elizabeth (Kelly) Helmick. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
John and Mary Ann (Hacker) Helmick
Elizabeth (Kelly/Kelley) Helmick
Omar and Cora (Helmick) Stutler
(Note: David Helmick's father John Helmick was a brother to Elizabeth Helmick who married my gr. gr. gr. grandfather Cornelius Westfall Jr. David Helmick's father John Helmick was the son of Jacob and Barbara (Hinkle) Helmick.)
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I recently received on 9-9-2007 the following email message from mildredz@roadrunner.com (Mildred Zickefoose) with very important and valuable genealogy information about the ancestry of my great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall. Hannah's great grandfather John Kelley came from Ireland. John Kelley was born in Ireland abt 1743 and came to America in the 1760's. His first wife Elizabeth Cushlow was born in 1750 and married John Kelley 24 Dec 1768 in Salem, New Jersey. They had the following children: (1) Nathan Kelley b. 1770 (2) Thomas Kelley b. 1769 (3) William Kelley b. 1771 (4) Samuel Kelley b. 1773 (5) and David Kelley b. 1778.
John Kelley arrived on the Ship Delaware from Ireland. He became a shoemaker by trade and lived in Salem Co, New Jersey until he died abt 1798. He left his personal estate to his Granddaughters Phobe Kelley and Elizabeth Kelley, the daughters of his son Nathan Kelley. John Kelley arrived on the Ship Delaware from Ireland.
John and Elizabeth (Cushlow) Kelley's son Nathan Kelley was born in Salem, New Jersey. (Nathan Kelley was my great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall's grandfather) Nathan married Elzabeth Jarman abt 1793 a daughter of John and Mary Jarman. Nathan Kelley and his family were in the 1820 census in Harrison Co WV. He came from New Jersey and settled in Salem, WV and established the Seventh Day Babtist Church there. The following are the names of Nathan and Elizabeth (Jarman) Kelley's children: (1) Phobe Kelley b. 1794 (2) Clayton Kelley b. 1796 (3) John M Kelley b. 1797 (4) Elizabeth Kelley b.1801 (5) William W Kelley b. 1803 (my great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall's father) (6) and James Kelley b. 1806. All born in New Jersey.
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Here is the email message I have copied below that Mildred Zickefoose sent me containing the valuable genealogy information about the ancestry of my great grandmother Hannah (Kelley) Westfall that I have outlined above---
Hi Walter: I haven't written to you for sometime. I have done alot of research on the Kelley's since I wrote last. I now have the father of William W Kelley. William W Kelley was born in New Jersey in 1803 and was in Harrison Co WV in 1827 when He got married. I found Nathan Kelley b. in Salem, New Jersey. He and his family were in the 1820 census in Harrison Co WV. I also found an article when he came from New Jersey and settled in Salem WV and established the Seventh Day Babtist Church there. The following is the name of his children that was listed: (1) Phobe Kelley b. 1794 (2) Clayton Kelley b. 1796 (3) John M Kelley b. 1797 (4) Elizabeth Kelley b.1801 (5) William W Kelley b. 1803 (6) and James Kelley b. 1806. All born in New Jersey. Nathan married Elzabeth Jarman abt 1793 a daughter of John and Mary Jarman. Now you can see that William W Kelley named his own children after his brothers and sisters. He had Elizabeth and James and John in his family, plus Nathan after his father. I have run into this so many times. It is very confusing to people that are doing genealogy.
Then I traced on back to Salem New Jersey and found John Kelley who was born in Ireland abt 1743 and came to America in the 1760's. His first wife Elizabeth Cushlow was born in 1750 and married John Kelley 24 Dec 1768 in Salem, New Jersey. They had the following children: (1) Nathan Kelley b. 1770 (2) Thomas Kelley b. 1769 (3) William Kelley b. 1771 (4) Samuel Kelley b. 1773 (5) and David Kelley b. 1778.
John Kelley arrived on the Ship Delaware from Ireland. He became a shoemaker by trade and lived in Salem Co, New Jersey until he died abt 1798. He left his personal estate to his Granddaughters Phobe Kelley and Elizabeth Kelley, the daughters of his son Nathan Kelley.
I found that James W Kelley's Son Clinton C Kelley married Dora Westfall, a daughter of Thomas Westfall and Mary Barton Westfall. They were from Lewis Co WV I just wondered if they would be some of your relatives. It seems as though if you start searching in WV you are somehow related to them.~Mildred Z
The information I had about my great grandmother was that she married my great grandfather Emanuel B. Westfall in 1856 in Lewis County, WV, and that he was killed while plowing in the field in 1863. Also that they had 2 children, Jasper Mifflin Westfall my grandfather, born in Lewis County, WV near Roanoke in 1857 and Emanuel Westfall Jr. his younger brother was born in 1862. Sometime not long after her husband Emanuel B. Westfall's death my great grandmother moved from West Virginia to McLean County, Illinois near Bloomington. It is not known why she chose that location, but she may have had other Kelley relatives in the area and also Westfall relatives. Other Kelley and Westfall families were living in McLean County, Illinois at that time, the information I had said. In 1878 her son Jasper Mifflin Westfall, my grandfather, got married to his first wife Mary Jane Shannon, and shortly after the marriage moved from McLean, County Illinois with his wife and her parents to Kansas. Later he returned to his home state of West Virginia in 1886. In about 1893 he divorced his first wife Mary Jane Shannon, and married Frances McCaulley, my grandmother, in West Virginia. At about the same time, 1893, my grandfather and his new wife Frances moved from West Virginia to Jersey County, Illinois, where later in about 1899 he moved on a farm near Fieldon, Illinois. That is where my father and the other children were raised. I was later born there in 1943 after my father bought the farm after his parent's death. My father said his grandmother Hannah Kelley Westfall lived with them in the early 1900's on the farm when he was a little boy. She later went to live with her other son Emanuel Westfall Jr. near Gibson City, Ford County, Illinois where she died in 1918. That is the information I had about her.
I may quite possibly have had other Native American ancestors on my father's side of the family, the Westfalls. There were
many Indian tribes in the areas where the Westfalls lived during Colonial times.
The Iroquois and Algonquin family of tribes were in
the New England area. My father said he was told there were other
Indian ancestors in the family. The Esopus Indian tribe
burned and looted the town of Wiltwyck which was
later called Kingston New York in the 1660's.
Jurian Westfall the original Westfall ancestor in
America had a farm near Wiltwyck at the time. Jurian
was killed later in about 1667 by another indian tribe at
war with the Esopus. The Mohawks were a friendly
Indian tribe who lived in the area at the time. They
often assisted the settlers in fighting the
unfriendly indians. Wiltwyck or Kingston as it was
later known was on the Hudson River. The English took
control of the government of New York State from the
Dutch in 1664. They changed the name from New
Netherlands to New York and also town names such as
Wiltwyck to Kingston.
Rymerick's husband Thomas Quick was killed by the Irequois Indians during a raid in 1696 as were other members of the family. There is a marker on state road 209 that marks the spot
of the massacre of the Westfall family. Rymerick was Jurian's daughter. In about 1696 Johannes
the son of Jurian, and his widowed sister Rymerick, along with other family members moved to a farm on
the Delaware River near the New York/New Jersey line.
Johannes oldest son Jurian (Juri) and His friend
Jacob Kuykendall often hunted and trapped with the
friendly Indian tribe the Minsi one of the 3 tribes
of the Lenni Lenape people. The Minsi made their home
in the Minisink Valley along the Delaware River. The
present day town of Port Jervis is there now. Juri
married Jacob's Kuykendall's sister Styntie and Jacob
married Juri Westfall's sister Sara. They farmed and
raised their families there along the Delaware River.
Juri had the first apple orchard in the area. Juri
Westfall's 3 sisters: Maretie,Jannetie, and Sara all
married into the Dutch family of the Kuykendalls.
Juri had another sister Rebecka ands 2 younger
brothers Jacob and Abel.
Jacob and Abel the brothers of Juri were of my direct ancestry line. Jacob's daughter Elizabeth married Abel's son Cornelius in 1747. They were cousins. Their grandfather was Johannes the son of Jurian who came to America on the ship in 1642. Elizabeth and Cornelius Sr.'s son Cornelius Jr. born 1759 who was a Revolutionary War soldier was the father of Jacob C. Westfall born 1797 who was the father of Emanuel Westfall, who was Hannah Kelley's husband, my great grandmother who was part Native American. Emanuel Westfall was killed while plowing during the Civil War in 1863. Emanuel and Hannah Kelley Westfall were the parents of Jasper Mifflin Westfall born 1857 who was the father of Edward Westfall who was my father.
Chapter 12-My Father's Army Experiences During World War I
My father enlisted in the Army and served 2 years during World War I. He was a Mess Sergeant stationed at Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan during his stay in the Army. He said his Company was about to go overseas when the war ended, so he never was involved in combat.
My father told of how he became a Mess Sergeant. He said was disciplined and sent to KP duty, and while peeling potatoes in KP the Mess Sergeant saw him and said, "It looks like you really know what your doing. You are very good at peeling those potatoes. Do you know how to cook too?." My father told him he often "batched" while working for farmers where he lived, and had to do his own cooking. The Mess sergeant said, "I sure could use someone who knows a little about cooking, most of the cooks I have don't know how to boil water."
So the Mess Sergeant got my father transfered to his unit, and in a few months my father was a Mess Sergeant himself in command of 12 other cooks. He said he enjoyed his time in the Army and being a Mess Sergeant, but would rather have gone overseas and seen action in combat.
I remember my father was a very good cook. Although my mother did most of the cooking, sometimes my father would cook something special up. I recall his chili was the best I have ever tasted, and sometimes he would cook what he called a "Birdnest", which was a pancake with an egg in the middle of it. Every so often I would ask him to cook me a Birdnest. I asked him where the name "Birdnest" came from. He said he didn't know, but his mother used to cook it, and that's what she called it.
Also while he was in the Army the Flu Epidemic of 1918 was very bad and killed many soldiers in his barracks. My father said many soldiers died around him, but fortunately he never became ill with the flu. My father said there were so many that became sick and would just fall over and pass out while marching or eating in the Mess Hall. He said they would become sick and in few days would die, and there seemed to be nothing the doctors could do to help them or save them.
Even some friends of my father from the Fieldon, Illinois area who enlisted with him at the same time caught the flu and died. He mentioned a good friend of his, John Powers, who died. My father helped to care for him and many others who were sick.******* This is an article I found on the Jersey County GenWeb Website about John Powers that was in the Jerseyville Republican Newspaper, dated Oct. 17, 1918, regarding his death from influenza-{John Neely Powers died Sunday morning at Camp Custer, Mich., of influenza. He was a son of james D. Powers, Jerseyville, and left for camp September 15th. The body was brought to Jerseyville Tuesday noon where the funeral was held wednesday at 2 p.m. at the residence of Loren Erwin. Deceased is survived by his father, sister, Mrs. Loren erwin, three brothers, Andrew, James and Lewis, and aunt, Mrs. James Dunphy.}******* It was a miracle my father never caught the flu himself, because he said he was constantly, day and night, caring for the sick, and helping to carry the sick and dead away on stretchers.
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