My third great grandparents are Jacob Bash (1805-1863) and Mary McKelvey (1804-1886). I have been trying to determine the father of Mary McKelvey. Online trees give her father as William McKelvey or James McKelvey but do not give any further information. Some of the trees are obviously wrong.
I decided to try to identify the father of Mary McKelvey. Jacob and Mary Bash's daughter, Isabella, is living with James and Jane McElvy [McKelvey] in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio in the 1860 census. That seemed like a good place to start.
An Orphans Court record in Indiana County, Pennsylvania (book 2, page 240) lists the children of Samuel and Ann McKelvey as Jane McKelvey married to James McKelvey, Mary McKelvey married to Samuel Moore, Ephraim McKelvey, Robert McKelvey, and Margaret McKelvey. Samuel McKelvey married Ann Wallace, a daughter of Ephraim Wallace, who left his daughter Ann land that was to go to her children when she died (see Indiana County will book 1:56 for the will of Ephraim Wallace). After the death of Ann (Wallace) McKelvey, one son, Ephraim McKelvey, purchased his other siblings’ interest in the land (see Indiana County deed books 11:67 and 21:260 for deed releases). Three of the other siblings (Jane and James McKelvey, Mary and Samuel Moore, and Margaret Ellen McKelvey) were all living in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio when they sold their interest.
Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio, is where Isabella (Jacob and Mary Bash's daughter) was living with James and Jane McKelvey in the1860 census. James and Jane McKelvey's son, James, was listed in the 1880 schedule for defective, dependent, and delinquent classes in Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio since he was blind. The cause of his blindness was listed as his parents being cousins.
Now I had to find the father of Samuel McKelvey. Since Wheatfield Township in Indiana County was a part of Fairfield Township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, at one time, I looked at deeds in Westmoreland County for McKelvey families. There are numerous McKelvey families in this area of Westmoreland County but I got lucky. Samuel McKelvey was a son of James McKelvey (see Westmoreland County deed book 23:502-503). This deed names James McKelvey and his sons: Samuel, James, Lewis, Joseph, and William. James and Joseph McKelvey bought land from James McCurdy in 1802 in Fairfield Township, Westmoreland County (see Westmoreland County deed book 6:299-300).
Another Samuel McKelvey (perhaps a relative) bought land next to James and Joseph McKelvey from Cornelius Clawson (see Westmoreland County deed 7:537-538). This Samuel McKelvey died in 1816 in Westmoreland County and Lewis McKelvey, Andrew Boyer, and Anthony Ruff were named administrators of his estate. Lewis McKelvey brought suit in Indiana County regarding Samuel McKelvey's estate (see Indiana County deed book 8:569-570).
Several of the children of James McKelvey (Senior) married children of Ephraim Wallace (see Indiana County will book 1:56). They lived in Wheatfield Township in Indiana County near the Conemaugh River. Samuel McKelvey married Ann Wallace, Joseph McKelvey married Sarah Wallace, William McKelvey married Margaret Wallace, and Jane McKelvey married Samuel Wallace.
It was a process of elimination to determine the father of Mary McKelvey, wife of Jacob Bash. The sons of James McKelvey (Senior) mentioned in Westmoreland County deed 23:502-503 were Samuel, James, Lewis, Joseph, and William. Lewis McKelvey never married since he is single when he appears as a grantor in deeds. Joseph McKelvey's only child died young. All the children of Samuel McKelvey are mentioned in the Indiana County Orphans Court record 2:240.
William McKelvey had the following children: Jane married to Archibald Devlin, Ephraim W. McKelvey, Ellen married to William Tomb, Mary McKelvey married to Peter Seib, Lewis McKelvey (died 1849), Robert McKelvey (died 1841), James McKelvey (died 1848), and Sarah McKelvey (died 1841). The names of William McKelvey's wife, Margaret, and their daughter Mary Seib, are on a large grave stone at the Armagh Old Presbyterian Cemetery, in Armagh, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. The grave stones for William McKelvey and the last four children listed above are in front of the large grave stone for Margaret McKelvey and Mary Seib. Ellen Tomb's obituary states she was a daughter of William McKelvey. She and her husband are also buried at the Armagh Old Presbyterian Cemetery. E. W. (Ephraim W.) McKelvey is living with his mother, Margaret McKelvey, in the 1850 census.
Westmoreland County
deed 23:502-503 names James McKelvey (Senior) and his sons: Samuel, James,
Lewis, Joseph, and William. The only son who is unaccounted for in later
records is James McKelvey (Junior). He and his wife appear in the following deed in Fairfield Township in Westmoreland County in 1819 (see Westmoreland County deed 14:248). James McKelvey and his wife Sarah sold 101 acres for $952.50 in Fairfield Township to David Fallon on 6 November 1819. The deed states "This tract is part of a larger tract purchased by James and Joseph McKelvey from James McCurdy on 2 September 1802 and by deed of conveyance from Joseph McKelvey to William McKelvey dated 28 September 1815 and by deed of conveyance of release from William McKelvey and wife to James McKelvey dated 6 November 1819."
There is no deed or will naming the children of James McKelvey (Junior). I believe two of his children are James McKelvey (the husband of Jane McKelvey), a daughter of Samuel and Ann McKelvey) and Mary McKelvey (the wife of Jacob Bash). Remember that Jacob and Mary Bash's daughter, Isabella was living with James and Jane McKelvey in the 1860 census. James and Jane McKelvey were cousins according to the 1880 schedule for their son James McKelvey. Jane McKelvey's father was Samuel McKelvey. Her husband and cousin, James McKelvey, is not a son of Joseph, Lewis, Samuel, or William. Therefore, he must be a son of James McKelvey (Junior). Also, Jacob Bash and Mary McKelvey named their oldest son, James Madison McKelvey.
I have deeds, estate records, censuses. county and family histories, newspaper articles, and cemetery records for this McKelvey family. I have much information on this family which is too extensive to include here. If anyone would like further information on this family, please contact me at fowler1947@gmail.com
