There's a brick wall generation of Kelletts that many researchers have trouble with.-----------
1829 Census Laurens District
Kellet, John Sen 9
Kellet, John jur 7
Kellet, Martin 5
Kellet, William 10
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This is a very significant census if we only knew just a bit more.
So we deduce what we can:
Suppose this list includes four couples...reasonable enough though we don't actually know the wives were alive.
John Senior and his wife had seven children. (Again, we don't know if the census was including siblings living in these families or not.)
John Junior and his wife had five children.
Martin and his wife had three children.
William and his wife had eight children.
So our estimate is there were as many as 23 Kellet children in Laurens in 1829.
This was perhaps seven years before one of the new rounds of Georgia land lotteries started drawing
more individuals from upstate South Carolina to move to land newly available.
...At the same time, we have the following information:
Lawrence County, Arkansas 1829 tax list has
James Kellett,
Joseph Kellett and
William Kellett.
This last William Kellett was probably the minister since he was performing marriages in Lawrence County, Arkansas by 1830-1831.
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So in the same year, 1829, there seem to be seven adult Kellett men. 4 in SC and 3 in AK.
...........
Kellett logic puzzles.
Going back thru research tidbits I came across a posting by Calvin Kellett on an 1802 tax list in Jackson County, Georgia which had William, Joseph and Soloman Kellett. How old would a young man have to be in order to be included on a "tax list?" Even if any of these three were children/orphans who were property owners, it doesn't seem likely that all three of them would be children.
If they were age 20 or older, born 1782 or earlier, then none of them fit with what I currently know about the four sons of Joseph Kellett of Laurens. The ages don't seem to work.
Everyone tries to fit their Kellett lineage back thru Laurens, SC and Joseph and Jenet Kellett are the only documented couple so we're all trying to force-fit in with their sons.
If the Laurens Joseph Kellett had even one brother that would help account for some of the extras.
Here's a theory:
The Jackson County and Habersham County, GA and the Giles County, Tennessee (intruders) and the Lawrence County, Arkansas Kelletts are one set.
1802 - William, Joseph, Soloman
1810 - William, Joseph, James
1829 - William, Joseph, James (Arkansas)
1820 – John Kellet (Habersham)
1820 - Saul Kellet (Habersham, GA)
1830 - Solomon Kellet (Habersham, Ga)
1830 – John Kellet (Habersham)
1840 – John Kellet (Walker County, Ga)
The Laurens, SC and Greenville, SC and Summerville, GA are another set...who made their move from SC to GA much later than the other group.
1829 - John Senior, John Junior, Martin, William (Laurens)
1850 - Moses, William C, etc in Summerville
I have two 1829 census listings as you see above. And two from 1830. One showing four Kellett men in Laurens, another showing two Kellett men in Habersham and the last showing three Kellett men already out in Arkansas. Either the census listings have to be explained somehow or we have nine (9) adult Kellett men as of 1829/1830.
The name similarities mess us up but same first name in two different states in the same year argues for distinct individuals.
