Sixth Generation


489. Albert Henry O'Kelley99,100,146 was born on 20 November 1900 in 81 Community, Rudy, Crawford Co, AR. He died on 23 April 1987 in Crawford Mem Hospital, Van Buren, Crawford Co, AR.147 He was buried in Morrison Cemetery, Rudy, Crawford Co, AR N35°34.4438 W094°17.3939.138
 

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Photo of Gravestone Front  Photo of Gravestone Back These are my ancestors

Rick's Memories of his grandparents

If I were to describe my grandparents in brief I would say they were happy.  Rarely did one see either of them without a smile on their face but in their later years the smile was sometimes hidden behind the age lines and being happy could probably be said for all of the family, my aunts and uncles alike.  The O'Kelleys were probably the happiest people anyone knew and yet they had no wealth outside of their family which they treasured and loved to be with above all else.  The O'Kelley 4th of July celebrations were of legend and Christmas just wasn't finished until all the clan met on Christmas evening as the sun slipped below the horizon for a very disorganized supper at their Rudy home.  The woman folks would be staked out in the kitchen, the men folk in the very rustic living room and the kids would be all over in a house that was as cold as ice except for the living room which was over heated by a roaring fire in a wood stove.  It was a scene that would have inspired Norman Rockwell.  Over the years growing up many people told me they knew my grandfather as he once delivered ice in the days of the "icebox"  As you can see in the photo he and my grandmother were a lot like Abe Lincoln and his wife, he was very tall, she was very short.  My grandfather was a tinker my grandmother a packrat.  I call it the junk gene which I suppose she passed down to at least one of my brothers; the desire to save the landfills by keeping junk mostly at my parents place.

The happiest of all of the family was without a doubt my Uncle Freddy. You could be having the worst day of your life and he could come into a room and it was like sunshine, his happiness would fill every corner. He lived a long life and while many of his friends had already caught the train before him, he was so loved that it was standing room only at his funeral.  This is the legacy that should be remembered about all the O'Kelley family.

Most of my grandparent's descendents do not know of their humble beginnings.  Times were hard very early for my grandparents. My grandmother lost her mother when she was eleven so one can only guess what her young life as a teen was like and she had many strange ways probably because of this event.    During the depression years there was no social security, no unemployment and no welfare.  Many poor people died while the wealthy lived and if we are not wise history could repeat itself.  My father and at least two and maybe three of his siblings lived with my grandparents in a dirt floor barn in Winfrey Valley north of Mt Burg.  My father never mentioned this but very late in his life when I learned about it I asked him what he remembered and he told me he was very young but he remembered one night it rained so hard that the creek that ran near the barn came out of its banks and his father and mother woke him and his siblings and they had to abandoned the barn and seek higher ground under a tree with the storm still raging.  When I hear ministers preach about how bad times are today, I get angry because we live in heaven when compared to what our parents and grandparents endured less than 100 years ago and they had it better than their parents and grandparents so shame on those who pretend that we live in bad times.  Thanks to our ancestors like my grandparents we enjoy a great many comforts that should not be taken for granted.

Albert Henry O'Kelley and Julia Ellen Bowen were married on 5 July 1924 in Hobbstown Store, Van Buren, Crf Co, AR. Julia Ellen Bowen was born on 11 July 1905 in CEDAR CREEK 70MT, Rudy, Crf Co, AR. She died on 28 September 1990 in VAN BUREN NUR CT, Van Buren, Crawford Co, AR. She was buried in Morrison Cemetery, Rudy, Crawford Co, AR N35°34.4438 W094°17.3939.138

1930 US Census puts Albert, Julie, Charles, Conley, and Freddy living just south of Hiwassee Arkansas and slightly west and off of what is now Arkansas Highway 279 at 36.415223,-94.340595

Albert Henry O'Kelley and Julia Ellen Bowen had the following children:

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i.

Charles William O'Kelley.

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ii.

Conley Horton O'Kelley.  My Father 

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iii.

Freddy Earl O'Kelley.

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iv.

Ellen Grace O'Kelley.

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v.

John Cecil O'Kelley.

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vi.

QUINCE Edwin O'Kelley.

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vii.

Mary Emeline O'Kelley.

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viii.

Curtis Gene Henry O'Kelley.