Charley W. KELLY owns and operated eighty acres of good land in Grand River township [Decatur County, Iowa], which he operates in addition to the Emma SHEWMAKER farm, adjoing his own holdings. He was born in Van Buren county, Iowa, April 9, 1870, of the marriage of Richard and Sarah Jane (NICHOLSON) KELLY. His father was born in Virginia [1838] but when sixteen years of age removed to Iowa, and about 1875 settled in Decatur county, where he remained for a number of years. He owned different tracts of land and was quite successful financially. Later he was for two years a resident of Oklahoma, after which he took up his abode in Ringgold county, Iowa, where he ws living at the time of his death in August, 1907 (sic, should be 1908), when he had reached the age of seventy-two years. During the Civil War he served [as a Private] in the Twenty-fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry [enlisting August 22, 1862 from Burlington, Iowa], remaining at the front for almost four years [mustered out of service on June 6, 1865, Washington, D. C.]. His political belief was that of the republican party and he gave his religious allegiance to the United Brethren church. Through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic he kept in touch with others who had served the country in her hour of need. His wife was born in Indiana [1842] but when a child accompanied her parents to Van Buren county, Iowa, whence the family subsequently removed to Ringgold county, where both of her parents died. She passed to her reward in October, 1910, when sixty-eight years of age. [Richard and Sarah Jane (NICHOLSON) KELLY were interred at Marshalltown Cemetery located near Benton, Ringgold County, Iowa.] Her religious faith was that of the Methodist church. Eight of the ten children born to Richard and Sarah Jane KELLY survive, namely: Drue and Guy, residents of Decatur township [Decatur County]; Charley W.; Mrs. Ella FERGUSON, of Aprispe [Union County], Iowa; Mrs. Mary AVERY, residing in Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Jessie HEMBRY, whose home is in Decatur township, this [Decatur] county; Mrs. Gussie LOWDER, of Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Mrs. Prudence GOODMAN, of Clearfield [Taylor County], this state [Iowa]. [Winton KELLY was born in 1874, and died in 1900, with interment at Marshalltown Cemetery near Benton, Ringgold County, Iowa.]

Charley W. KELLY was five years of age when brought to this county and here grew to maturity. Through assisting his father with the work of the home farm he gained knowledge which proved of great value to himwhen he started out farming on his own account. He now operates one hundred and fifty acres, eighty of which he owns, the remainder comprising the Emma SHEWMAKER farm, which adjoines his place. he carries on general farming and and stock-raising and derives a good income annually from the sale of his grain and stock.

Mr. KELLY was married, at Benton [Ringgold County], Iowa, on the 1st of February, 1897, to Miss Minnie M. BROOKS, who was born at Fort Dodge on the 8th of December, 1877. Her parents, Philander and Susan (MIDDLETON) BROOKS, who were natives respectively of Illinois and of Ohio, came to Iowa in the early '70s and took up their residence near Fort Dodge. In 1886 they removed to Kansas and after residing in Sumner and Cowley counties, that state, the removed to Major county, Oklahoma, where they are now living, he at the age of fifty-nine years and she at the age of fifty-six years. He is by occupation a gardner. Eight of the nine children born to them survive, namely: Mrs. KELLY; Mrs. Kate MONROE; Mrs. Lucy CURTRIGHT, of Grand River township, this [Decatur] county; Joseph, residing in Arkansas; Ernest, of Coffeyville, Kansas; Mrs. Rose BUSHNELL; Jessie, who married Claire MARTIN, a farmer of Major county, Oklahoma; and Mrs. Goldie GARRETT, whose husband is engaged in farming near Mingo, Oklahoma. Mrs. KELLY spent the greater part of her girlhood in Kansas and attended the public schools in the acquirement of an education. Mr. and Mrs. KELLY have and adopted son, Harland H. KELLY, who is fourteen years of age.

Mr. KELLY is a republican and has served as trustee of Grand River township. Fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodman of America of Grand River. He is highly respected by his fellow citizens and there are many who hold him in warm regard.

NOTE: Minnie M. (BROOKS) KELLY died in 1924. Charles W. KELLY died in 1959, and was interred at Grand River Cemetery, Grand River, Decatur County, Iowa, beside his wife Minnie.

SOURCES:
HOWELL, J. M. & CONOMAN, Heman. History of Decatur County, Iowa, and Its People Vol. II. Pp. 50-51. S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Chicago. 1915.

American Civil War Soldiers, ancestry.com

WPA Graves Survey

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, February of 2009