Louis (Lewis) Laverne Kelly

GEDCOM Note

Appointed as administrator of William Doescher's estate in 1933.

Wisconsin State Journal Oct. 15, 1937:

KELLY'S HONORED BARNEVELD - A surprise delegatio of friends and relatives descended Tuesday night on Mr. and Mrs. Louis Kelly of the town of Brigham. It was the Kelly's silver wedding anniversary.

Held an auction at his farm 1/16/1945.

Held an auction at his farm 3/6/1961.

Kelly, Louis BARNEVELD - Louois Kelly, age 86, died on Thursday, June 6, 1974, at a Mt. Horeb Nursing home after a long illness. He farmed in the Barneveld area most of his life. Survivors include six sons, Lester, Sun Prairie; LeRoy, Deerfield; Willard, LaCrosse; Marvin, Blue Mounds; Ellard, Barneveld; Vernon, Mt. Horeb; three daughters, Mrs. Virgil Jabs, and Mrs. Albert Miller, both of Barneveld; Mrs. robert Theobald, Marshall; 39 grandhcildren; and 31 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, the former Mabel Doescher in 1972. Funeral services will be held at the UNITED CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, Barneveld, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 8. Freinds may call after 4 p.m. on Friday, June 7 at AYERS FUNERAL HOME, Ridgeway and after 12 noon Saturday at the church.

From a Family Tree Project by Kristen Farnsworth, 1979:

Louis Kelly, (Leroy's father, my great grandfather) was the only true Kelly boy of the family. His mother, Jemima Rickey, was married once before to Deighton Spears in 1869. His father's name was Anson Kelly (my great-great grandfather) and her parent's names were Lucy and James Rickey. Louis was born on September 26, 1887 in South Dakota. He was married on October 12, 1912 to Mabel Doescher. He had four full sisters, two of them were twins - Edna and Etta, and then Lucy and Carrie, and he had three more half brothers, Bill, James, and John Eveland, and two half sistes who were Eunice Spears Hughes and Lizzie Spears Jones.

Louis had very little formal education as he had to help support the family. They lived in a cabin operating a dairy farm and cut wood, trapped and hunted and fished for their food. He loved good horses, They used to buy a lot of mustangs in the fall from the west and Louis and his sons would spend the winter breaking them to drive and work as most of the work was done in those days.

He was a true Irishman, he had the Irish blue eyes and a big crop of cold black hair. He died two years after his wife, Mabel Doescher-Kelly, on June 3, 1974 when he was 86 years old. He went to the bathroom in the Inglewood nursing home and never came out. His heart stopped.

My additional notes about Louis Kelly:

I don't think Louis Kelly knew much about his father. His father died when he was very small, and he had two step fathers after that. I don't know how he could have believed he was a true Irishman - he wasn't raised by an Irish family and other than the name, there's no reason to believe he had any Irish heritage.

I do know that he was a capable farmer and that he never owned a tractor - all of his field work was done with horses.

1910 census- Lewis and his younger brothers are living with their mother in Brigham, Iowa county. Louis is listed as being born in Wisconsin, as well as that being the birthplace of his father. His younger brothers are called Kelly. (Last name actually Eveland.) Jemima is widowed again at this point.