Hickory
is rich in the legend of Pat Kelly, who came from Ireland in 1855 to
become the first white settler before the land was surveyed.
His closest neighbor lived in Stiles, some miles distant, in a day when
it was necessary to go to Oconto for provisions by foot or by ox
team. It is told that Mr. Kelly hitched up the oxen to go to
Oconto for a doctor when his baby was ill with croup, and when he
returned the child was dead and buried. The story is told that as a
Justice of the Peace Mr. Kelly was not perturbed by the lack of two
witnesses to a marriage ceremony. Joining hands of the bride
and groom, he took them to a large elm tree which was a witness tree on
a section corner and intoned, "Under this witness tree what Pat Kelly
and God Almighty has joined together, let no man put asunder." Kelly
Lake and Kelly Brook are named after this colorful pioneer.
The
sixteen page booklet goes on to talk about other towns people, the
churches, ministers, the school, the rural one room school, woodman
hall, and teachers from 1870 to 1961. I would be happy to
share if someone has an inquiry. (e-mail Pat Conley) The Oconto Falls
Herald dated Friday, November 20, 1903 had the following account:
Patrick
Kelly On Saturday last Patrick Kelly, of Kelly Lake, one of the pioneer
settlers, crossed the great divide to "that bourne from which no weary
traveler e'er returns." Mr. Kelly was something of a
charactor and was perhaps one of the most widely know residents in
Oconto County. In his earlier days to the honorable
occupations of farming and lumberman he added the dignified role of
justice of the peace, and possessed the rare faculty of interpreting
law with a rapidity and daring that made him famous. With the
exception of one daughter, Mrs. John Gilligan of Amanda, Mr. Kelly was
alone in the world in the matter of relatives, his wife, sons, and
daughters all having preceded him on the great journey. The
deceased was upwards of eighty years of age, and for several years past
he lived in a cabin on the farm of George Beyer, at Kelly Lake.
Oconto
County Reporter - Saturday, April 23, 1881
A
certain son of the Emerald Isle, whom we will call Pat, for short, and
a certain legal light have not been on loving terms for sometime, and
the great delight of Pat, is to get him into all the trouble he
can. A short time ago Pat, secured a young bear and thought
it would be just about the proper thing to send it as a present to
him. So he had it properly labeled and shipped it by
stage. The stage driver led the bear into the lawyer's
office, but he was over attending a lawsiuit he was interested in and
the stage driver tied it to the leg of the table. Sometime
after this the lawyer went up to his office and sat down to the table
to write, unconscious that there was a bear in the room. In
moving his feet around he came in contract with the bear's
ear. The bear didn't like this and began to hug the lawyer's
leg. The lawyer kicked but the bear only hugged the
more. Things had now grown desparate, both fighting with
wicked determination. The bear had the best of it, however,
and all that was left of the lawyer's pants was a rear button hanging
at the end of his suspender. About this time three ladies
happend in, but they immediately rushed out and told those on the
sidewalk that there were two bears fighting in the lawyer's
office. The men rushed up to see what was the
matter. They found the lawyer sitting up in the transom over
the door, and the bear trying to climp up after him. They at
once secured the bear and helped the lawyer down from his
perch. After a free use of court plaster, and getting into a
new pair of pants, he was able to appear in public once more.
The last seen of him he was going up Main street with a double-bareled
shot-gun looking for the stage driver who left the bear. Pat (Kelly)
had his revenge. ______________
This
piece appears to be copied from a book and has "from Bruce Paulson 21
March 1983" written on the side.
Close Proximity
Among
the early settler in the County were some strong characters.
One of them was Pat Kelly, who had a farm on the (Kelly) lake
which was named for him. One day he came into Holt &
Balcom's office and said to Mr. Balcom, "Colonel, do you own such and
such a forty?" (giving the description.) Mr. Balcom
said, "Yes, why do you ask?" "Well," Pat replied, "no reason,
except that I notice a party cutting the timber in very close proximity
to the forty and thought you would like to look into it." Mr.
Balcom sent a crusier to look it over as soon as possible, and when he
got there he found that all of the timber on the forty had been cut and
the logs landed in Pestigo Brook and had been sold to one of
the mill companies. Assuming that the party who was cutting
there had cut the timber, Holt & Balcom sued him for
the value of the trespass and in the course of the trail it appread
that Pat Kelly himself had cut the timber, and consequenlty Holt
& Balcom lost the suit. Mr. Balcom asked
Pat why he told him that this man was cutting his timber, and Pat
replied that he did not say that he cut the timber but only that he was
cutting in very close proximity, and that was true as the man was
cutting an adjoining forty.
Pat
Kelly Conley (great great grandson of pioneer Pat Kelly)
__________________________
Newspaper
name or date is not given. However, handwritten in a corner
is date 6-3-76.
Pat
Kelly Pioneer In Settling Hickory Area
(Editor's
Note: This is the third in a series of articles written and
illustrated by Bette Rae Turner of Kelly Lake concerning the history of
the "tri-lake territory".)
KELLY
LAKE - The settlers are here to stay. Boundaries
have narrowed considerably around the "tri-lake Territory."
It's 130 years ago and Wisconsin has become the 30th state taking it's
name from the Indian name for the Wisconsin River with it's final
spelling. The Indians have relinquished all territorial rights, and
many have been moved to distant reservations. English and
French have been forced to change their attitudes toward
settlers. Many have moved on, but all three have left their
influence upon this infant state. Enough settlers have come to
Wisconsin to be able to contribute 91,000 Union soldiers to fight in
the Civil War. An even smaller boundary around the tri-lakes has been
laid out and taken it's name, Oconto County, from the Indian name for
the river, which may have meant "place of the pickerel" or the
Menominee word meaning "black bass'". The small settlement of
Hickory Corners has sprung up near our shores. One of the settlers to
the Hickory area, who may have been most important to Kelly Lake
citizens, was Pat Kelly, whose grave site is pictured. (Note: Copied
illustration of picture is very poor).
________________________________
The
following is an article written by Nell Shellman fo rthe Hickory
Centennial, a newspaper published August 23-24, 1975, in honor of the
100th birthday of the Hickory United Methodist Church.
"The Site - Hickory Hill"
"One
could not compose the church history without envisioning the territory
as it was in the mid-nineteenth century. It was a wilderness
of heavy timber, lakes, streams, and rivers, trackless to any traveler
but the native Indian. "Pat Kelly, a colorful Irishman, who had left
the Emerald Isle as a lad of fifteen, arrived in Canada, almost
penniless. He is thought to be the first to see Hickory in
that time, settling here in 1859. In Canada his first work
was in a hotel. He met and married a young woman by the name
of Margaret Moore. It must have been soon afterward they
moved to Oconto. This was just a small settlement of rude log cabins
and a few stores at the mouth of the Oconto River on the Bay
Shore. They worked hard here for a few years and then decided
that this place just was not their "cup of tea". "Packing their
belongings in a cart drawn by a team of oxen, they began a trek toward
the west. apparently veering north. Often Pat had
to chop down trees to make a path for the cart. Two weeks
later on a bright spring morning they arrived at Hickory and decided
that this was their place. " "It was not long and they had a samll log
house built. It is reported that there were hickory trees and
the land was the "rolling" type which provides good drainage for
farmlands. . . "The Kelly's nearest neighbors were at Stiles and
Oconto. A shopping trip took a week. (Talk about
isolation) . . . "Kelly Lake honors this historical pioneer figure and
is told that resorters tried at times to change the name to Crystal
Lake. Such moves were defeated." A Pat Kelly was known to
have owned land on the west side of the lake, then known as Crystal
Lake, but became know as Kelly's Lake because Kelly tried to sell lots
to people. A very old plat book pictures the lake rather poorly, and
spells the name Kelley. Some people remember a Kelly who
rented boats down on the south end to the lake many, many years ago.
Whether all of these recollections are of the same Pat Kelly from
Canada, or descendents of his, we do not know, but in any case, one of
the tri-lakes now has it's present name.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kelly Family
Genealogy and Obituaries
Patrick Kelly was born March 21, 1815 in Ireland to John
Kelly and Ann McKenna. He died November 15, 1903 in Maple Valley,
Oconto Co., WI and was buried in the Kelly Family Cemetery, Maple
Valley, Oconto Co., WI. Margaret (Peggy) Moore was born in 1822 and
died September 3, 1896 in Hickory, Oconto Co., WI. It is believed Pat
Kelly worked for a Moore lumberman in Canada, met his daughter,
Margaret Moore, entered the United States at Niagara Falls and were
married as written by William Sloan March 3, 1988 per conversation with
Adelia Sloan Wilkinson. Children: John was born April 10, 1849 in New
York. Married Levena Piggott August 8, 1895. Died February 20, 1895.
Mary Jane was born August 12, 1852 in Milwaukee Co., WI. Married John
Carabagh Gilligan September 29, 1874. Died December 19, 1918. James was
born August 21, 1853 in Oconto Co., WI. Died July 15 185? about the age
of 4. Rose Anna was born April 6, 1856 in Oconto Co., Wi. Married
Gustave Yance August 15, 1872. Died November 30, 1892. Margaret (Little
Maggie) was born September 4, 1858 in Oconto Co., WI and died as a
baby. Isabelle was born August 17, 1860 in Oconto Co., WI. Married
William James Sloan October 12, 1892. Died September 5, 1927. Emily was
born July 1863 in Oconto Co., WI. Married John Kammer July 6, 1888.
Died May 31, 1894. Margaret Elizabeth was born May 13, 1867 in Oconto
Co., WI. Married Charles Chamberlain August 26, 1891. Died November 14,
1891. Information supplied by Maria Gilligan.
_____________________________ KELLY OBITUARIES John Kelly
Killed Tree Fell Upon Him Yesterday Afternoon Died Twenty Minutes After
the Accident Well Know in Oconto and a Member of the Local Order of Odd
Fellows - Particulars Meagre. _______________ A telephone messge from
H.M. Lord of Hickory, yesterday afternoon, conveyed the sad news that
John Kelly, a pioneer of Oconto county, was almost instantly killed by
a tree, which he had been chopping, falling upon him. Mr. Kelly was
well know in the city, highly respected, and a member of the local
order of Odd Fellows. Today, Charles Lynes and A.J. Caldwell,
representling the order, are at the home of the unfortunate man, making
arrangements for the funeral, which possibly may be held on Sunday. Mr.
Kelly was about 45 years of age, and married. ___________________
My records show John was the oldest son of Pat Kelly. John was born
April 10, 1849 in New York to Patrick Kelly and Margaret (Peggy) Moore.
Had been first married to Levena Piggot and most recently to Maggie
Reynolds (b1846-d1886). _ _____________________ The Inquirer - City of
Oconto, Wis., Friday, Sept. 11, 1896 Obituary: Mrs.
Marguerite Kelly died at her home near Kelly Lake on Thursday of last
week of general debility, aged seventy-four years. She was the wife of
Patrick Kelly who is very well known in this city. The funeral was held
from the residence Saturday. ____________________
Certificate of Death for Margaret states she was born in Ireland in
1822. Died September 3, 1896 of general debility in Hickory, Wis.
Undertaker conducting burial was W.B. Mitchell, Oconto, Wis.
Certificate states burial was in Hickory Cemetery although family
accounts state she was buried in the Kelly Family Cemetery. Note: the
Certificte of Death on file at the Oconto County Court house does not
look official and is hand typed on a piece of paper. ----
___________________ _____________________ Pat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gravestone
Information
Following is a diagram of the Kelly Family Cemetery as described to
William Sloan in 1978 by Ellen Gilligan Ludeman, Leola "Dolly" Gilligan
Baccus, Elizabeth "Betty" Gilligan Conley, Evelyn Gilligan Kessler, and
Bernard "Bun" Gilligan who were gg grandchildren of Pat Kelly, grew up
on the Tom Gilligan farm, visiting the cemetery not far from their home
many times.
For historical accuracy for generations to come, the cemetery plots should
have Margaret Sloan, Mary Isabelle Sloan, Patrick Kelly, and Margaret
Moore Kelly on the left and the others on the right column.
---------------------> Walk to the house
.
Charlie Chamberlain
.
Margaret Kelly Chamberlain
Margaret Sloan James Kelly
(Isabelle Kelly's Baby) (Son of Pat Kelly)
Mary Isabelle Sloan Margaret Kelly
(Baby who died in Infancy)
Patrick Kelly Emily Kelly
Kammer
(Elizas mother)
Margaret Moore Kelly George Kammer
(Pat Kelly's wife) (Infant some
of Emily Kelly)
9/23/96
Rolyn "Lee" Gilligan and Lyle Gilligan, son's of Bernard Gilligan, still
live in Hickory Corners. Lee states that Tommy Gilligan and Howard
Gilligan, infant son's of his grandfather Thomas Gilligan, are also
located in the cemetery. Lee and Lyle also visited the cemetery as
children and have knowledge of where the cemetery was located.
Stones mentioned above with initials E.K. (Emily Kammer), M.K. (Margaret
Kelly?), and M.C. (Maggie Kelly Chamberlain), are now located in Kelly
Brook Cemetery.