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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Columbia County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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B. F. Kelly, proprietor of Kelly Saw Mill, Waldo, Ark. The parents of Mr. Kelly, William O. and Martha (Steel) Kelly, were natives of Tennessee and Kentucky, respectively, the father born in 1812 and the mother in 1816. The father died in Illinois in 1869. He was the son of Mason Kelly. The Kelly family is of Irish descent, and the ancestors were early settlers of the Old Dominion. B. F. Kelly, the third of nine children born to his parents, received his schooling in Illinois, and remained in that State until in his twentieth year. June 28, 1868, he was married to Miss Cornelia Vineyard, a native of Jefferson County, Mo., born in 1852, and three sons and two daughters are the result of this union: Mary, Frank, Robert, Kathleen, and an infant unnamed. Mr. Kelly enlisted in the Union army in 1861, Company B, Eleventh Missouri Infantry Regiment, and served all through the war. He was wounded in his tent, accidentally, from the discharge of a pistol. He was in the battles of Fredericktown, Mo., New Madrid, siege of Corinth, battle of Corinth, siege of Vicksburg, Nashville, Mobile and many skirmishes. Upon the termination of hostilities Mr. Kelly returned to Illinois, remained a short time and then went to Kansas, where he was engaged in the saw mill business, which he began in 1867. This he has followed ever since, and has been very successful. He remained in Kansas six years and then went to Texas, where he remained about ten years, although he resided in Texarkana on the Arkansas side. In 1888 he came to Columbia County, Ark., and invested about $4,500 in a saw-mill and timber. The mill has a capacity of 15,000 feet per day, and Mr. Kelly is doing a good business, usually employing from sixteen to twenty men. He is a member of the Masonic organization of Texarkana, Ark., Lodge No. 341, Chapter 78, and Mrs. Kelly is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

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This family biography is one of 106 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Columbia County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Columbia County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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