Summary. This section describes the known children of William (Old Mate) Kerley. William and his family settled in central Tennessee, near the town of Hartsville. William raised his family and died here. Three of his sons (William, James and Daniel) established farms there. His sons and most of his daughters stayed in this general vicinity most of their lives.

Kerley descendants still live there. There are also several Kerley family cemeteries there. My dad and I visited three of these cemeteries in 1993: those of William, James and Daniel. (Put in map). This section of Tennessee is the final resting place not only for William and his wife (Mary), but also for William's parents (Henry and Sarah).

James Kearley⁴ (William³, Henry²,William¹)

James was born somewhere in South Carolina about 1779. (See 1850 census for Smith Co., TN -- family number 1193). He was about 10 years old when his father packed up and moved his family from South Carolina, possibly to North Carolina, then to Kentucky, and finally to Smith County, Tennessee. When he was about 28 years old, James married a young 20 year old gal named Alice Brothers in Barren County, Kentucky. The circumstances surrounding this marriage are quite interesting. According to family legend, James and Alice eloped. That's apparently because Alice was not excited about getting married to someone her folks had chosen for her. On March 5, 1807, a marriage license was issued to Alice and a fellow named Mucajah Hollis. Alice, however, wasn't particularly fond of Mucajah; she had her eyes on someone else. So just 6 days later, on March 11, 1807, she married James Kerley. The marriage was performed by a Reverend James Haynes. A few weeks later, on March 26, 1807, someone applied for a license showing that the marriage occurred on March 11. (Alice was born in North Carolina in 1786 (See above 1850 census record)).

Family legend is that James and Alice got married and left on horseback "with only a skillet and a coffee pot." They apparently settled in Obion Co. in the far northwestern corner of Tennessee. They lived there for several years and started their family there. Then, something really spooked them and caused them to reevaluate their place of residence. During the bitterly cold winter of 1811-1812, their home was rocked by a series of earthquakes. These quakes began on December 16th and continued intermittently for a couple of months.

According to a letter written in 1931 by J. E. Kerley of Portland, Tennessee, a grandson of James and Alice:

As told to me by my parents and grandmother Kerley-- Grandmother ran away & married James Kerley. They came from Va. (MLK: It is uncertain what J. E. Kerley's comment, “They came from Va. about 1810...” refers to. It is certainly possible that James' father and grandfather traveled through Virginia on their way to Tennessee. It is doubtful that James and Alice ever resided in Virginia.) about 1810 and settled near where Reelfoot Lake now is. Early one morning in 1811, grandmother arose to begin some spinning. An earthquake was felt which caused great cracks in the earth and formed Reelfoot Lake. They became alarmed and moved from there and settled on Middle Fork of Goose Creek [near the Smith/Sumner County line].

These earthquakes are well-documented. A Mrs. Eliza Bryan, a resident of the French and Spanish village of New Madrid on the west side of the Mississippi, described the frightening events:

Beginning December 16, 1811, there were violent earthquakes in the area throughout the winter months. On some days the atmosphere was so completely saturated with sulphurous vapors as to cause total darkness; trees cracked and fell into the roaring Mississippi, and on some occasions the current was retrograde for a few minutes, supposedly due to an eruption in the river bed.

[The hardest shock of all came on February 7, 1812,] when the waters of the river gathered up like a mountain, rising fifteen to twenty feet perpendicularly and then receding within its banks with such violence that it took whole groves of young cottonwoods which edged its borders. Fissures in the earth vomited forth sand and water, some closing again immediately.

Mrs. Bryan closed her letter by saying that she had “heard it reported that a lake had been formed on the opposite side of the river in Indian country; that this lake communicated with the river at both ends, making current the conjecture that within a few years the whole of the Mississippi would pass that way." What she had heard was true enough; a 15,000-acre lake, later called Reelfoot, had been suddenly created just on the east side of the Mississippi near where James and Alice were living. Geologists believe that the New Madrid quake was perhaps the single most violent seismic event to strike the North American continent in historic times - greater even than the 1906 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco. An earthquake of that magnitude might very well have scared a young frontier couple with small children into moving to a safer place (such as back eastward where their families and in-laws resided). And it was certainly an event that they would have remembered all of their lives and told their children and grandchildren about.

Military Service. A year or so after James and Alice returned to central Tennessee (around 1811-12), James was drafted to serve in the War of 1812. At about age thirty-four, James became a soldier in the 2d Regiment of the West Tennessee Militia (infantry). (The 2d Regiment was commanded by Colonel Thomas McCrory. James was in Captain Anthony Metcalf's Company). There is some indication that this company may have been raised in Smith County.

James was mustered into service on October 4, 1813, at Fayetteville, Tennessee. (Fayetteville is today the seat of Lincoln County which lies on the state border with Alabama). James had some impressive company in his unit. Both Sam Houston and Davy Crockett were in this unit. (Both of these famous Tennesseans were later to earn their places in history down in Texas). And, the commanding general of this unit (of approximately 2000 soldiers) was an ill-tempered lawyer/plantation owner from Nashville who was later going to become the 7th President of the United States: a fellow named Andrew Jackson. James signed up to serve for ninety days, and he started out as an orderly sergeant earning eleven dollars per month. Two months into his service (on December 13, 1813) James was promoted to Quartermaster sergeant and his pay was raised to $12 a month.

For more information on James' brief military service in the War of 1812, click here: War of 1812

James was discharged in Fayetteville on or about January 4th, 1814, about three months after he was inducted. His military career was over. Records show that he traveled 358 miles round trip to and from his home to his point of enlistment and discharge.

In 1850 Congress passed a bill that granted bounty land to qualified veterans. On March 18, 1852, James Kearley filled out the paperwork for such a grant. This application confirmed the essential details of James' service. (It also confirmed his wife's maiden name (Alice Brothers), the date and place of his marriage, and his age (he was 73 when he filed this application). James signed this application, showing that he was literate. His application was approved and he received a warrant for forty acres. James seems to have sold his land within a year or so, because he made no mention of this land when he made his will on May 1, 1854.

Just about one year after James died (April 28, 1855), his widow, Alice, filed an application for some more bounty land. In March, 1855, Congress enacted another law providing benefits to widows of certain veterans. Alice did not waste any time filing for her benefits under this law, making her application just about a month after the law went into effect. In her application, Alice confirmed the essential details of James' service, and she also provided confirmation of certain key aspects of her relationship with James. She confirms the date and location of her marriage, as well as the name of the clergyman who married them (Reverend James Haynes). She confirmed her original name of Alice Brothers, and the date of death of her husband. She also indicates that James did receive the 40 acres he had applied for, but that he had “disposed of it legally.” Unlike her husband, Alice appears to have been unable to write. She did not sign her application; instead she just made her mark.

Alice's application was approved and she received 120 acres. (I am not certain but it looks like it the warrant was not approved until August 21, 1871, over 16 years after Alice filed her application. I guess that slow government service has been with us a long time.)

Land Ownership. Immediately after being discharged, James headed straight back to Smith County. Less than six weeks later, he purchased his first piece of land (that we have any proof of). On February 10, 1814, James bought his father's (William) hundred acres on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek. This was the same tract that William “Old Mate” Kearley had purchased from the Mungles two and a half years earlier. The deal included William's house. (Note that this transaction was probably not recorded at the courthouse until January 21, 1815).

A few years later (May 30, 1818), James, for some unknown reason, sold half of this farm on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek (50 of the 100 acres) back to his father, William. William kept title of those 50 acres until 1837, when he sold them back to James. I am not sure what was going on here. (Given the large numbers of Kerleys, Kirby's, Collie's and Carleys living in this area at this time, the only way to keep track of who was who is by carefully looking at the locations of the transactions in which these guys were involved. James (and his father) settled on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek. Their neighbors were the Greers and Mungles. So, I assume that any transactions involving the Kerleys that mention the Middle Fork of Goose Creek are references to William and James and their families.

In any event, by 1816, James was clearly established in his new community. In June of that year, he witnessed a transaction in which William Brothers, possibly his brother-in-law, bought some land from a James Ervin. In August, he and his father were involved in a will transaction for a neighbor.

On October 12, 1837, James expanded his farm when he purchased 24 3/4 acres of land on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek. This land abutted the land on which his father, William, was then living.

Children. James and Alice had nine kids.

William⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) See William Kerley page.

Mary⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) See Mary Kerley page.

Lydia⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) See Lydia Kerley page.

James Franklin⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) See James Franklin page.

Elizabeth (“Bess")⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on November 11, 1815. We know almost nothing about her life except that she married Solomon Shaw and lived at least long enough to be named in her father's will (1854).

Nancy⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on February 14, 1818. Nancy married a man named William Snider, and she was still alive when her father made his will in 1854. Nothing else is known about her life.

John Brothers⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on December 5, 1819. He was obviously named for his maternal grandfather. Not much is known of his life.

Martha Washington⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born November 12, 1821. She married Henry Douglas Day in Tennessee on December 22, 1845. They had ten children that we know of between the years of 1846 and 1864. Sometime in the mid- to late 1850s, the Days moved to Randolph County, Arkansas, and by no later than the spring of 1861 they were living in Union County, Illinois. The implication is that, unlike most of Martha's Kearley relatives back in Tennessee, they may not have been Southern sympathizers. Henry died in 1880, and Martha survived him by more than three decades, dying on 16 June 1911. They are buried together at the Campground Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Union County.

Daniel Webster⁵ (James⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on October 30, 1823 and died on Feb. 22, 1870. He married Sarah Reed (1836 - 1927). They had 6 children: James Eldon, Alice r., Isaac Newton, Mollie, William and Bettie.

James was about forty-four and Alice was thirty-six when they finished having children.

Census Records. In 1820, the census taker found the family, including all four girls and three boys (who were then part of the family), living in Smith County. James was tallied as being “engaged in agriculture.”

James and his family again shows up in the 1830 census for Smith County, TN. (#204; here there are 8 children listed, but the ages do not match up precisely with the birth dates listed above). In the 1840 census, James and family are listed again in Smith County (page 28). James is listed as being between 60 and 70 and his wife is between 50 and 60. There are various kids still at home: two boys and one girl. James also owned four slaves (per the 1840 census). On January 12, 1842, he sold a male slave to Joseph Carter. He later left another slave to one of his daughters in his will.

The 1840 census is helpful in that James and his family are listed between Isaac Ethanangle and William Wooten. I suspect that Isaac Ethanangle was really Isaac Ethan Mungle (who married James' sister, Nellie, see below) and with whom I suspect the James' father, William, was living. There is a man age between 80 and 90 in Isaac's household. William Wooten was the husband of James' daughter, Lydia.

James and “Alsy” were enumerated again in Smith County in the 1850 census. He claimed to be seventy-one and his wife gave her age as sixty-four. He said he was born in South Carolina and his wife was born in North Carolina. His daughter, Lydia Wooten, is still living right next door. And, his sister, Nelly Mungle is just a few doors down.

James was still farming in 1850, and he listed the value of his personal possessions at $1000. That valuation may have included one of his slaves since the 1850 slave schedules for Smith County lists a James Kerly/Kirby as having a slave.

In the 1870 census, Allis Kerley was listed as living with her daughter, Lydia Wooten in Smith County, TN. Allis was listed at 84, born in NC.

Pension and will. On May 1, 1854, probably anticipating his imminent death, James prepared and executed a will. James Kerley Will According to Marina Blatherwick, James was injured lifting a hogshead of tobacco. (A fully loaded hogshead (barrel) of tobacco weighed about 1,00 pounds). In his will, James left everything he owned to his wife during her lifetime. After her death, all of his property was to be evenly divided among his nine children. His eldest child, William, was named sole executor. His will also confirmed the fact that he was a slave-owner, because he left "one Negro girl Samantha" to his daughter Mary.

James died on May 4, 1854, three days after making his will. His will was probated during the September, 1854, term of the Smith County Court. He was about 75.

Burial. James is buried in a private cemetery just off of a rural highway in the extreme northern part of Trousdale County (about three or four miles northeast of Hartsville). (I visited here with my father in 1993). Informally known as "the James Kerley Cemetery," this graveyard is a small one, and it is located on the same 100-acre farm that James purchased from his father. This cemetery contains between twelve and twenty graves.

Visible stones include those for: James ( ?? - 1854); Alice (Feb. 13, 1787 - Dec. 25, 1875); James F. Kerley, Jr. (Oct. 23, 1813 - June 13, 1863); Dr. William Kearley (Jan. 21, 1808 - Oct. 1, 1889); Matilda F. Holt Kerley, wife of William Kearley (July 10, 1813 - April 13, 1895); a child, _____ Kerley (June 8, 1857 - Sept. 20, 1861); and J. B. Wooton (July 29, 1829 - July 6, 1864).

Alice survived James by twenty-one years. She died on Christmas Day of 1875.

NOTE: Marina Blatherwick, one of the first persons to study the genealogy of the Kerley family, is descended from this James.

Mary Kerley⁴ (William³, Henry²,William¹)

Mary Delilah was the second child of William and Mary. She was born in South Carolina about 1784. (See 1850 census for Marshall County, KY). This was a few years before the family left to resettle in Tennessee. She married a fellow named William Short, and later moved with him to Marshall County, KY, where she died in 1851. She was one of the few children of Old Mate to leave the Hartsville area.

Henry Kerley⁴ (William³, Henry²,William¹)

Our first record for this Henry is in 1811 when he witnessed Isaac and John Mungle’s sale of land to his father, William. Two years later he witnessed another land transaction, this one involving a sale to a man named Henry Thomas. The importance of this event is that Henry had married Sarah/Sally Thomas, a daughter of this Henry Thomas about 1805. So, he was witnessing a transaction for his father-in-law.

In 1814, he followed in the footsteps of his brother, James, and served for a while in the War of 1812. He enlisted on November 13, 1814, in a unit headed by a Colonel William Metcalf. Henry was a private in the infantry. This unit participated in the Battle of New Orleans in late 1814 and early 1815.

After competing his military service, Henry returned to the Hartsville area and on September 24, 1817, he bought 93 acres of land on the north bank of the Middle Fork of Goose Creek. Thus, he lived right next to his father, William. This particular transaction was witnessed by two members of the Carr family, John and Richard, thus demonstrating a link between the Carr and Kerley families.

Henry is listed on the tax roles for every year between 1816 and 1821, but he does not show up in the 1820 census. Since he owned land there on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek, he should be, but is not, listed in that census. I am not sure whether he was just missed, or whether he had moved out of the area. In any event, he eventually sold his 93 acres in 1828. He appears to have stayed in the general area because he shows up in the 1830 census for Smith County. (# 210; 1 m b/w 40 and 50 -- thus putting his birth sometime b/w 1780 and 1790) and one young girl under age 5, and a wife between 40 and 50. Henry's listing in this census is just a few doors down from the listing for James, his brother. They were living close to each other on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek at this time.

Henry shows up again in the 1840 census, this time, however, in the Sumner County, TN records. He is listed as Henry Curley, and there are only two persons in this household, Henry (b/ 50 and 60) and a female, presumably Sarah (b/w 50 and 60). Neither Henry nor Sarah/Sally appear anywhere in the 1850 census, so I assume that both of them died some time between 1840 and 1850. According to Marina Blatherwick, Henry moved to someplace in Kentucky, and only had two girls, Permelia and Martha and possibly one son, Willie. I have been unable to find any descendants of this family.

William Kerley⁴ (William³, Henry²,William¹ )

William (my direct ancestor) spent virtually his entire life in the Hartsville area. When he was only three years old, his father packed up and moved the family from South Carolina to the greater Hartsville area. William grew to adulthood there, married there, raised a very large family there and died there in 1865.

An old family Bible from someone in William's family survives to this date. I have photocopies of the key pages containing information on this family. (This data is transcribed here: William Kerley Bible Record). We know from this Bible record that William was born on April 11, 1786, and that he married Jane Carr on October 15, 1807. (Jane was born on December 8, 1789). William's principal activity seems to have been making and then taking care of babies. He and Jane had 13 children:

Mahalah Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on November 22, 1808

James Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on September 15, 1810

John Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on December 9, 1812

King Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on September 28, 1814. See King Kerley page.

Mary Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on August 1, 1816

Anna Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on July 28, 1818

William Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on May 24, 1820

Washington Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on April 11, 1822

Margaret Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on Oct. 17, 1823

Elizabeth Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on October 17, 1825

Mirell Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born on February 8, 1828

Thomas Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) was born December 27, 1829

Daniel Kerley⁵ (William⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) born on October 14th, 1832

Census Records. William show up in the 1820 census for Sumner County, TN. The age of his and Jane's births fit perfectly. All seven of their children are, as expected, at home (since they were all under 10 years old at that time). Apparently the census taker missed William in 1830 because he does not show up in any census for that year.

William shows up in the 1840 census for Sumner County (named spelled as Curley, however). His listing is immediately next to the listing for three of his sons: John, King and James, all of whom had apparently moved out and started farms of their own. William still, however, had 4 young children at home (3 boys and one girl). Due to the restructuring of the counties in this part of Tennessee, William shows up in the 1850 census in Macon County, TN. Here he is clearly listed as being 64 and as having been born in South Carolina. (Jane is 60 and was born in TN).

Although William died on June 30, 1865, and should have appeared in the 1860 census, there is no record of him for that year. (Jane, his wife, died on October 28, 1857.)

Military Service. Although he certainly would have been about the right age to serve in the War of 1812, and one ambiguous biography of his grandson, King Kerley, seems to imply that he did serve in that war, I have not been able to find any evidence whatsoever that William served in that War. I believe that William's brothers, James and Henry, however, served in that War.

Land Ownership. The first record that we have of William getting land of his own is a purchase that he made on April 1, 1816. At that time, William was 30 years old and had been married for almost 10 years, and he had several small children. I assume that William lived with his wife and family on his father's farm until he saved up enough money to get a place of his own. That day arrived on April 1, 1816, when he purchased 100 acres of land from a fellow named James McKane. This 100 acres was located in Sumner County, on the West Fork of Goose Creek. This was about three miles west of the place where his father had settled. The land cost William $220. A little over a decade later, on December 6, 1828, William added 4 1/2 acres to his holdings. He got those 4 1/2 acres at a bargain price of one cent per acre.

Death and Burial. According to the Bible record, William died on June 30, 1865. We have no record, however, of any will that William might have prepared. We suspect that he (and Jane) are buried in the William Kerley Cemetery near Green Grove Church in Macon County. I visited this cemetery in 1993, but could find no headstones for either him or Jane. (There were markers, however, for his son, William and that William's family).

Kerley Post office and Kerley store and Kerley mill in that area created by some of his descendants. Interesting story of lawsuits involving his son James and some Mungles in 1854 just before James’ death. Another series of lawsuits dealing with the disposition of his estate after his death. His sons, King and John, go to Illinois.

Nellie⁴ (William³, Henry²,William¹)

Nellie (maybe Eleanor or Ellender) was born about 1789 in South Carolina (See 1850 and 1860 censuses for Smith Co., TN) just before her father packed up the family and moved to Tennessee. About 1810, when she turned 21 or so, she married Isaac Mungle. (Isaac was the son of Daniel Mungle, a Revolutionary War vet who got 640 acres on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek for his service). The Kerleys had a long relationship with the Mungles. (William "Old Mate" Kerley had witnessed Daniel Mungle's will back in 1803, and around the same time that Isaac was marrying Nellie, Daniel's sons sold Old Mate his first track of land in Tennessee in 1811). (Was there a quid pro quo? We'll sell you some land if you let your daughter marry one of us?)

Nellie and Isaac had seven children there in Smith County.

Ruth Mungle⁵ (Nellie⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹), b. 1811

William Mungle⁵ (Nellie⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹), b. 1813

John Mungle⁵ (Nellie⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹), b. 1815

Malinda Mungle⁵ (Nellie⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹), b. 1817

Andrew Greer Mungle⁵ (Nellie⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹), b. 1819 (Andrew Greer was another contemporary of William Kerley and Daniel Mungle. The Greer land on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek adjoined Daniel’s and William’s, as evidenced by numerous land transaction records in Smith County. Andrew apparently served in the Virginia Colonial Militia as well as in the War of 1812. The first mention of him in Tennessee is his purchase of 640 acres on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek in August, 1803.)

Sarah Mungle⁵ (Nellie⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹), b. Jan. 17, 1822

Allen Mungle⁵ (Nellie⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹), b. 1828

Nellie and Isaac's marriage fell on hard times after they had been married for about 34 years. In 1844, Isaac decided to move to Missouri. We are not quite sure what prompted Isaac to want to make this move, but we know that Nellie did not like this idea at all. She refused to go to Missouri with Isaac. This refusal led to Isaac divorcing Nellie. As part of the divorce proceedings, Isaac made sure that Nellie was well taken care of. He not only gave her a slave, but he gave his son, Allen, 145 acres in exchange for Allen's promise to take care of Nellie and his sister, Sarah, until she married.

The official record of this separation arrangement is quite interesting. It provides that:

"In as much as my wife, Nelly Mungle, refuses and says she never will go with me to Missouri, I, Isaac Mungle, after having made other arrangements for her maintenance, give her one Negro girl, and said girl's increase with the exception of the child she now has. Said girl, Harriet, is to belong to the said Nelly Mungle during her lifetime, and if said Nelly Mungle should ever marry again, she must give of said Negro girl and her increase, if any, or give bond and good security for the forthcoming of said girl and increase, if any. At the death of said Nelly Mungle with all other property that may be left at her death is to be equally divided between our surviving children, William, John, Andy, Allen and Sally."

Smith Co., TN Deed Book "S", page 59. Signed and witnessed on August 3, 1844.

On the same date, in Deed Book "S", page 58, Isaac transferred 145 acres of land to his son, Allen, in exchange for the maintenance of Nelly, and the care of his sister, Sarah Mungle.

This divorce became final in Missouri in September, 1847. The official grounds for the divorce was Nelly's desertion of her husband. (Isaac subsequently married Lovina Lantz in Madison County, Missouri, on Oct., 10, 1847).

Nelllie shows up in Isaac's household in the 1830 census for Smith County, TN. (# 213). She is listed as being b/w 40 and 50, thus making her birth date b/w 1780 and 1790. She then shows up alone in both the 1850 and 1860 census listings. Both listings show her as having been born in South Carolina around 1789. (For some strange reason, Nelly is called Mary in the 1860 census). In the 1860 census she is living right next door to her sister-in-law Alice Kearley.

Land records from Smith County, Tennessee between 1800 and 1850 show that Isaac was actively involved in buying and selling property. On December, 8, 1843 Isaac gave Negro girls to two of his daughters. Malinda got one named Orra and Sarah also got one.

Since Nelly does not show up in the 1870 census any where, she presumably died sometime between 1860 and 1870. Per Smith County inventory Book "C" 1870 - 1877, p. 110, Ellender Mungle died somewhere about 1875. We do not know where she is buried.

Elizabeth⁴ (William³, Henry²,William¹)

Very little is known about this Elizabeth. Per Marina, she married a fellow named William Roper. William Roper is, in fact, listed in the 1840 Sumner County census (1 m b/w 50 and 60; 1 f b/w 40 and 50). This listing is just a few houses away from the listing for Elizabeth’s brother, William. This listing is consistent with Elizabeth having been born sometime in the 1790's.

William and Elizabeth then appear together in the 1850 and 1860 Smith County censuses. They told the census taker that William was 76 in 1850 and that Elizabeth was 56 in that year. Thus, William would have been born in 1774, and Elizabeth would have been born in 1794. In 1850, Elizabeth gives “unknown” as the state of her birth. The fact that she did not know where she was born is consistent with the family legend that says that her father, William, left South Carolina about 1789 and worked his way over to Kentucky. Elizabeth may thus have been born somewhere while the family was en route between South Carolina and Tennessee. In 1850, William and Elizabeth were living really close to both Elizabeth's sister, Nelly Mungle, and to her brother, James, and James' wife, Alice Kerley as evidenced by their close listings in the census.

10 years later, in the 1860 census, William and Elizabeth were still living in Smith County, TN., very close to her sister (Nelly Mungle) and her sister in law (Alice Kerley). This time William is listed as being 80 and having been born in North Carolina. Elizabeth is listed as being 68 and having been born in North Carolina. (Not sure we can ascribe much significance to this North Carolina fact because 10 years earlier Elizabeth could not remember where she had been born). Her birth year here is also inconsistent with the age she gave in the 1850 census.

Neither Elizabeth nor William appear in the 1870 census, but Elizabeth does show up in the 1880 census. She is in Trousdale Co., TN living with her nephew. William has apparently died by this time (Marina says she was a widow for many years) because she is listed as being a widow. (William is buried in the graveyard on the old Roper place on Goose Creek). This listing also provides some crucial data about her parents. The listing specifies that Elizabeth was born in Kentucky about 1793, and that both of her parents were born in South Carolina. This confirms our belief about the birthplaces of her parents.

The 1880 census is our last record for Elizabeth. She apparently lived well into her 80's. According to Marina, Betsy was a very small woman with dark hair, and she had no children.

Daniel⁴ (William³, Henry²,William¹)

Daniel, the youngest son of Old Mate and Mary Bostic, is very well-documented. He was born on April 4, 1797, in Kentucky. His birth in that state shows that his parents had reached that state by then. (Give Elizabeth's contention (see above) that she was also born in Kentucky about 1793, it appears that the family may have been there in the early 1790's). After the family relocated to the greater Hartsville, TN area, that's where Daniel spent his entire life. He got married there, raised his family there, died and was buried there.

About 1820, he married Elizabeth Turnbull, the daughter of a Revolutionary War veteran. They started having kids soon thereafter. They had nine kids. (Uncertain about Ruth, Thule and James, however).

Mary Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1821 -1851)

Ruth Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1823 - 6/1/1884)

Thule Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1825 - ?)

William L. Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1827 - 1904)

James Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1829 - )

Elizabeth Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1830 - 1907)

Louisa Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1832 - 1851)

George Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1835 - 1851)

R.H. Kerley⁵ (Daniel⁴, William³, Henry²,William¹) (1837 - 1920)

Since three of these children died in a short 6 month period between March and September, 1851 at relatively young ages, I expect that some kind of horrible disease swept through this part of Tennessee that year, and took a heavy toll on this family.

Daniel shows up regularly in the census reports every 10 years between 1830 and 1880. He is in Smith County, TN for the 1830 and 1840 censuses, and in Macon County for the later censuses. Note that in the 1830 census (# 1371; his family includes 3 boys under age 5, and 2 girls between 5 and 10 years old, thus making it likely that Ruth was, in fact, a daughter of his). In that census, two old people are living in Daniel's house (one male 60 to 70 and one female b/w 60 and 70). Could these be Daniel's parents (William and Mary?) The dates are close to what we would expect to find for those two folks.

10 years later (1840), Daniel shows up on the same page (in Smith County) as his brother James and his brother-in-law, Isaac Mungle. Something strange must have happened because the family includes 8 girls between 5 and 10 years old. Some relative must have died and that relative's children moved in with Daniel.

In 1850, all of the children (except Ruth and Thule) are still at home, but by 186o only two children were still at home (Elizabeth and Robert). And in 1870, only Elizabeth is still at home. There is an interesting item in the 1870 census in that Daniel is listed in the column that asked whether the person " was a male citizen over 21 years of age whose right to vote is denied or abridged on other grounds than rebellion or other crime." I am not sure what this means, but since almost all of Daniel's neighbors are listed similarly, I assume that this something that was applicable to all males in that part of Tennessee.

In 1878-9, an elderly Daniel and an elderly Elizabeth filed several documents supporting the claim of a woman named Sarah Carr for a military pension. (Sarah's husband was James Carr and Sarah 's original name was Sarah Turnbull. So, I suspect that Sarah and Elizabeth were sisters). The Carrs were neighbors of the Kerleys on the Middle Fork of Goose Creek. One document (in 1879) contains the quite legible signatures of both Daniel and Elizabeth, but separate documents prepared a year earlier (in 1878) have James' signature on them, but Elizabeth uses a mark (indicating that she was not able to write her own name). The 1878 documents attest to the fact that Daniel and Elizabeth attended Sarah's wedding in Smith County, TN on December 18, 1815.

Daniel's last census listing was in 1880 and his daughter, Elizabeth, was still at home. The curious thing about this particular record is that it lists the birthplaces of both his mother and father as being Kentucky. That, however, is highly unlikely since there were very few white settlers in Kentucky in the 1750's. I assume that an elderly Daniel simply guessed at where his folks were born.

Daniel died on Christmas Day, 1884, and is buried, along with his wife and some of his kids, in the Daniel Kerley cemetery in Macon County. I visited here in 1993.

Note marriage difficulties of later generations. William K. divorce from Fridonia; William’s divorce from Mahala Carr.