by Rocky Macy
Sarah Ann KELLY was born on August 5th, 1817, in North Carolina. She married Joshua Calvin ELLIS on February 28th, 1837, in Forsyth County, Georgia. Sarah passed away sometime after the 1880 census was taken, probably in northwest Arkansas.
Sarah Elizabeth KELLY was my g-g-g-grandmother.
The fact that Sarah Ann (KELLY) ELLIS was born in North Carolina is established by the four existing US census records in which she was recorded by name (1850 in District 31 of Forsyth, Georgia; 1860 in War Eagle and Walnut, Benton, Arkansas; 1870 in White River, Benton, Arkansas; and, 1880 in Prairie, Madison, Arkansas.) It also appears likely that she was the daughter of Hiram KELLY and Elizabeth McGEE who were married in Burke County, North Carolina, on August 19th, 1813. If that is the case, Sarah may have been born in Burke County, North Carolina.
Sarah’s marriage to Joshua Calvin ELLIS is a part of the Georgia public record, and it is noted in the Ancestry.com record: “Georgia Marriages 1699-1944.”
Sarah and Joshua had seven children, and census records indicate that all of them were born in the state of Georgia. They were: William J. (born 1840 - died after 1880), Hiram Kelly (1842-1912), Joshua “Thomas” (1844-1914), Mary Ann (1846-1888), James Calvin (1848-1907), Adeline (1851-1916), and Sarah Clementine (1853-1911).
The oldest son, William J. ELLIS, married Matilda J. COOK, and they were my great-great grandparents. Hiram Kelly ELLIS married Susan LANE; Joshua “Thomas” ELLIS married 1.) Mary Palestine PHILLIPS, and 2.) Georgianne ROBERTS; Mary Anne ELLIS married Jasper COOK; James Calvin ELLIS married Nancy Ellen NELSON; Adeline ELLIS married Charles O’CONNOR; and, Sarah Clementine ELLIS remained single.
The family moved north to Arkansas, undoubtedly in pursuit of cheap government land, sometime between the birth of Sarah Clementine ELLIS on May 27th, 1853, and the enumeration of the 1860 US census. The census of 1860 showed the family complete, with father, mother, and seven children ranging in age from seven (Sarah Clementine) to twenty (William J.) That was the only census in which all nine family members were residing under the same roof.
Only two of the family’s children were still at home when the 1870 US Census was taken: “Adline” (age 19) and Sarah (13). (Sarah Clementine would have actually been seventeen.)
When the 1880 US Census was taken, the only “children” still in the home were again Adeline, listed as “Adaline O Conner” (age 28) who was living there with her one-year-old daughter, Alice P. (Pauline) “O Conner” (age 1), and the youngest of Joshua and Sarah’s offspring, Sarah Ellis (age 25). Joshua ELLIS died of a heart attack in December of that same year.
Sarah Ann (KELLY) ELLIS has not been found in the public record after the 1880 US census. (The 1890 US census was almost entirely destroyed by a fire.) It is unknown at this time when and where she died. Three family researchers at Ancestry.com list Sarah’s date and place of death as July 27th, 1890, in Madison County, Arkansas, but none of the three provide a source for that information.
Aside from the fact that Sarah Elizabeth (KELLY) ELLIS has not been located on the 1900 US Census, another indicator that she was likely dead by that time is that her youngest daughter, the unmarried Sarah Clementine who had been twenty-five (probably twenty-seven) and living at home when the 1880 census was taken, was, in 1900, living in the household of a widowed physician, E.F. (Edward Forest) ELLIS and his two sons, ages thirteen and eight, where she was listed as a “servant.” (The family connection, if there was one, between Sarah Clementine ELLIS and Dr. ELLIS, is unknown.) Dr. ELLIS and his sons were residents of Fayetterville, Washington County, Arkansas, in 1900.
(The 1910 US Census lists Sarah Clementine ELLIS, the youngest child of Joshua and Sarah ELLIS, as a member of the household of her brother, Joshua “Thomas” ELLIS of McLennan County, Texas. She died and was buried there the following year.)
If Sarah Clementine’s mother had been alive in either 1900 or 1910, it seems likely that she and her youngest (unmarried) daughter would have been residing in the same household. Therefore it would also seem likely that Sarah Ann (KELLY) ELLIS died sometime prior to 1900.
Wherever and whenever Sarah Ann (Kelly) ELLIS passed away, she saw a great deal of the newly forming United States during her lifetime, undoubtedly experienced many of the hardships imposed by the Civil War, and helped to carve out a life for herself, her children, and their descendants in the wooded hills and valleys of northwest Arkansas and beyond. She was a true pioneer, both in spirit as well as deed.
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