Subj: Andrew Kelly Date: 97-05-21 06:58:39 EDT From: orion@p-c-net.net (Dorothy Ann Folmar) To: NKCorum@aol.com LEXINGTON REVOLUTIONARY MILITIAMAN The Dispatch-News, Thursday, March 30, ____ By Lee R. Gandee ANDREW KELLY Since I began writing for my living, I have had little time to devote to Early County History, and less to historical research, but I still correspond on genealogical matters, and recently Mrs. Margaret Hawkins, of Corpus Christi, Texas, sent me the Revolutionary War pension claim of her ancestor, Andrew Kelly, which is the first one of a Lexington man of Colonel Beard's Dutch Fork Regiment to come to hand. Since pension claims (in the National Archive in Washington) furnish most that can be learned now about the activities of the local militia in the Revolution, this seems of sufficient interest to demand that it be made public for the benefit of those who will need all such information when the Revolutionary Bicentennial is observed. Andrew Kelly is listed in 1790 as living between Jacob Long and Jacob Fulmer, Sr. in Dutch Fork, near the Newberry line then and now probably inside Newberry County. He then was 38 years of age, and had two boys under 16 and six females in his family. Since the only "Kelly" family to locate in that area in the 1750's was that of Jakob Khele, who was granted 400 acres (for a family of eight persons), it seems certain that Andrew was one of this family, probably a brother of George Kelly, who lived in the second house from his, of William Kelly who lived south of Saluda River at "The Sycamore," and of any other German "Kelly" men in Lexington or Newberry. He stated in his application that he was born on the ocean on 11 September, 1752, as his parents were in passage from Germany to South Carolina. Quaintly, he claimed that he had at home in Dallas County, Alabama, in 1835 "a record of his age, made on a piece of paper by his schoolmaster when he went to school" that he had kept until he was 83. No doubt it was a Geburtsschein, decorated like the Meetze one with flowers and good luck signs, but it is the first record to appear proving that as early as the 1760's, there was a school in Dutch Fork not far from Pomaria where German boys could get at least the rudiments of an education. His signature shows that the school taught him to write in German, and he signed his application as Andreas Khele over the clerk of court's English "Andrew Kelly." They do sound the same, and Andreas in German is Andrew in English. I do not know if he had any children who remained in South Carolina. Probably a daughter or two did. Two of his sons, Samuel and James B. Kelly, emigrated to Alabama. Mrs. Hawkins says that James B. was a son of Andrew's second wife, Mary, and that he was born in 1811, twenty-one years after the Census of 1790 showed him with a family of eight -- God knows how many children he had, and several may have stayed in South Carolina. His name does not appear in 1788 on any of the church petitions for incorporation but George Kelly at that time belonged to Bethel, at White Rock, though then it was closer the Saluda River on High Hill Creek. The Revolutionary War Record is an official document prepared 13 July 1835 before Judge George R. Evans, of the County Court of Dallas County, Alabama (about 40 miles west of Montgomery). It is identified as claim #R 5837. After the usual preamble it says: "FIRST That he, the said Andrew Kelly, volunteered his services, the time, he cannot recollect, but he was 24 or 25 years of age and was born in 1752. It was in Lexington district, then Orangeburg, in the State of South Carolina. His captain was Draper. [A sentence or two may be missing here.] That he continued his service in said Corps for at least three months, when he was discharged from the service in South Carolina at Captain Draper's. That during this engagement, he with others, were detailed as a life guard to Capt. Draper who had killed a Torie (sic). Draper since moved to Mississippi and died there as he is informed and believes. "SECONDLY That he again entered the service of his country as a drafted man under the command of Lt. Rainey, his neighbor, who afterward moved to Georgia. He cannot specify the time when. He served under this engagement at least two months and was of the guard who guarded the Tory Warriors down to Bacon's Bridge, eighteen miles from Charleston, where they were met by the British Flag of Truce and the Warriors then taken to Charleston. He went no further. His major in this corps was Morgan and at the expiration of this tour he was discharged from the service at place he entered, to wit, Orangeburg District, South Carolina. "THIRDLY He again (time not remembered) entered the service of his country in South Carolina under Capt. Gardiner, a Capt. in the Regt. or Corps of Col. Beard under the command of Gen. Pickens of South Carolina. He was drafted this time and served at least two months, when he was again honorably discharged. During this engagement he went as one of 700 troops under the command aforesaid to Bacon's Bridge. It is eighteen miles from Charleston. Went to protect Genl. Green's Company lying seven miles off. Declarant went as a waggoner and from there delivering (during?) said engagements went in a company of 25 waggons to Stono for provisions for Green's army. He cannot state the names of any regular officers. His service was entirely in the Militia and detached from any regular army. He never received any written discharges from any of his officers and at this time does not know of anyone who can testify to his services. He was in many other little parties -- once piloted Col. Washington a day and night through the country. In addition to above, went as one of a company to rebuild Congaree bridge which had been burned by the British. When the British landed at Savannah his regiment was also called up at a branch in Orangeburg District, now Lexington, South Carolina, and took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States. This Branch in consequence of it, has always since been called 'Swearing Branch'..." With the petition are answers to questions by the Judge, in which Andrew Kelly stated that he lived in Orangeburg District (now Lexington) throughout the period of his service, and continued to live there until "about three years ago" (1832) when he removed to Dallas County, Alabama. (He was eighty at that time and must have gone to be with his children). He also cited Jacob Kinard "here in court" as having known him in South Carolina. Kinard's testimony follows: "I, Jacob Kynard, residing in the County of Perry and State of Alabama, hereby certify that I was well acquainted with Andrew Kelly who has subscribed and sworn to the above declaration for the space of twelve years in Carolina where he has declared he resided. That I believe him to be eighty-three years of age. That he was reputed and believed in Lexington District, South Carolina, where he resided to have been a soldier of the Revolution, and that I concur in that opinion." (Signed Jacob Kynard). Besides the evidence of a school in Upper Dutch Fork in the 1760's, this declaration mentions the earliest Congaree Bridge yet to come to my attention -- one built in time to be destroyed before 1781. No doubt it crossed at Granby, and was the reason why Friday's Ferry went out of operation. Mention of "the Tory Warriors" is an intriguing detail, particularly as the capitalization suggests that they were members of a military unit with that name. With no more information, one can merely speculate that these men were those local Tories who were banished, and it would seem that they were men captured by the militia commanded by Major Morgan. But perhaps the most interesting fact of all is that the unit under the command of Colonel Beard (it was known as the Dutch Fork Regiment) had 700 men in it. This fact, considering the total population of Dutch Fork at that time, should be given as much emphasis as possible, for "history" long has held that the Dutch Fork was a hotbed of Tories and that the Dutch Fork Germans were disloyal to the American cause in the Revolution. This false idea had persisted even though the Draper Manuscripts prove that Summer's Mill was held by patriots the entire time from 1776 until the British defeat in 1781. With 700 men in Dutch Fork ready to take up arms, with Summer's Mill on Broad River as one bastion, and Philemon Waters' Block House on his plantation in Southern Newberry County as another, and with Watson's Block House near Ridge Spring as a third to remain in patriot hands throughout the Revolution, it now appears that despite the Tory Warriors, and the presence of Tories in all parts of the old District, only the area arond Fort Granby was securely in British or Tory control even during the time when the British claimed to have the entire state in subjection. Lexington County can claim with considerable justification that it was not under British control at any time during the Revolution. But what times those must have been! It is well known that Major Johannes Kinsler was shot down in his yard by a Tory while he was home recuperating from a wound he received at the Battle of Fish Dam Ford (and that his murderer was caught and hanged the same day). Here is a record that one patriot officer, Captain Draper, who had killed a Tory, was provided a "life guard" of several men to prevent Tory revenge -- and the Tories did not get a change to kill him. One can only wonder how many more facts about local events in the Revolution could be gleaned from the claims in the National Archive. Anyone having other such claims is urged to loan them for use for similar articles. Also, I should like very much to know where Swearing Creek is located. *************