| Home Surname List Name Index Sources | Eleventh Generation1199. Mary WELLS117,375 was born on 5 July 1904 in Bakersfield, CA. She was born on 5 July 1904 in Kingston, Oklahoma. She died on 30 June 1999 in Bakersfield, California. On Mary Kelley's 92 birthday, her grandaughter, Sue Naugle Santore wrote this poem for her and read it to her in Bakersfield, CA. Mary Kelley, they say, that you Here is her autobiography, written by Mary Kelley. Also , I remember one day Papa brought home a lug of raisins. Mama gave me and JC a hand full and said that was enough for awhile. Then she set it up on a shelf, but I got a chair and climbed up to get some more, but Mama caught me and told JC to go get a switch. I thought if I go get a switch, she won't whip me. I ran and got a little stick. She took it and gave me a couple of licks on the leg. Another time all of us kids were at a pond crawfish fishing and I nearly got snake bit, but my older brother, Cecil, jerked me away and killed the water moccasin. I also remember picking cotton in a flour sack. I don't remember very much about the day we moved. Papa had been staying there building the house. He built the barn first out of logs and lived in it till he got a little house in the back built. We called it a smoke house where we smoked the meat to cure it. Of course we put other things in it such as onions after they were pulled, but that was later. We had a nice house for those days. (It was) a two story house with a balcony in front with two bedrooms upstairs. When it was hot, us kids slept out on the balcony. I remember when we first moved there, Papa had hired the land cleared, but it was piled in piles, called brush piles. Papa had all of us kids out there burning brush. I was only 6 1/2 and J.C. was 4 years old, but we were helping. Well, J.C. and I started playing and Papa told us to get to work. Well, we didn't, so he got a big switch and gave both of us a couple of licks. That taught us to always do what he said after that. We only lived 1/2 mile from school so started to school. I liked school, but don't remember very much about it the first few years. The second year my oldest sister, who had graduated before we left Kingston, came to Lark (?), where we lived, to teach. That was so she could stay at home and didn't have to pay board. She was my teacher. We didn't have kindergarten in those days. We had primer. I was in 1st grade that year. J.C. started in primer, but he was smarter than I was, so he was soon promoted to 1st grade. He and I were always in the same grade after that. Papa was very strict, so when we weren't in school, we were in the field working. We had two months of school in summer, July and August, then didn't start fall school until the 1st of December. Some times we went out and picked cotton after we got home in the evening. Papa had 81 acres of land. He planted it all in corn the first year and when it was time to gather in fall, we all helped, except Mama and my oldest sister. She hardly ever went to the field, as Papa thought Mama needed help in the house as we always had a big garden and Mama canned every thing she could. My brother, Cecil, was home that year, but went to collage the next year. I remember we hated working on Saturday afternoon, but it was getting late in the fall and Papa was afraid it would start raining and we couldn't get the corn all gathered. He told us to go back to work on Saturday afternoon. J.C. and I took turns driving the team. It was real hot for October and the wagon run over a limb. It flew up and hit J.C. in the face and scratched it. It started bleeding. Hazel wasn't feeling good and she fainted. Cecil got the water jug and washed her face and brought her to, then he said, "Get into the wagon, Kids. We are going home." and we did. I don't remember Papa saying anything. One time when I was about 11 or 12 years old, all of us girls wanted to go horse riding. As I was youngest, I was elected to go ask Papa if we could ride the horses. When I asked, he said, "No." I stood there a minute and said, "Why can't we?" He said, "You heard what I said." Well, I never asked him why again for when he said no, he meant no. I didn't tell you, when we moved to Lark, there were 9 of us kids. Mama had 3 more while living at Lark. There was: Iva, Dissie, Cecil, Nellie, Hazel, Susie, Me, J.C. and Carrie Bell was the baby when we moved. Then she had little Lewis who died with phenomia when he was 1 1/2 years. Then she had little Freda. She only lived four months. Then she had Joe. He was sickly and nearly died several times until he was 2 year old, then he got well. Papa bought his first car, a 1914 Model T. I was about 11 year old that summer. He took two trips. The first one I went and J.C. stayed at home with the older kids. We went to Tishamingo to see an old aunt of his. The second trip he and Mama, J.C., Carrie Bell and little Joe went to Alta to see his mama, my Grandma Wells, and I stayed home with the older girls. We had a lot of fun. When World War I was over, we celebrated with walking down the road beating on tin pans and shouting, "Peace is declared. The war is over!" The next year when I was 13 years old, we moved again, closer to Kingston. Papa planted the place in wheat. I am getting ahead of myself. I wanted to tell about the flu. Everyone had it. It was during World War I. They said more of our boys died with the flue than they did in the war. When us kids began to come down, Papa was away from home thrashing peanuts, and both of my brothers-in-law were with him. My 2 sisters, Iva and Nellie, were at home. Iva was pregnant with her second baby. She was seven months along and nearly died, but the Doctor brought them both through. I found out later lots of women that were pregnant died. Sometimes the baby lived. Anyway, Mama got word to Papa and they all came home. We were all sick at the same time, but Mama or Papa didn't either one go to bed. I thought later they were probalby sicker than us kids, but stayed up and waited on all of us. When we moved, Hazel and Susie had both finished the 8th grade. We still lived about 5 miles from town, so they didn't get to go to school anymore. J.C., Carried Bell, and I went toa country school. It was 2 1/2 miles. We walked most of the time, but sometimes when the weather was bad, we all rode one horse. J.C. and I were in the 7th grade. The next year Papa bought another farm 2 1/2 miles from Kingston, but we went to another country school. There weren't many kids there, only one more girl in the 8th grade except me and she never got out and played, so I played with the boys. I could play ball, spin tops or anything the boys did as good as any of them. It was 2 1/2 miles, too, but we walked. The next year we went to Kingston in the 9th grade. I played basket ball, was fixing to join the team, when I broke my ankle and had to go on crutches for about 8 months. That was the last of my schooling. I made the biggest mistake of my life. I got married and started having babies. I had 14 babies and lost 3 of them. I still have 11 living and I am prould of every one of them, but that is a different story. I have alread wrote it. I am 84 years old now. Written by Mary Wells Kelley, Sept. 19, 1988. (Although this was written first, I have placed it second because it is mostly about her children.) I was born in a little town in Oklahoma, July 5, 1904, where the big lake Texahoma is now. My father was Lacy Louis Wells. My mother was Noa Ellen Lesley Wells. My mother had 12 children: 8 girls and 4 boys. She raised 9 to be adults. We were poor people, but happy. We always had plenty to eat. I married young at age 17, the biggest mistake I every made, for my husband became an alcholic, so I won't say much about him, although we had some happy times in our early marriage, but we also had some hard times. My first baby was a girl, Bonnie Augusta. She was a sweet little girl. I loved her very much. Then 17 months later we had a boy, B.L. Franklin. When B.L. was 5 months old he fell into a fireplace. We nearly lost him, but the Lord was good. He let us keep him, but his head was burned badly and he never had any hair to grow on the right side of his head. His right hand was burned so badly that all the fingers fell off. It left him with only a club. But he was a sweet and good baby. He learned to do anything any other boy could do. After B.L. was 19 months old, we were blessed with another boy, Lacy Leroy. I loved him just like the others. The day Leroy was 2 year old, Mable Geraldine was born, another darling little girl. We were poor as church mice, but we managed to feed them. In those days we lived on farms and made a garden which helped a lot. I remember when Geraldine begin to walk she would take me by my apron strings and drive me around the house as I did my work. Then when she was 22 months old, we were blessed with another girl, Alta Marquita, a little red head. When Marquita was 25 months old, the Lord sent us another girl, Margie Ellen, another red head. She was a tiny little thing and never did get very big, only 5 feet, but she was a darling little girl. We nearly lost her when she was 2 years old with phenomia. I had just had another baby girl, Emma Jane. She was only 2 days old when Margie got sick, but the Lord was merciful and let us keep her. (Margie) But we lost little Emma Jane at 4 months. One year later we had another boy, Sidney Lee Jr., but we only kept him 5 months. One year later the Lord gave us another girl, Mary Oleta. She was a little Irish rose, with freckles, but just as sweet as any. Seventeen months later the Lord gave us another boy, James Lesley, who was nicknamed "Little Pete". The Lord took him when he was 4 years old, but when he was only 17 months old, we had another boy, Robert Layffette. When Robert was 19 months old, another boy came along, Tommy Gene. Tommy was sickly and we nearly lost him, but the Lord was good again and let us keep him. When Tommy was 2 1/2 years old, along came another little girl, Carrie Bell. We nearly lost her when she was 3 months old, but again, the Lord was good. When Carrie was 7 years old, I divorced my husband. All of the children were married and gon away from home except the 5 youngest: Oleta, Robert, Carl, Tommy, and Carrie. Four months later Oleta was married. It was hard raising the children alone, but I managed. Now they are all married and have families of their own. Now I have 34 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren and expecting 2 more and 3 great-grand babies. I am 77 years old and in pretty good health. I have lived alone for 15 years. My children are all very good to me and I love them all very much. I still have 11 children living. The oldest will soon be 60 years old and the youngest is 37 years old. November 14, 1981 Here I am again in 1991, Christmas. I am 87 years old and I still fee pretty good most of the time. My family is increasing every day. I have 108 decendents and expecting another great-grand bady in February, and another great-great-grandbaby soon, but I am getting ahead of myself. I forgot to say my son Carl died in his sleep 3 years ago, November 29th, 1989. The same day Carries second grand daughter was born. (Transcribed by Sue Naugle Santore, daughter of Bonnie Kelley Naugle, granddaughter of Mary Wells Kelley.) Mary WELLS and Sidney Lee KELLEY were married on 27 July 1921. They were separated in April 1951. They were divorced in November 1951. Sidney Lee KELLEY375,409 was born on 7 March 1900 in Indian Territory, , Oklahoma. He was born on 3 July 1900 in Marshall County, Oklahoma. He died on 15 January 1992 in , , Oklahoma. Mary WELLS and Sidney Lee KELLEY had the following children:
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