Guy C. Kelsey
In tracing the ancestry of the Kelseys in the United States, we go back to the Pilgrim Fathers, although it is not certain that they came on the May Flower, yet they are known to have been here shortly afterward. They were of the Puritan faith, and came from England.
The first of whom we have any definite record was Curtis Kelsey, who was born in Connecticut in 1740. He resided in Connecticut until 1782, when he moved to Fair Haven, Vermont. His family at this time consisted of five children, all born in Connecticut. He died in Fair Haven in 1821.
Parson Kelsey, the eldest son of the above, was born Oct. 1768. He married Lucinda Ames, of Rutland, in 1793. They reared a family of six children, viz., Lyman, Katy, Guy C., Caroline, Curtis, and Calvin. He died in West Haven in 1822. Of his family we shall only speak of Guy C., who was born in West Haven, Vermont, Dec. 4, 1804. He remained in Vermont until 1825 (with the exception of one year that he went to an academy at Granville, N. Y.), after which he taught school a few months, then came to Ohio and entered the Ohio University at Athens, where he remained three years. Then on recommendation of President Wilson of the University, he became teacher of a select school at High Bank Prairie, where he taught three years. In 1829 he married Minerva S. Fuller, a daughter of one of the first settlers of Marietta, Ohio. Shortly after marriage they moved to Franklin, Ohio, where he taught school until 1832, when be commenced merchandising. In 1835 they moved to Sidney and again entered into merchandising, which he has continued to the present time.
Mr. Kelsey by his first marriage had born ten children, three only of whom grew up to maturity, viz., Caroline, Emily, and Lucinda. Mrs. Kelsey died in 1848. In 1849 he married Mary Abbott. By this union there were two children, viz., Anna, wife of G. B. Sterline, of Sidney, and D. Webster, who died in 1875. Of his first children, Caroline married Wm. B. Craig, who is engaged in the wholesale grocery trade in St. Joe, Missouri. Emily married John Frey, of the U. S. Postal Detective Service. They reside in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Lucinda married G. W. Barr, who is engaged with W. B. Craig in St. Joe, Missouri.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883