John Kelley and Florence Pepin were probably attracted because her sister Flavia, married to Stephen Taylor/Tawya-Etienne Tanguis, and family had already arrived by 1850. The question is then moved back to why the Taylors came. Most of the French Canadians out of Isle la Motte and Grand Isle, VT, didn't come until after the Civil War. My husband also descends from John and Florence (Pepin) Kelley. To the best of my knowledge, the county was named for an early French explorer of the region, derivatively. The lake (or wide place in the Mississippi) was named Pepin; then the county was named for the lake. Virginia