DORSEY/KELLEY A good idea! I am only looking for one, or possibly two, names in Pickens/Oconee Counties. However, I have a very complex problem. I have written it here before but will repeat in case there are new list members. Apologies to those who have read it before. I am searching for the family of E. H. DORSEY who, I believe, left Wallhalla in the early 1860's. His wife was Louisa. I have documentation that my great-great grandmother was Louisa Bouknight. (I also have Ivan Bauknight's book on the Bauknights and can trace that line back to the late 1500's thanks to Ivan.) John and Louisa had at least one child in SC, John A. (circa 1866. My great-grandfather was John Alexander). E. H. 26, Louisa 22, and John A 4 were in Wallhalla for the 1860 census. E. H. was a farmer. In a house nearby were, Peter DORSEY 55, born NC, Mary A. 24, born SC and Wm. H., 2, and John W. 1. Backing up in SC, I went to the 1850 census for Pickens County. There were three households with the name DORSEY and two with the name DORSY. One of the families is surely the same family enumerated twice because of a move. They are John H. DORSEY, 26, blacksmith, born NC, Sarah, 17, William O. 6/12, Amanda, 16, born and Margaret Riley, 10. The next DORSEY family was John DORSY 78, born NC, Mary 76, born NC, Mary, 50, born NC, Peter 40, born NC. Also living with them was Alexander Shields, 14, born NC. Also found Andrew Dorsey, 26, born SC, Nancy, 18. And in a different house, Andrew DORSEY, 22, born SC, Isabell, 18, and Amanda, 15. (I think all the Amanda's were the same person just moving around but, of course, can't prove that.) I suppose it is even possible the two Andrews were the same. The story gets confusing at this point. Apparently E. H. got into some trouble somewhere. Perhaps he didn't care to fight in the Civil War. There are several family stories-one includes shooting a sheriff and one involves slaves set on revenge. Most people favor the sheriff story. More recently, a lady from another list has sent me the following account from a letter someone had found in an attic in the Midwest, "To show you just how ticklish things were, I will tell you about what happened to a man by the name of DORSEY. A short time previous to this he went out to Pickens, S.C. to live. His wife had a child and some old women were joking her about naming him Jeff Davis, and others were calling him Abe Lincoln. From that it went abroad that he had named it Lincoln, so a mob got together and called on and nearly whipped him to death, thinking he was a UNIONIST. So he moved back to GEORGIA and the people of the 426th Militia District organized to put down such acts during the excitement that prevailed, just as a home guard would." I wonder if there is any way to corroborate that. At any rate, between 1860 and 1870, E. H. DORSEY disappears from SC, GA, and TN. It appears that he changed his name to Harvey KELLEY and moved to Cumberland County, Tennessee with a stopover in Georgia. I don't know where he stayed but there is a group of Dorsey's in Clayton, Co. Ga. who appear to have migrated from Burke, Co., NC as a result of the Cherokee Land Lottery in 1834. Though I do not have documentation of this name change, it is supported by strong family tradition in several branches of our Kelley family who had not been in touch for many years. I have not been able to connect the E. H. Dorsey in Wallhalla with any other Dorseys. It is an intriguing mystery but I wouldn't mind if someone threw me another clue! In addition, I suspect that the Kelley name may have come from some other connection--perhaps his mother (just guessing here). So I am also interested in the KELLEY name for both Pickens and Oconee County. I have a lot of information about the Dorsey family in America. I can match up a lot of the people in NC, SC, and GA with a very detailed genealogy of a Dorsey family who originated (in this country anyway) in Maryland. I just can't fit E. H. Dorsey in anywhere. I will gratefully accept any and all clues! Nancy Custer -----Original Message----- From: Kathleen Burnett <kburnet@efortress.com> To: SCOCONEE-L@rootsweb.com <SCOCONEE-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, November 21, 1998 5:58 PM Subject: Roll Call >Dear Subscribers: > >To activate our list which has been a little slow lately, I would like to >suggest a roll call for Oconee County surnames only. > >Kathleen Burnett >List Mom > >