Thomas and Honora Kelly
Born 1658
Thomas and Honora Kelly
may have been Huguenots who came to Virginia in 1690. The
Williamite War or the War between Two Kings, Catholic King James
II and Protestant King William of Orange began in Ireland in
1688 and didn't end until 1691 and some of the Huguenots who
were Irish fought on the side of the Protestant King William of
Orange. I suspect Thomas and Honora left Ireland
when King William of Orange left Ireland. I suspect that
Honora was a widow with children, that her husband died in one
of the many battles, maybe the Battle of the Boyne and she and
her brother-in-law Thomas Kelly left Ireland to escape the never
ending blood shed in Ireland over the Christian faith. Both
King James II and King William of Orange left Ireland after the
July 1690 battle at the Boyne.
Thomas and Honora were
reported born in 1658 and likely were born in Bregia Co Meath Ireland. Ship
records report 5 children came with them and there are records
that report that one was a male and another a female, the sex of
the other three is not known but the records suggest that Thomas
Kelly and Honora Kelly were not husband and wife but they may
have married once they were in America, it was very common for a
widow to marry the brother of her husband in that time.
They first appear on a plantation
of John Pleasants a Huguenot and his plantation was located in
Henrico Co Virginia along the James River which was very near Manakin Va. It is unknown what happened to their other three
children but it was not uncommon for children above the age of
eight to be indenture out to learn a trade or skill. In 1700
King William of Orange granted ten thousand acres to the
Huguenots. It is estimated that as many as ten thousand came
from Europe, Ireland, England and France to settle in America
begin a new start and their descendants were the creators of the
Baptist and Church of Christ movement which engulfed my O'Kelley
family.
My theory and this is only a theory seems supported by DNA and
accepted family records. The DNA results of a descendant of
Thomas and Charles indicate they may not have been brothers but
cousins. And DNA indicates Benjamin was a 3 or 4th cousin. Since the Dean name appears in both lines for many
generations as does Elizabeth Dean it seems likely that this is
a name that has been passed down beginning with a grandmother
they shared. This possibility is also supported the claims of
Peter Jefferson Kernolde who in his 1909 book titled
Lives of Christian ministers: over two
hundred memoirs tells his readers that
Rev Francis Dean O'Kelley, Rev James
O'Kelley, and
John P O'Kelley were descendants of
Rev James O'Kelly the founder of the
Christian Church.
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Do I have any proof that Thomas and Honora were our first
ancestors to arrive in America? No but the Y-DNA results
of descendents of Thomas, Charles and Benjamin invalidates all the
pedigrees Thomas, Charles, and Benjamin as being the parents for
all three men. It is very possible that James and Anna
were the parents of Benjamin but there is considerable evidence
that Elizabeth Dean was the mother of Charles and Francis the
true name of their father is still questionable.
Immigrants normally have to marry immigrants but Thomas,
Charles, Francis, and Benjamin all married English women, some
were from families of founding families which if Thomas,
Charles, Francis, and Benjamin were 2nd or
3rd or perhaps 4th American born generation they would be
suitable humans for American women.
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