Stephen Robert and Lydia Kelsey
By Seth Kelsey from the History of the Bear Lake Pioneers
Stephen Robert Kelsey was born December 29, 1830 at Montville Ohio, the only son and second child of Stephen Kelsey and Rachel Allen. His mother joined the Mormon church near this time and from then on they were associated with this church and continued to move wet with it. They first moved to Adams Co Illinois near Nauvoo in 1843. They remained here until the 1846 expulsion of the Mormons from Nauvoo. During this year they made their way to Cutlers Park, Nebraska. Stephen Kelsey, the father, had never joined the church and the task of going out into this untamed territory did not appeal to him, so at the Des Moines River in Iowa, he left the company and his family and went back to Ohio where he died.
In the spring of 1847, Stephen Kelsey was chosen by Brigham Young to be a member of the first Utah pioneer company. He made the trip to the Salt Lake Valley that summer and returned to Winter Quarters that fall. He fount on his return that his mother and one sister had passed away. In 1849 he made a trip to California in search of gold and secured a small amount and then returned to Utah that fall. It was after this that he met and married Lydia Snyder (1851) They made their first home at Union, a little village just south of Salt Lake City. They moved to Brigham City in 1852 and then to Bear Lake in 1864.
In the spring of 1864 the Kelsey family was
well established in Brigham City. They had a nice home, a farm and meadow
land, cattle, horses and a small band of sheep. In April they were called along
with others to make settlements in the Bear Lake country. The Kelsey
family disposed of their land holdings, loaded their goods and took off for the
new county. They went by way of Cache Valley, up through Emigration Canyon
and on to Paris.
Children of Stephen Robert Kelsey and Lydia Snyder
1. Electa Abigail Kelsey b-3 Dec 1851 in
Cottonwood, Salt Lake Utah; d-14 Jan 1926 in Ovid; m-Frederick Sleight 20 July
1874 in Salt Lake City
2. Stephen Robert Kelsey b-9 Oct 1853 in Brigham City Utah; d-21 Dec 1935 in
Montpelier
3. Lydia Melissa Kelsey b-1 Nov 1856 in Brigham City; d-14 Apr 1912 in
Bloomington; m-Samuel Payne
4. Sylvia Kelsey b-17 Jan 1859 in Brigham City; d-21 Apr 1929 in Nounan; m-John
Skinner
5. Alice Diadame Kelsey b-15 Feb 1861 in Little Cottonwood, Utah; d-17 Nov 1921
in Dingle; m-Samuel Nate
6. Rachel Kelsey b-5 July 1863 in Brigham City; d-23 Jan 1865 in Paris
7. Mary Eliza Kelsey b-30 Mar 1865 in Paris; d-14 Apr 1918 in Paris; m-Edward
Johnson
8. Lavina Kelsey b-17 Oct 1868 in Paris; d-10 Apr 1932 in Soda Springs
9. Betsy Ann Kelsey b-19 Oct 1870 in Paris; d-19 June 1951 in Salt Lake City;
m-C Chapman
10. Minerva Jane Kelsey b-19 Jan 1872 in Paris; d-28 Nov 1906 in Garland Utah
11. Rosina Myanda Kelsey b-24 Jan 1874 in Paris; d-22 July 1936 in Pocatello
Idaho
12. John Easton Kelsey b-18 Nov 1876 in Paris; d-25 July 1960 in Montpelier
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Children of Electa Abigail Kelsey and Frederick Sleight
1. Charles Sleight b-19 May 1875 in Paris; d-19
May 1875 in Paris
2. Frederick William Sleight b-23 July 1876 in Paris; d-16 Nov 1918 in
Montpelier; br-Lanark Cemetery
3. Lydia Ann Sleight b-Jan 1879 in Paris
4. Electa Louise Sleight b-10 Mar 1881 in Paris; d-9 May 1881 in Paris
5. Phoebe Ellen Sleight b-Aug 1882 in Paris
6. Stephen Richard Sleight b-14 Aug 1884 in Paris; d-8 Nov 1943 in Paris
7. Charlotte Sylvia Sleight b-Apr 1889 in Paris
8. Ida Jane Sleight b-24 Aug 1891 in Ovid; d-28 May 1912
9. John Lamb Sleight b-17 Aug 1893 in Ovid; br-17 May 1940; br-Ovid Cemetery
10. Roscoe Kelly Sleight b-29 Nov 1895 in Ovid; d-3 Dec 1974; br-Ovid Cemetery
Stephen Kelsey died May 22, 1900 and was buried in the Paris Cemetery. Lydia Kelsey died October 9, 1905 and was also buried in the Paris Cemetery.
For more information on this family, go to http://webspace.webring.com/people/ks/sjkelsey/stevek/pafg02.htm