KELSO/KELSOE FAMILY OF KENTUCKY>MS>ARKANSAS
Hi everyone.Need infro on the following Kelso (Kelsoe) family.
Whoops !! I sent the outdated infro. Just found out that John Milton Kelso's father's name was Milton Garrison Kelsoe. In the 1850 Quachita County, Arkansas census Milton is listed as M.G. Kelsoe.
Here's the correct information.
Previously, Our oral history says that John Milton Kelsoe was the slave owner of our Friarson/Frierson family, but I think I have discovered that it was his father, Milton Garrison Kelsoe who owned our Friarson/Frierson family.
I am looking for the PARENTS (Marcus & Mittie Friarson) and SIBLINGS of Alexander John Friarson who was born 1821 in Tennessee (county unknown) and moved to Columbia County, Arkansas.
We still have not been able to discover where MARCUS & MITTIE FRIARSON were born, possibly N or S Carolina. However, we have discovered though census records that their son, ALEXANDER JOHN FRIARSON moved from The Carolinas to Tennessee, possibly through what was called the Mississippi Territory and then on to College Hill (McNeil, Columbia County), Arkansas.
Descendants of Marcus Frierson
Generation 1
1. Marcus Frierson-1 was born in North or South Carolina. He married Mittie.
Child of Marcus Frierson and Mittie is:
Alexander John Frierson-2(Marcus-1) was born on 15 Jun 1821 in Tennessee. He died on 09 Dec 1877 in McNeil, Arkansas. He married (1) Martha Surrals or Salton on 27 May 1848 in McNeil, Arkansas, daughter of Britton Surrals and Phereby. She was born on 24 May 1833 in Alabama. She died in 1920 in McNeil, Arkansas. He met (2) Martha Buchanan on 11 Apr 1869 in Columbia County, Arkansas. She was born in 1834.
Notes for Alexander John Frierson:
Information on the Alexander Friarson & Martha Surrells-Friarson family was obtained from the 1880
Magnolia, Columbia County, Arkansas Census, Family # 147.
Marva Yarrell
Lansing, MI
When Col. Milton Garrison Kelsoe (Father of John Milton Kelsoe), en route to Texas for his health in the fall of 1846 with his family, slaves, flocks, and herds, fell in love with the fertile land about his camp site and settled in what later became the College Hill community, he had no idea who or where his nearest neighbor was. One cold, frosty morning while he and his little son were out in the woods nearby felling a tree, the reverberations of the ax were heard by his nearest neighbor, Mr. Murphy, who was some distance from his home feeding swine. The two parties began answering one another's halloes, and eventually they met in the midst of the great forest in that manner. Sometime later Mr. Keener and Mr. McKinley, who lived ten or twelve miles south, hearing there was a new settler to the north of them, set out to make a neighborly visit and become acquainted. After wandering for hours in the woods they located the newly built cabin, and so hungry were they for the companionship of others that they sat all night around the fire talking.
As soon as these settlements became sufficiently large, a church and school were established, roads were cut from one neighborhood to another, and visiting became more common. It was the usual custom for the whole family to go and spend the day. When a death occurred in the neighborhood, the best carpenter among them made the coffin, usually without charge and one always attended his neighbor in sickness, forsaking for a time, if need be, his own "vine and fig tree." If illness or similar misfortune caused one to get behind with his crop, he could depend on his neighbors, without solicitation, to aid in getting his fields in condition or performing any other tasks in immediate need of attention. This friendly cooperation was a necessary social virtue in the earliest period of settlement; and it has carried on until recently as a marked characteristic of rural life in the county.
John Milton Kelso (Kelsoe) is a well-known attorney of Magnolia, Ark., and his life, with the exception of the first nine years, has been passed in Columbia County, his acquaintance therefore being an extensive one. Although he was born in Mississippi in 1838, the principal part of his education was received in this State, and at the age of twenty years he entered the law office of Sumter & Askew, and after a searching examination was licensed to practice his calling by Judge Len B. Green, in 1859. In 1868 he was licensed by the superior court to practice his profession in any court of the State, and he immediately after opened a law office at Magnolia, where his practice began to steadily and substantially increase. He was married March 3, 1863, to Miss Mary L. Wyatt, of Magnolia, a native of Kentucky, and a daughter of Dr. Alfred and Mary (Johnson) Wyatt, both families being prominent in Kentucky politics before and after the war. Mrs. Kelso was their only child, and is the mother of the following children: Felix A. (who is a graduate of Georgetown College, D. C, is at present reading law in his father’s office), Jennie (who is a teacher in the city schools), Paul (who on January 29, 1890, entered the West Point Military Academy, passing his examination in September, 1889). Miss Jennie and Felix are members in good standing of the Catholic Church.
John Milton Kelso (Kelso) is a member of the. A. F. & A. M., Colombia Lodge No. 82, and also belongs to Magnolia Lodge of the I. O. O. F., and Columbia Lodge of the K. of P. At the close of the late war he found himself almost bankrupt, and, as in his youth, had to commence at the foot of the ladder. As he had a thorough knowledge of his profession, he considered this sufficient capital with which to again commence the battle of life, and he has fully realized his most sanguine expectations, for he is now a wealthy man, and has a large and lucrative practice. The first fee he received after the war that is worth mentioning was from Paris, France, from a French cotton speculator, by the name of Duboyas, which fee was $1,000 in gold. He began speculating in land soon after the war, and although he was not very successful in his operations, he is now the owner of between 5,000 and 6,000 acres, with about 500 acres under cultivation.
He also owns some fine city property, and has a handsome and comfortable residence. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word, and possesses those attributes of which great men are made. He was known as one of the kindest of masters to his slaves, and a negro that belonged to his wife when he married her is still living with them. Prior to the war he was a strong Whig, politically, but at present he is a stanch Democrat. He has never asked for or received an office at the hands of the people, but is eminently fitted to discharge the duties of any office which it is in their power to give. His parents, Milton Garrison Kelso(Kelsoe) and Susan M. (Fitzgerald) Kelso (Kelsoe), were born in Kentucky and Virginia, respectively, and at a very early day removed to Mississippi, and there lived for a number of years.
In 1847, Milton Garrison Kelsoe (Kelso) came to Arkansas, and in the spring of 1848 settled in Columbia County, where he engaged in farming, as he had previously done in Mississippi. At that time this county was very thinly settled, but after a time a flouring-mill was built on Clear Creek, twelve miles north of Magnolia, which mill had a capacity of twelve or fifteen bushels of grain per day. This was in 1848, and during 1849 and 1850 there were several other mills erected on the same creek. Mr. Kelso became a wealthy farmer, and was enabled to give his children fair advantages. Their names are: John Milton (the subject of this biography), Mary J. (now Mrs. McNeil), Susan (now Mrs. Dermyer, of Dallas, Tex.), Joe G., Lucy (now Mrs. Sandford O. Couch), and Margaret (now Mrs. Prator). Mr. Kelso died in 1883, at the age of seventy-two years, but is still survived by his widow, who is now seventy-five years of age. She is a remarkably well preserved woman, and does not look to be over fifty years of age. She did her own work until a few years past, and for some time has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, taking a prominent part in all worthy enterprises.
More Replies:
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Re: KELSO/KELSOE FAMILY OF KENTUCKY>MS>ARKANSAS
Carol Powell 9/19/13
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Re: KELSO/KELSOE FAMILY OF KENTUCKY>MS>ARKANSAS
Marva Yarrell 10/19/13
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Re: KELSO/KELSOE FAMILY OF KENTUCKY>MS>ARKANSAS
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Re: KELSO/KELSOE FAMILY OF KENTUCKY>MS>ARKANSAS
Carol Powell 9/19/13