William C. Kelley was born in 1775 in the Belfast, Ireland area. He came to America in the early 1800’s and settled in North Carolina. He died on December 19, 1843 in Farmerville, Union Parish, Louisiana.
He married Temperance Tabitha Parish, the daughter of John Parish and Nancy Yarborough, on February 11, 1811 in Johnson County, North Carolina. She was born in 1785 in North Carolina and died February 7, 1853 in Farmerville, Union Parish, Louisiana.
Both of them died in Farmerville, Union Parish, Louisiana but we have been unable to find where they were buried.
William C. Kelley was a young man when he came from Ireland to North Carolina. His children were all born in North Carolina and the family lived there until the early 1830’s when the family moved to Marion, Perry County, Alabama. The family is listed as living in Perry County, Alabama on the 1840 census. They moved to Farmerville, Union Parish, Louisiana in the early 1840’s, probably around 1842 according to papers and information found in the Union Parish Courthouse.
There is a Concord Community just Northeast of Farmerville that has a church and cemetery and a marker stating the area was settled in 1842 by settlers from Alabama. The Concord Community in Anderson County, Texas reportedly is named after the area in Union Parish, Louisiana.
The children of William C. Kelley and Tabitha Parish are:
- John C. Kelley—born in 1816 in North Carolina. He died on February 11, 1879 in Chambers County, Texas.
- Jennie Kelley—born 1820 in North Carolina. She came to Texas in the late 1860’s but there is no record as to where she went or when she died.
- Joel Parish Kelley—born in North Carolina on October 3, 1825. He died on February 19, 1872 in Concord, Anderson County, Texas. His marker is the oldest marked grave in the Concord Cemetery.
- Malinda Kelley—born 1827 in North Carolina. She came to Texas with her brother, John C. Kelley. According to the 1860 Census of Chambers County, TX she lived in Chambers County with her 2 sons and Brother, John C. Kelley. We don’t know when she died or where she is buried.