My Genealogy Hound

JAMES KELSEY, formerly a prominent citizen of La Grange Township, Cass County, but now deceased, was born in Middlesex, Conn., in 1810, and was the son of James and Jerusha (Brainard) Kelsey. The family was one of considerable prominence in Connecticut during the Colonial days and was active in the work of the Presbyterian Church. During the War of the Revolution, the grandfather of our subject served as a member of the Army of the St. Lawrence; and one of his brothers, also a soldier in the war, was taken prisoner and died on a man-of-war, a prison ship.

The maternal grandfather of our subject, Ezra Brainard, was for many years a member of the Connecticut Legislature, while his son was for a number of years United States Senator from Vermont. The Brainard family was connected with the early history of the State of Connecticut. About the year 1824 James Kelsey, father of our subject, migrated to Rochester, N. Y., and thence to Niagara County, the same State, where he died at a ripe old age. The education of our subject was acquired principally in the Lima and Henrietta Academies of New York, and after his schooling was completed he returned to his old home in Connecticut, where he taught school for several years. Going again to New York, he resumed his professional labors, and for some time taught school in the winter seasons and engaged in farming during the summer.

The marriage of Mr. Kelsey occurred in 1836, and united him with Miss Mary, daughter of William and Mary (Depew) Compton. Mrs. Kelsey was born in Ontario County, N. Y., in 1817, and is a descendant of a Huguenot family. Her mother rode on the first train of cars in the United States. The Compton family was first represented in America by three brothers, one of whom died soon after their arrival. The two survivors settled in New Jersey and Connecticut respectively, Mrs. Kelsey being a descendant of the former.

After his marriage, Mr. Kelsey settled on a farm in Niagara County, N. Y., and in 1839 came to Michigan, proceeding directly to his father-in-law’s home in Cass County. At that early day no roads had been opened nor had any clearings been made. For supper on the day of their arrival they had fish, caught out of the lake on the farm, which today abounds with various specimens of the finny tribe. Four children were born to Mr. Kelsey and his estimable wife, namely: Dr. W. J., of whom see sketch elsewhere in this volume; Hampden, an attorney residing in Chicago, who has a son, James; Edith, the widow of Eugene Crane; and Alice J. The daughters are both artists, possessing unusual talent, and the younger daughter, Edith, occupies a prominent place in professional circles in Chicago, where she makes her home. Politically, Mr. Kelsey was a Whig in early days, and afterward a Republican. He accumulated three hundred acres of good land, which at his death, in October, 1883, was bequeathed to his wife. She, assisted by her daughter Alice, now manages the entire homestead, attending to the work in a manner highly creditable to herself, and securing bountiful harvests each year as a result of the systematic way in which she supervises the place.