Rebecca Bolinger ^1,2

  General Notes:

Rebecca Bolinger was born March 13, 1820 in Huntingdon County, PA.

Rebecca Bolinger and David Kelly were married in 1839 in Monongalia Co., VA, in the area that is now Marion County. [Marion County separated from Harrison and Monongalia in 1842 and these three counties are in close proximity to each other.] A certified copy from the Clerk of Courts in that county shows that the ceremony was performed by Rev. David Cunningham. This Rev David was the son of John V. Cunningham and Sarah King.

The same minister married a Henry Bolinger and Ruth Brown in Monongalia County in 1840.

David and Rebecca appear in the 1840 CENSUS, residing in Harrison County; no children.

There is a Mary Bolinger in West Monongalia County in 1840. 2m < 2; 1f 20-31; 1f 60-70.

When Rebecca later filed an application for a pension, based on David Cunningham's service in the War of 1812, she stated that her first husband, David Kelly, had died in 1850.

In the 1850 CENSUS, Rebecca (#459-441) was living in Marion County, possibly still in the area where she and David Kelly lived. She was a widow, residing in the home of John and Elizabeth Martin. No children belonging to her are in the household.

However, nearby, (#465-467), is Mary E. Kelly, age 5, in the home of James & Hannah (Talkington) Reese. In the next house is Jesse Talkington, age 76. He was the father of Hannah; mother was Mary Crow. Mary E. "Elizabeth" Kelly, age 18, born Marion County, daughter of "David and R. Kelley," married Leonard M. [Metz] Talkington in Marion County on 26 Mar 1865 (More About Mary Elizabeth). Leonard M. Talkington was the grandson of the aforementioned Jesse Talkington. Leonard's parents were John and Mary (Metz) Talkington.

This photo, standing left to right: Flora's son, Byron E. Delano, Mary Elizabeth (Kelley) Talkington, and John Bert Talkington. - Seated left to right: Flora Mae (Talkington) Delano, unknown neighbor, and Cleopatra Ice Talkington. Laying on side: Flora's daughter, Luella "Madge" Delano. [Photo provided by Linda Wollam.]

Also nearby in the 1850 Census (#471) is David H. Kelly, age 1, living with Levi Kelly, age 45. Could this man be David Kelly's brother? And did David and Rebecca also have a son they named for this older Levi [YES]?

Levi Kelly, 27, born in Marion County, son of David and Rebecca Kelly, married Anna Hawkins, daughter of Wm. & Judah Hawkins, in Marion County on 5 Dec 1867 (More About Levi). .

Eva S. Kelly, 19, who married Jacob A. Miller, 19, in Harrison County 3 Nov 1861, is apparently also a child of David and Rebecca Kelly. They are named as her parents in the Harrison County Marriage record.

And finally, two more sons, Henry T. and Lemuel George Kelley, were born to David and Rebecca.

This information is confirmed by the marriage application of Lemuel George Kelley and Imo Benson, dated 7 Nov 1901, Marion County, OH. They were married on 18 July 1902. Imo Benson, the daughter of Morcene and Emma (Billett) Benson, was actually the step-daughter of Lemuel George Kelley. He had married Emma Benson in March 1886 in Morrow County, Ohio. Emma died in 1897, during the birth of her 7th child.

LINDA WOLLAM, a descendant of Lemuel George Kelley, has done extensive research on these two sons, Henry T. & Lemuel George, and first introduced the news that these men were sons of David and Rebecca Kelly.

Lemuel George's first wife, Emma Belle (Billett) Benson, died during childbirth of a stillborn child in 1897. In 1902, Lemuel married his 20 year old step-daughter, Imo. They were married until Lemuel's death in 1931. Imo birthed Lottie Mae Kelley and LeRoy L. Kelley (Linda Wollam's grandfather). This photo, was taken circa 1900. Lemuel George Kelley is in the center. The children, left to right, are George Washington Kelley, Nellie B. Kelley, Imo Edna Benson, Stella E. Kelley and John Nelson Kelley.

The Harmony Grove Cemetery, on the border between Pleasants and Ritchie Counties, is presented on my Pleasants County WVGenWeb site: Harmony Grove Cemetery Rebecca is buried here, and so is the aforementioned Henry T. Kelly (1850-1892), his wife, Lucinda (Jackson) Kelley and their daughter, Hannah J. Kelley.

TO THIS POINT, documentary evidence shows that David & Rebecca Kelly had the following children: MARY ELIZABETH, EVA S., LEVI, HENRY T. and LEMUEL GEORGE. -- Probably, DAVID A. is also a son.

In the 1860 CENSUS, Rebecca was in Harrison County - again, no children... just alone.

Meanwhile, three of the six children named above were in the Farmington, Marion County census of 1860. Mary "Elizabeth" was still living with the James Reese family, #1708, and was 14 years old. - David A. (or H.), 11, is living with the Jesse Talkington family, #1713. This Jesse Talkington is age 22. - Henry T. Kelly, 14, is a farm laborer living with George B. & Hannah Morgan. During the Civil War, Henry T. Kelley, 18, mustered in Company "K" 9th WV Infantry 30 Apr 1862 and then served in Company "C" of the 1st WV Veteran Infantry after the 9th was consolidated with the 5th to form the 1st Veteran Infantry.

Eva was not found in 1860, nor was Lemuel George.

It was in Harrison County that Rebecca Kelly, 41, married David Cunningham, 64, on 14 Feb 1861. His second wife had died in June 1860.

Abraham Cunningham, born 17 Nov 1861 to David and Rebecca Cunningham, is probably the son of this David & Rebecca but nothing more is known, as he is not found in any census records.

David Cunningham died in Marion County in 1865 when Rebecca was only about 7 weeks pregnant.

In the 1870 CENSUS, Rebecca and Grant are not found anywhere in the country.

In the 1880 CENSUS, Rebecca, 59, and Grant, 14, were living in Marion County with James & Mary Wells.

Sometime after the 1880 Census, Grant, and probably Rebecca, moved to Ritchie County, where he was residing at the time he married Nettie Atkinson in 1887. Nettie was born in Ritchie County, her parents having moved there from Washington County, Ohio.

The Atkinsons and Cunninghams lived in the area of Combs, near Goose Creek and Meadow Run - close to the border of Pleasants County where the Atkinsons, Rebecca and the Henry T. Kelley family are buried.

It seems that Grant must have been in the Goose Creek area while he was still a school student because our family has a book of Grant's from the Goose Creek School.

Rebecca died in 1897 and a few years later, Grant and his family moved to Boggs Run, Marshall County, probably so Grant could get a job at the steel mill.

Nettie's parents were still living in Ritchie County and Grant and Nettie sometimes went to visit, taking their children. Nettie's mother died in 1912 and her father, in 1924. Grant and Nettie's children, particularly their sons, visited in Ritchie County and hunted there, well into the 1930s. It is not known exactly who they visited. By that time, Henry T. Kelley was dead and Lemuel George Kelley lived in Marion County, Ohio from 1897 until his death in 1931.

Rebecca married David Kelly in 1839 in Monongalia County, VA.

Rebecca next married David Cunningham, son of Walter Cunningham and Hannah, on 14 Feb 1861 in Harrison County, VA. (David Cunningham was born on 11 Jul 1795 in Harrison County, VA and died on 22 Mar 1865 in Marion County, WV.)