From: The History of Marshall County, Indiana
Hon. Charles Kellison, the subject of this sketch, was born near the city of Hornellsville, Steuben county, N. Y., on the 17th day of June, 1S50, being the youngest of seven children, whose parents were James and Elizabeth Kellison.
His boyhood was spent in the severe labor of the farm, and as a consequence his opportunities for obtaining an education were confined during those years to the country schools of his neighborhood. He early developed a strong liking for mathematics, poetry, language, history and science, and by the closest application when at school and by employing his-unoccupied hours and evenings, while engaged in farm life, succeeded in acquiring a fund of knowledge far in advance of the average person of like opportunities.
In this manner, without other advantages than such as were afforded by the district schools, and a few years in the city schools of Hornellsville, at the age of eighteen, he possessed mental acquirements rarely equalled by those having the advantages of a thorough academic course. He was at this time a fair Latin scholar and possessed some knowledge of the German.
His earliest ambition was to become a lawyer, and when about eighteen years of age he decided to take a medical and scientific course at college as a better means of preparing him for a specialty in the law. He completed this course, took the degree of doctor of medicine at the University of Michigan at the age of twenty-two. He practiced medicine for two years at Scio, Alleghany county, N.Y., for the purpose of earning means to prosecute his legal studies, made a decided success, and gained considerable reputation as a surgeon.
In 1874, for the purpose of getting in the profession of law, according to original plan, he left a promising medical practice, and removed to Decatur, Adams county, Ind., where he entered himself as a law student in the office of Judge Studebaker of that place, and was
admitted to the bar in 1876.
Mr. Kellison spent several years of his life in the work of teaching in the public schools of New York and Indiana, and in Adams county before his admission to the bar he was employed in the grammar department of the Decatur public schools as a teacher.
In 1877 he settled in Plymouth, Marshall county, Ind., where he has since been engaged in the practice of law. In politics he has always been a democrat, and has served the people of Marshall county two terms in the legislature. The writer has been intimately acquainted with him for many years, and is familiar with his standing as a lawyer and a citizen. He has a strong analytical mind, indomitable pluck and perseverance, and he has met with flattering success in the practice of his profession.
As a member of the legislature of 1SS5 without previous legislative experience or parliamentary practice, he leaped at once into prominence as a strong debater and parliamentarian. He was particularly noted for his absolute fearlessness and rugged honesty. He vigorously opposed the apportionment bill of 1885 (commonly called the gerrymander), and made a strong speech in opposition to it in the house when floors and galleries were packed with people. He appealed to his political associates to refrain from passing so unfair a measure, and predicted the defeat of his party in 1886, if they passed the bill, a prediction that was fulfilled to the letter.
Some of the ward politicians of his city were displeased with this action, and sought to defeat him for renomination. They brought out three candidates against him at the primaries, but the democratic masses of his district were pleased with his loyalty to jeffersonian principles, and Mr. Kellison received more than eighty per cent, of the entire vote, and was renominated by acclamation in the delegate convention that followed. He was re-elected by
an increased majority, and at both his first and second elections, was the first candidate for representative in his county that received a majority of all the votes cast for that office for a period of eight or ten years before his candidacy.
In the legislature of 1887, he was one of the foremost figures on the democratic side in the stirring scenes incident to the election of Mr. Turpie to the senate. He was one of the three democratic members of the house that were by universal consent looked to by their colleagues for parliamentary leadership and political guidance. These three, Kellison, Jewett and Gordon, represented the democratic members of the house in the celebrated compromise conference that practically guaranteed the election of Senator Turpie. Mr. Kellison was chairman of the democratic caucus committee of the house during the session of 1887, and presided over the joint convention that nominated Senator Turpie.
As an orator Mr. Kellison had no superior in either branch of the general assembly, and as a jury advocate and political speaker stands in the front ranks. He took the place of Senator D. W. Voorhees as orator of the evening at the Emmett anniversary of 18S7, and with but few hours for preparation, delivered an address that was pronounced equal to anything that had ever been made on that occasion in the city of Indianapolis.
As a legislator he labored earnestly and untiringly to secure the passage of laws that would better "the condition of the masses of the people. He endeavored to secure legislation to exempt individuals whose property was encumbered with valid liens and obligations, from paying taxes on what they owed.
His celebrated bill to reduce interest to six per cent, was the occasion of the greatest struggle in the house in the session of 1887. Mr. Kellison's speech in support of that measure was universally conceded to be the strongest array of facts and argument, and the most eloquent appeal for the reduction of the burdens of the debtor class, that was ever made in the legislature of Indiana. The bill failed by a few votes, but the author's speech was published in full in the Indianapolis Sentinel, and more than a thousand extra copies were purchased and circulated by friends of the measure in the house and senate.
Mr. Kellison could have received the nomination for a third term in 1888 without opposition, but publicly and positively declined to be a candidate. His name has been
mentioned for congress in the thirteenth district, and he has long ago earned a nomination to that office by his numerous campaigns and able speeches in behalf of democratic congressional nominees, but he has never asked or been a candidate for that nomination, and refuses to push himself for any office.
He is honest and straightforward in all his business transactions, is industrious and painstaking in all he undertakes, and whether he continues in political life, or confines himself to professional pursuits, he is a man who is bound to grow in favor with the people.
- - - - - - - - - -
Charles was the youngest of the seven children born to James Kellison and Elizabeth Meek. I found the names for only four of the children--Samuel O., Robert N., James Lucius, and Charles P.
I found the family on the 1850 Census, living in Howard, Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 33, was farming for a living. Elizabeth, aged 26, was home tending to the needs of their four children--Samuel and Robert, both aged 6, James, aged 4, and Charles, aged about 2 months.
In 1860, the family was living in Hornellsville (today Hornell), Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 44, was working as a day laborer. Elizabeth, aged 34, was keeping house. There with their parents in 1860 were sons Samuel and Robert, both aged 16, Lucius (aka James), aged 14, and Charles, aged 10.
Four years after that census, Charles' father James Kellison died in 1864 at age 49, when the country was still fighting the Civil War.
As Charles' educational development and early career endeavors are so well explained in the "History of Marshall County Indiana" above, I will not elaborate here, but I couldn't find him on the 1870 Census when he would have been in med school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On 12 Apr 1877 (though the record supposedly has 1887), Charles married the first of his three wives, Ellen "Nellie, Ella" Augusta Cross in Adams Co., Indiana. As Charles moved from Adams Co. to Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana in 1877, and he appears on the 1880 Census, aged 33, with wife Ella, aged 24, and sons Herbert, aged 2, born on 10 Jan 1878, and Louis, aged 7 months, my only conclusion is that their marriage year was actually 1877.
Two years later, daughter Mamie V. joined the family on 18 Oct 1882.
Without the 1890 Census, I can't establish whether Charles and Ella were still together that year or had split up by then. On 17 Oct 1894, Charles married second-wife Flora A. Schilt Milleman in Marshall County. Flora was the daughter of Jacob Schilt and Caroline Hinderer. It was also a second marriage for Flora. She had previously married Jacob Milleman on 20 Sep 1877 in Stark Co., Ohio, and they had a son together named Austin, born in 1880, who died in 1900.
Charles' first-wife Ella remarried a year after Charles did, exchanging vows with William E. Mereness on 7 Jul 1895 in Adams Co., Indiana. They welcomed daughter Alta M. in 1897. On the 1900 Census, Ella (Mereness), aged 44, reported that she had had four children, but that only three had survived to that census year. Charles' son Louis appears to have been the casualty.
In 1900, Charles and second-wife Flora were living on Laporte St. in Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana. Charles, aged 49, was the proprietor of a hotel. In 1890, he had the Grand Hotel built, likely the hotel in question. Flora, aged 41, reported that she had had two children, only one of which was still living. That living child was not with Charles and Flora in 1900. There were however three male boarders living in the home—Hurbert Voris, aged 15, Alburtus Beerbower, aged 28, and Arthur Craig, aged 19.
On 1 Aug 1905, Charles and Ella's daughter Mamie married Cecil G. White in Adams Co., Indiana.
Four months after daughter Mamie married, Charles married for a third time, wedding Etta Florence Gibbons two days before Christmas on 23 Dec 1905. Charles and second-wife Flora must have divorced, as she didn't die until 1925.
Charles and third-wife Etta appeared together on the 1910 Census, living in Plymouth. Charles, aged 59, was practicing law. Etta, aged 34, reported that she had not had any children.
By the time the 1920 Census was enumerated, Charles, aged 69, reported that he was a widower. He was still practicing law, and living at 322 Laporte St. in Plymouth. A year after that census, he died on 27 Jan 1921, aged 70.
He would miss the marriage of son Herbert to Alice F. Peachy on 27 May 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Charles first wife, Ella died in 1936. His second wife Flora died in 1925. I do not know the fate of third-wife Etta. Charles' son Herbert died on 27 Mar 1962. Charles' daughter Mamie died on 9 Aug 1865.
Hon. Charles Kellison, the subject of this sketch, was born near the city of Hornellsville, Steuben county, N. Y., on the 17th day of June, 1S50, being the youngest of seven children, whose parents were James and Elizabeth Kellison.
His boyhood was spent in the severe labor of the farm, and as a consequence his opportunities for obtaining an education were confined during those years to the country schools of his neighborhood. He early developed a strong liking for mathematics, poetry, language, history and science, and by the closest application when at school and by employing his-unoccupied hours and evenings, while engaged in farm life, succeeded in acquiring a fund of knowledge far in advance of the average person of like opportunities.
In this manner, without other advantages than such as were afforded by the district schools, and a few years in the city schools of Hornellsville, at the age of eighteen, he possessed mental acquirements rarely equalled by those having the advantages of a thorough academic course. He was at this time a fair Latin scholar and possessed some knowledge of the German.
His earliest ambition was to become a lawyer, and when about eighteen years of age he decided to take a medical and scientific course at college as a better means of preparing him for a specialty in the law. He completed this course, took the degree of doctor of medicine at the University of Michigan at the age of twenty-two. He practiced medicine for two years at Scio, Alleghany county, N.Y., for the purpose of earning means to prosecute his legal studies, made a decided success, and gained considerable reputation as a surgeon.
In 1874, for the purpose of getting in the profession of law, according to original plan, he left a promising medical practice, and removed to Decatur, Adams county, Ind., where he entered himself as a law student in the office of Judge Studebaker of that place, and was
admitted to the bar in 1876.
Mr. Kellison spent several years of his life in the work of teaching in the public schools of New York and Indiana, and in Adams county before his admission to the bar he was employed in the grammar department of the Decatur public schools as a teacher.
In 1877 he settled in Plymouth, Marshall county, Ind., where he has since been engaged in the practice of law. In politics he has always been a democrat, and has served the people of Marshall county two terms in the legislature. The writer has been intimately acquainted with him for many years, and is familiar with his standing as a lawyer and a citizen. He has a strong analytical mind, indomitable pluck and perseverance, and he has met with flattering success in the practice of his profession.
As a member of the legislature of 1SS5 without previous legislative experience or parliamentary practice, he leaped at once into prominence as a strong debater and parliamentarian. He was particularly noted for his absolute fearlessness and rugged honesty. He vigorously opposed the apportionment bill of 1885 (commonly called the gerrymander), and made a strong speech in opposition to it in the house when floors and galleries were packed with people. He appealed to his political associates to refrain from passing so unfair a measure, and predicted the defeat of his party in 1886, if they passed the bill, a prediction that was fulfilled to the letter.
Some of the ward politicians of his city were displeased with this action, and sought to defeat him for renomination. They brought out three candidates against him at the primaries, but the democratic masses of his district were pleased with his loyalty to jeffersonian principles, and Mr. Kellison received more than eighty per cent, of the entire vote, and was renominated by acclamation in the delegate convention that followed. He was re-elected by
an increased majority, and at both his first and second elections, was the first candidate for representative in his county that received a majority of all the votes cast for that office for a period of eight or ten years before his candidacy.
In the legislature of 1887, he was one of the foremost figures on the democratic side in the stirring scenes incident to the election of Mr. Turpie to the senate. He was one of the three democratic members of the house that were by universal consent looked to by their colleagues for parliamentary leadership and political guidance. These three, Kellison, Jewett and Gordon, represented the democratic members of the house in the celebrated compromise conference that practically guaranteed the election of Senator Turpie. Mr. Kellison was chairman of the democratic caucus committee of the house during the session of 1887, and presided over the joint convention that nominated Senator Turpie.
As an orator Mr. Kellison had no superior in either branch of the general assembly, and as a jury advocate and political speaker stands in the front ranks. He took the place of Senator D. W. Voorhees as orator of the evening at the Emmett anniversary of 18S7, and with but few hours for preparation, delivered an address that was pronounced equal to anything that had ever been made on that occasion in the city of Indianapolis.
As a legislator he labored earnestly and untiringly to secure the passage of laws that would better "the condition of the masses of the people. He endeavored to secure legislation to exempt individuals whose property was encumbered with valid liens and obligations, from paying taxes on what they owed.
His celebrated bill to reduce interest to six per cent, was the occasion of the greatest struggle in the house in the session of 1887. Mr. Kellison's speech in support of that measure was universally conceded to be the strongest array of facts and argument, and the most eloquent appeal for the reduction of the burdens of the debtor class, that was ever made in the legislature of Indiana. The bill failed by a few votes, but the author's speech was published in full in the Indianapolis Sentinel, and more than a thousand extra copies were purchased and circulated by friends of the measure in the house and senate.
Mr. Kellison could have received the nomination for a third term in 1888 without opposition, but publicly and positively declined to be a candidate. His name has been
mentioned for congress in the thirteenth district, and he has long ago earned a nomination to that office by his numerous campaigns and able speeches in behalf of democratic congressional nominees, but he has never asked or been a candidate for that nomination, and refuses to push himself for any office.
He is honest and straightforward in all his business transactions, is industrious and painstaking in all he undertakes, and whether he continues in political life, or confines himself to professional pursuits, he is a man who is bound to grow in favor with the people.
- - - - - - - - - -
Charles was the youngest of the seven children born to James Kellison and Elizabeth Meek. I found the names for only four of the children--Samuel O., Robert N., James Lucius, and Charles P.
I found the family on the 1850 Census, living in Howard, Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 33, was farming for a living. Elizabeth, aged 26, was home tending to the needs of their four children--Samuel and Robert, both aged 6, James, aged 4, and Charles, aged about 2 months.
In 1860, the family was living in Hornellsville (today Hornell), Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 44, was working as a day laborer. Elizabeth, aged 34, was keeping house. There with their parents in 1860 were sons Samuel and Robert, both aged 16, Lucius (aka James), aged 14, and Charles, aged 10.
Four years after that census, Charles' father James Kellison died in 1864 at age 49, when the country was still fighting the Civil War.
As Charles' educational development and early career endeavors are so well explained in the "History of Marshall County Indiana" above, I will not elaborate here, but I couldn't find him on the 1870 Census when he would have been in med school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On 12 Apr 1877 (though the record supposedly has 1887), Charles married the first of his three wives, Ellen "Nellie, Ella" Augusta Cross in Adams Co., Indiana. As Charles moved from Adams Co. to Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana in 1877, and he appears on the 1880 Census, aged 33, with wife Ella, aged 24, and sons Herbert, aged 2, born on 10 Jan 1878, and Louis, aged 7 months, my only conclusion is that their marriage year was actually 1877.
Two years later, daughter Mamie V. joined the family on 18 Oct 1882.
Without the 1890 Census, I can't establish whether Charles and Ella were still together that year or had split up by then. On 17 Oct 1894, Charles married second-wife Flora A. Schilt Milleman in Marshall County. Flora was the daughter of Jacob Schilt and Caroline Hinderer. It was also a second marriage for Flora. She had previously married Jacob Milleman on 20 Sep 1877 in Stark Co., Ohio, and they had a son together named Austin, born in 1880, who died in 1900.
Charles' first-wife Ella remarried a year after Charles did, exchanging vows with William E. Mereness on 7 Jul 1895 in Adams Co., Indiana. They welcomed daughter Alta M. in 1897. On the 1900 Census, Ella (Mereness), aged 44, reported that she had had four children, but that only three had survived to that census year. Charles' son Louis appears to have been the casualty.
In 1900, Charles and second-wife Flora were living on Laporte St. in Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana. Charles, aged 49, was the proprietor of a hotel. In 1890, he had the Grand Hotel built, likely the hotel in question. Flora, aged 41, reported that she had had two children, only one of which was still living. That living child was not with Charles and Flora in 1900. There were however three male boarders living in the home—Hurbert Voris, aged 15, Alburtus Beerbower, aged 28, and Arthur Craig, aged 19.
On 1 Aug 1905, Charles and Ella's daughter Mamie married Cecil G. White in Adams Co., Indiana.
Four months after daughter Mamie married, Charles married for a third time, wedding Etta Florence Gibbons two days before Christmas on 23 Dec 1905. Charles and second-wife Flora must have divorced, as she didn't die until 1925.
Charles and third-wife Etta appeared together on the 1910 Census, living in Plymouth. Charles, aged 59, was practicing law. Etta, aged 34, reported that she had not had any children.
By the time the 1920 Census was enumerated, Charles, aged 69, reported that he was a widower. He was still practicing law, and living at 322 Laporte St. in Plymouth. A year after that census, he died on 27 Jan 1921, aged 70.
He would miss the marriage of son Herbert to Alice F. Peachy on 27 May 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Charles first wife, Ella died in 1936. His second wife Flora died in 1925. I do not know the fate of third-wife Etta. Charles' son Herbert died on 27 Mar 1962. Charles' daughter Mamie died on 9 Aug 1865.
From: The History of Marshall County, Indiana
Hon. Charles Kellison, the subject of this sketch, was born near the city of Hornellsville, Steuben county, N. Y., on the 17th day of June, 1S50, being the youngest of seven children, whose parents were James and Elizabeth Kellison.
His boyhood was spent in the severe labor of the farm, and as a consequence his opportunities for obtaining an education were confined during those years to the country schools of his neighborhood. He early developed a strong liking for mathematics, poetry, language, history and science, and by the closest application when at school and by employing his-unoccupied hours and evenings, while engaged in farm life, succeeded in acquiring a fund of knowledge far in advance of the average person of like opportunities.
In this manner, without other advantages than such as were afforded by the district schools, and a few years in the city schools of Hornellsville, at the age of eighteen, he possessed mental acquirements rarely equalled by those having the advantages of a thorough academic course. He was at this time a fair Latin scholar and possessed some knowledge of the German.
His earliest ambition was to become a lawyer, and when about eighteen years of age he decided to take a medical and scientific course at college as a better means of preparing him for a specialty in the law. He completed this course, took the degree of doctor of medicine at the University of Michigan at the age of twenty-two. He practiced medicine for two years at Scio, Alleghany county, N.Y., for the purpose of earning means to prosecute his legal studies, made a decided success, and gained considerable reputation as a surgeon.
In 1874, for the purpose of getting in the profession of law, according to original plan, he left a promising medical practice, and removed to Decatur, Adams county, Ind., where he entered himself as a law student in the office of Judge Studebaker of that place, and was
admitted to the bar in 1876.
Mr. Kellison spent several years of his life in the work of teaching in the public schools of New York and Indiana, and in Adams county before his admission to the bar he was employed in the grammar department of the Decatur public schools as a teacher.
In 1877 he settled in Plymouth, Marshall county, Ind., where he has since been engaged in the practice of law. In politics he has always been a democrat, and has served the people of Marshall county two terms in the legislature. The writer has been intimately acquainted with him for many years, and is familiar with his standing as a lawyer and a citizen. He has a strong analytical mind, indomitable pluck and perseverance, and he has met with flattering success in the practice of his profession.
As a member of the legislature of 1SS5 without previous legislative experience or parliamentary practice, he leaped at once into prominence as a strong debater and parliamentarian. He was particularly noted for his absolute fearlessness and rugged honesty. He vigorously opposed the apportionment bill of 1885 (commonly called the gerrymander), and made a strong speech in opposition to it in the house when floors and galleries were packed with people. He appealed to his political associates to refrain from passing so unfair a measure, and predicted the defeat of his party in 1886, if they passed the bill, a prediction that was fulfilled to the letter.
Some of the ward politicians of his city were displeased with this action, and sought to defeat him for renomination. They brought out three candidates against him at the primaries, but the democratic masses of his district were pleased with his loyalty to jeffersonian principles, and Mr. Kellison received more than eighty per cent, of the entire vote, and was renominated by acclamation in the delegate convention that followed. He was re-elected by
an increased majority, and at both his first and second elections, was the first candidate for representative in his county that received a majority of all the votes cast for that office for a period of eight or ten years before his candidacy.
In the legislature of 1887, he was one of the foremost figures on the democratic side in the stirring scenes incident to the election of Mr. Turpie to the senate. He was one of the three democratic members of the house that were by universal consent looked to by their colleagues for parliamentary leadership and political guidance. These three, Kellison, Jewett and Gordon, represented the democratic members of the house in the celebrated compromise conference that practically guaranteed the election of Senator Turpie. Mr. Kellison was chairman of the democratic caucus committee of the house during the session of 1887, and presided over the joint convention that nominated Senator Turpie.
As an orator Mr. Kellison had no superior in either branch of the general assembly, and as a jury advocate and political speaker stands in the front ranks. He took the place of Senator D. W. Voorhees as orator of the evening at the Emmett anniversary of 18S7, and with but few hours for preparation, delivered an address that was pronounced equal to anything that had ever been made on that occasion in the city of Indianapolis.
As a legislator he labored earnestly and untiringly to secure the passage of laws that would better "the condition of the masses of the people. He endeavored to secure legislation to exempt individuals whose property was encumbered with valid liens and obligations, from paying taxes on what they owed.
His celebrated bill to reduce interest to six per cent, was the occasion of the greatest struggle in the house in the session of 1887. Mr. Kellison's speech in support of that measure was universally conceded to be the strongest array of facts and argument, and the most eloquent appeal for the reduction of the burdens of the debtor class, that was ever made in the legislature of Indiana. The bill failed by a few votes, but the author's speech was published in full in the Indianapolis Sentinel, and more than a thousand extra copies were purchased and circulated by friends of the measure in the house and senate.
Mr. Kellison could have received the nomination for a third term in 1888 without opposition, but publicly and positively declined to be a candidate. His name has been
mentioned for congress in the thirteenth district, and he has long ago earned a nomination to that office by his numerous campaigns and able speeches in behalf of democratic congressional nominees, but he has never asked or been a candidate for that nomination, and refuses to push himself for any office.
He is honest and straightforward in all his business transactions, is industrious and painstaking in all he undertakes, and whether he continues in political life, or confines himself to professional pursuits, he is a man who is bound to grow in favor with the people.
- - - - - - - - - -
Charles was the youngest of the seven children born to James Kellison and Elizabeth Meek. I found the names for only four of the children--Samuel O., Robert N., James Lucius, and Charles P.
I found the family on the 1850 Census, living in Howard, Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 33, was farming for a living. Elizabeth, aged 26, was home tending to the needs of their four children--Samuel and Robert, both aged 6, James, aged 4, and Charles, aged about 2 months.
In 1860, the family was living in Hornellsville (today Hornell), Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 44, was working as a day laborer. Elizabeth, aged 34, was keeping house. There with their parents in 1860 were sons Samuel and Robert, both aged 16, Lucius (aka James), aged 14, and Charles, aged 10.
Four years after that census, Charles' father James Kellison died in 1864 at age 49, when the country was still fighting the Civil War.
As Charles' educational development and early career endeavors are so well explained in the "History of Marshall County Indiana" above, I will not elaborate here, but I couldn't find him on the 1870 Census when he would have been in med school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On 12 Apr 1877 (though the record supposedly has 1887), Charles married the first of his three wives, Ellen "Nellie, Ella" Augusta Cross in Adams Co., Indiana. As Charles moved from Adams Co. to Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana in 1877, and he appears on the 1880 Census, aged 33, with wife Ella, aged 24, and sons Herbert, aged 2, born on 10 Jan 1878, and Louis, aged 7 months, my only conclusion is that their marriage year was actually 1877.
Two years later, daughter Mamie V. joined the family on 18 Oct 1882.
Without the 1890 Census, I can't establish whether Charles and Ella were still together that year or had split up by then. On 17 Oct 1894, Charles married second-wife Flora A. Schilt Milleman in Marshall County. Flora was the daughter of Jacob Schilt and Caroline Hinderer. It was also a second marriage for Flora. She had previously married Jacob Milleman on 20 Sep 1877 in Stark Co., Ohio, and they had a son together named Austin, born in 1880, who died in 1900.
Charles' first-wife Ella remarried a year after Charles did, exchanging vows with William E. Mereness on 7 Jul 1895 in Adams Co., Indiana. They welcomed daughter Alta M. in 1897. On the 1900 Census, Ella (Mereness), aged 44, reported that she had had four children, but that only three had survived to that census year. Charles' son Louis appears to have been the casualty.
In 1900, Charles and second-wife Flora were living on Laporte St. in Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana. Charles, aged 49, was the proprietor of a hotel. In 1890, he had the Grand Hotel built, likely the hotel in question. Flora, aged 41, reported that she had had two children, only one of which was still living. That living child was not with Charles and Flora in 1900. There were however three male boarders living in the home—Hurbert Voris, aged 15, Alburtus Beerbower, aged 28, and Arthur Craig, aged 19.
On 1 Aug 1905, Charles and Ella's daughter Mamie married Cecil G. White in Adams Co., Indiana.
Four months after daughter Mamie married, Charles married for a third time, wedding Etta Florence Gibbons two days before Christmas on 23 Dec 1905. Charles and second-wife Flora must have divorced, as she didn't die until 1925.
Charles and third-wife Etta appeared together on the 1910 Census, living in Plymouth. Charles, aged 59, was practicing law. Etta, aged 34, reported that she had not had any children.
By the time the 1920 Census was enumerated, Charles, aged 69, reported that he was a widower. He was still practicing law, and living at 322 Laporte St. in Plymouth. A year after that census, he died on 27 Jan 1921, aged 70.
He would miss the marriage of son Herbert to Alice F. Peachy on 27 May 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Charles first wife, Ella died in 1936. His second wife Flora died in 1925. I do not know the fate of third-wife Etta. Charles' son Herbert died on 27 Mar 1962. Charles' daughter Mamie died on 9 Aug 1865.
Hon. Charles Kellison, the subject of this sketch, was born near the city of Hornellsville, Steuben county, N. Y., on the 17th day of June, 1S50, being the youngest of seven children, whose parents were James and Elizabeth Kellison.
His boyhood was spent in the severe labor of the farm, and as a consequence his opportunities for obtaining an education were confined during those years to the country schools of his neighborhood. He early developed a strong liking for mathematics, poetry, language, history and science, and by the closest application when at school and by employing his-unoccupied hours and evenings, while engaged in farm life, succeeded in acquiring a fund of knowledge far in advance of the average person of like opportunities.
In this manner, without other advantages than such as were afforded by the district schools, and a few years in the city schools of Hornellsville, at the age of eighteen, he possessed mental acquirements rarely equalled by those having the advantages of a thorough academic course. He was at this time a fair Latin scholar and possessed some knowledge of the German.
His earliest ambition was to become a lawyer, and when about eighteen years of age he decided to take a medical and scientific course at college as a better means of preparing him for a specialty in the law. He completed this course, took the degree of doctor of medicine at the University of Michigan at the age of twenty-two. He practiced medicine for two years at Scio, Alleghany county, N.Y., for the purpose of earning means to prosecute his legal studies, made a decided success, and gained considerable reputation as a surgeon.
In 1874, for the purpose of getting in the profession of law, according to original plan, he left a promising medical practice, and removed to Decatur, Adams county, Ind., where he entered himself as a law student in the office of Judge Studebaker of that place, and was
admitted to the bar in 1876.
Mr. Kellison spent several years of his life in the work of teaching in the public schools of New York and Indiana, and in Adams county before his admission to the bar he was employed in the grammar department of the Decatur public schools as a teacher.
In 1877 he settled in Plymouth, Marshall county, Ind., where he has since been engaged in the practice of law. In politics he has always been a democrat, and has served the people of Marshall county two terms in the legislature. The writer has been intimately acquainted with him for many years, and is familiar with his standing as a lawyer and a citizen. He has a strong analytical mind, indomitable pluck and perseverance, and he has met with flattering success in the practice of his profession.
As a member of the legislature of 1SS5 without previous legislative experience or parliamentary practice, he leaped at once into prominence as a strong debater and parliamentarian. He was particularly noted for his absolute fearlessness and rugged honesty. He vigorously opposed the apportionment bill of 1885 (commonly called the gerrymander), and made a strong speech in opposition to it in the house when floors and galleries were packed with people. He appealed to his political associates to refrain from passing so unfair a measure, and predicted the defeat of his party in 1886, if they passed the bill, a prediction that was fulfilled to the letter.
Some of the ward politicians of his city were displeased with this action, and sought to defeat him for renomination. They brought out three candidates against him at the primaries, but the democratic masses of his district were pleased with his loyalty to jeffersonian principles, and Mr. Kellison received more than eighty per cent, of the entire vote, and was renominated by acclamation in the delegate convention that followed. He was re-elected by
an increased majority, and at both his first and second elections, was the first candidate for representative in his county that received a majority of all the votes cast for that office for a period of eight or ten years before his candidacy.
In the legislature of 1887, he was one of the foremost figures on the democratic side in the stirring scenes incident to the election of Mr. Turpie to the senate. He was one of the three democratic members of the house that were by universal consent looked to by their colleagues for parliamentary leadership and political guidance. These three, Kellison, Jewett and Gordon, represented the democratic members of the house in the celebrated compromise conference that practically guaranteed the election of Senator Turpie. Mr. Kellison was chairman of the democratic caucus committee of the house during the session of 1887, and presided over the joint convention that nominated Senator Turpie.
As an orator Mr. Kellison had no superior in either branch of the general assembly, and as a jury advocate and political speaker stands in the front ranks. He took the place of Senator D. W. Voorhees as orator of the evening at the Emmett anniversary of 18S7, and with but few hours for preparation, delivered an address that was pronounced equal to anything that had ever been made on that occasion in the city of Indianapolis.
As a legislator he labored earnestly and untiringly to secure the passage of laws that would better "the condition of the masses of the people. He endeavored to secure legislation to exempt individuals whose property was encumbered with valid liens and obligations, from paying taxes on what they owed.
His celebrated bill to reduce interest to six per cent, was the occasion of the greatest struggle in the house in the session of 1887. Mr. Kellison's speech in support of that measure was universally conceded to be the strongest array of facts and argument, and the most eloquent appeal for the reduction of the burdens of the debtor class, that was ever made in the legislature of Indiana. The bill failed by a few votes, but the author's speech was published in full in the Indianapolis Sentinel, and more than a thousand extra copies were purchased and circulated by friends of the measure in the house and senate.
Mr. Kellison could have received the nomination for a third term in 1888 without opposition, but publicly and positively declined to be a candidate. His name has been
mentioned for congress in the thirteenth district, and he has long ago earned a nomination to that office by his numerous campaigns and able speeches in behalf of democratic congressional nominees, but he has never asked or been a candidate for that nomination, and refuses to push himself for any office.
He is honest and straightforward in all his business transactions, is industrious and painstaking in all he undertakes, and whether he continues in political life, or confines himself to professional pursuits, he is a man who is bound to grow in favor with the people.
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Charles was the youngest of the seven children born to James Kellison and Elizabeth Meek. I found the names for only four of the children--Samuel O., Robert N., James Lucius, and Charles P.
I found the family on the 1850 Census, living in Howard, Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 33, was farming for a living. Elizabeth, aged 26, was home tending to the needs of their four children--Samuel and Robert, both aged 6, James, aged 4, and Charles, aged about 2 months.
In 1860, the family was living in Hornellsville (today Hornell), Steuben Co., New York. James Kellison, aged 44, was working as a day laborer. Elizabeth, aged 34, was keeping house. There with their parents in 1860 were sons Samuel and Robert, both aged 16, Lucius (aka James), aged 14, and Charles, aged 10.
Four years after that census, Charles' father James Kellison died in 1864 at age 49, when the country was still fighting the Civil War.
As Charles' educational development and early career endeavors are so well explained in the "History of Marshall County Indiana" above, I will not elaborate here, but I couldn't find him on the 1870 Census when he would have been in med school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On 12 Apr 1877 (though the record supposedly has 1887), Charles married the first of his three wives, Ellen "Nellie, Ella" Augusta Cross in Adams Co., Indiana. As Charles moved from Adams Co. to Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana in 1877, and he appears on the 1880 Census, aged 33, with wife Ella, aged 24, and sons Herbert, aged 2, born on 10 Jan 1878, and Louis, aged 7 months, my only conclusion is that their marriage year was actually 1877.
Two years later, daughter Mamie V. joined the family on 18 Oct 1882.
Without the 1890 Census, I can't establish whether Charles and Ella were still together that year or had split up by then. On 17 Oct 1894, Charles married second-wife Flora A. Schilt Milleman in Marshall County. Flora was the daughter of Jacob Schilt and Caroline Hinderer. It was also a second marriage for Flora. She had previously married Jacob Milleman on 20 Sep 1877 in Stark Co., Ohio, and they had a son together named Austin, born in 1880, who died in 1900.
Charles' first-wife Ella remarried a year after Charles did, exchanging vows with William E. Mereness on 7 Jul 1895 in Adams Co., Indiana. They welcomed daughter Alta M. in 1897. On the 1900 Census, Ella (Mereness), aged 44, reported that she had had four children, but that only three had survived to that census year. Charles' son Louis appears to have been the casualty.
In 1900, Charles and second-wife Flora were living on Laporte St. in Plymouth, Marshall Co., Indiana. Charles, aged 49, was the proprietor of a hotel. In 1890, he had the Grand Hotel built, likely the hotel in question. Flora, aged 41, reported that she had had two children, only one of which was still living. That living child was not with Charles and Flora in 1900. There were however three male boarders living in the home—Hurbert Voris, aged 15, Alburtus Beerbower, aged 28, and Arthur Craig, aged 19.
On 1 Aug 1905, Charles and Ella's daughter Mamie married Cecil G. White in Adams Co., Indiana.
Four months after daughter Mamie married, Charles married for a third time, wedding Etta Florence Gibbons two days before Christmas on 23 Dec 1905. Charles and second-wife Flora must have divorced, as she didn't die until 1925.
Charles and third-wife Etta appeared together on the 1910 Census, living in Plymouth. Charles, aged 59, was practicing law. Etta, aged 34, reported that she had not had any children.
By the time the 1920 Census was enumerated, Charles, aged 69, reported that he was a widower. He was still practicing law, and living at 322 Laporte St. in Plymouth. A year after that census, he died on 27 Jan 1921, aged 70.
He would miss the marriage of son Herbert to Alice F. Peachy on 27 May 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Charles first wife, Ella died in 1936. His second wife Flora died in 1925. I do not know the fate of third-wife Etta. Charles' son Herbert died on 27 Mar 1962. Charles' daughter Mamie died on 9 Aug 1865.
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