Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Monday, February 21, 2022

Where Have You Gone -- Isaac "Shelby" Kirtley

Isaac "Shelby" Kirtley, my first cousin four times removed, was married to Susan "Anna" Chinn, my second great grand aunt, November 27, 1856 in Lafayette county, Missouri. 

Shelby was born in 1833, probably in Kentucky to William Kirtley and Elizabeth Shelby.  Anna Chinn was born July 15, 1838 in Fayette county, Kentucky to Dr. Joseph Graves Chinn and Barbara Garland Graves, the tenth of their twelve children. 

The last mention of Shelby in Lafayette county, Missouri was the 1860 census. I presume he hung around a little later than that since two of their children were born after the 1860 census. Their four children were:

1. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Kirtley, born May 21, 1858 in Lafayette county, Missouri and died March 18, 1867 in Lexington, Lafayette, Missouri.
2. Kelly C. Kirtley born October 1859 in Lafayette county, Missouri and committed suicide September 3, 1926 in Lexington, Kentucky.
3. Sterling Price Kirtley, who was known as Price, born June 6, 1862 in Lexington, Missouri and died in Lexington, Kentucky September 28, 1937. She married Harvey J. Parker. 
4. Hester Kirtley born about 1866 in Lexington, Missouri and died Sept 29, 1885 at Joseph Chinn's house, Lexington, Missouri. Since her grandfather was living in Lexington, Kentucky at this time, I presume she was at her uncle Joseph Chinn's house.  

There's a lot of yack over on ancestry that has Shelby dying in 1860s. I don't think so. There are a couple reasons behind that. First, is that there are pension records in Arkansas re: Shelby Kirtley, born 1833 in Kentucky as late as 1899. Second, his mother, Elizabeth Shelby Kirtley died February 22, 1899 and left him One Dollar to be paid at the end of 1900. Third, and this one shocked me, he married in 1876 and his marriage is recorded in the colored pages of the Arkansas marriage books. I've not found any other records of him other than this. 

However, in his wife's obituary in 1872, they talk of her having the raising of 4 small children, which to me indicates that Shelby abandoned her. The eldest of their children, Lizzie died at the age of eight, not quite nine years old. Kelly was living in 1880 with his cousin, Jacob Graves, in Dog Fennel, Kentucky; Price was living with her Aunt Hester Chinn Trapp in 1880 and Hester Kirtley was living with her uncle Joseph Chinn in Lexington, Missouri. 

This is another "Gee, I wish I knew the whole story." 



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