My Genealogy Hound

Warren F. Kelly, planter, Murfreesboro, Ark. This well-known and esteemed agriculturist of Thompson Township was born in this county, in 1858, and was the fourth in a family of seven children born to Elijah and Priscilla (Dickson) Kelly, natives of Arkansas, and both born within a few miles of Murfreesboro. The paternal grandfather, Elijah Kelly, was a native of Tennessee, and came to Arkansas in 1815, settling in what is now Pike County, and was one of the earliest pioneers of this section. He was one of the commissioners to select the county seat of the county on its organization, and was one of the leading citizens of the county in his day. He was one of the early representatives to the General Assembly from this county, and filled that honorary position at a time when there was but one house in Little Rock. He was county judge, was a preacher in the Christian Church, and he and his brother William organized the first church in Murfreesboro. He died in 1884. The father of our subject, Elijah Kelly, remained at home until his majority, married here, and bought a farm of 320 acres, three miles southwest of Murfreesboro, and cleared nearly 100 acres himself. His death occurred in 1883. The mother is still living on the old homestead, which is being rapidly improved by the boys, and now has 150 acres under cultivation, and being principally bottom land, is one of the best farms in the county. Warren F. Kelly remained under the paternal roof until his majority, and was married in 1886 to Miss Cordelia Mobley, a native of this county, and the daughter of William Mobley, one of Pike County’s early settlers. After the father’s death, Warren F. remained at home and assisted the mother in the management of the farm until 1887, when he moved on his present farm one-half mile north of town, and consisting of 160 acres, nearly all bottom land. He has 40 acres under cultivation, and has cleared 25 acres more, on which he expects to raise a crop this year. He has an interest with his brothers in a mercantile establishment in Murfreesboro. He is an earnest supporter of good schools and in all public improvements, and is a good business man as well as farmer. The family are members of the Christian Church. By his marriage Mr. Kelly became the father of one child, a girl, Rosa May.