Connections to city’s past

    In 2003, I enjoyed sitting at a large table surrounded by the rich written word in the form of a wealth of books at the Caribou Public Library. I poured through a volume of information regarding my husband’s ancestors. The following information was garnered with the help of Nancy Bubar and also through the recollections of my late father-in-law Beecher Colby Jordan.     John Patrick Kelley (my husband Robert’s  great-great-great-great-grandfather) was born somewhere in Ireland. He and his wife Mary Whalen Kelley had two sons who immigrated to the United States.
    John Lawrence Kelley and wife Elizabeth Anne Parks settled on Eaton Grant settlement in 1828. Their oldest child, Patrick, was the first white child born at Eaton Grant.
    Amos Kelley (Robert Jordan’s great-great-grandfather), was born on June 4, 1832 at “H” Plantation, in Eaton Grant. A celebrated Civil War veteran, he was mustered on to service Oct. 16, 1861, a member of Captain John Beardsley’s Company D., 29th Maine Infantry. Amos was wounded at Cedar Mountain on Aug. 9, 1862.
    While researching I found Amos Kelley’s obituary printed in the Aroostook Republican, 1912. In part it read: Amos Kelley, who died Saturday, Sept. 29, 1912, was born June 4, 1832 in what is now known as East Lyndon. He was the son of Lawrence Kelley, who settled on the north side of the Aroostook River, in 1828. His mother’s name was Elizabeth Anne Parks, the daughter of Jonathan and Hannah Parks, who settled on Eaton Grant on the south side of the Aroostook River in 1826, being among the first settlers on Eaton Grant.
    Mr. Kelley was united in marriage, in Lyndon, June 30, 1855 to Mariah, the daughter of Warren Drake and Mary Rockwell. Eleven children blessed their union: seven boys: Warren, Sylvester, Charles, Harvey, Bert, Bruce and Samuel; four girls: Mrs. Holman (Emily) Lovely, Mrs. Geroge (Lillian) aka Mathilda E. Jordan, Mrs. Herman (Francis) Rundstrom and Mrs. Herbert (Jessie) Brown.
    At the time of Mr. Kelley’s birth (80 years ago), where the village of Caribou now stands was a vast wilderness.
    This is the story of a family that settled in what once was a vast wilderness. They cleared much of the land and as each generation followed, they watched hundreds of years growth of the little village that grew into the town then became the city of Caribou.
    Across the street from the old Methodist meeting house was the corner of Sweden and Prospect St. — the site of the new and current Methodist Church that was being built when Amos Kelley passed.
    He had marveled at how the church would have massive, impressive stain glass windows and a clock in its towering steeple, as well as a bell to chime the time, calling parishioners to worship on time. Amos Kelley donated to its building, however he would never see beyond the beginning stages of a dream that would be realized in its completion, in 1913,
    On that first day in October 1912, Amos lay silent, his arms folded across his chest in a somber state, sheltered within the old meeting home. Rev. James H. Gray preached the funeral, a most powerful and eloquent message, later followed by favorite hymns played on the old organ, by Bessie Gray.
    In 2003, a book was written by Philip B. Turner about Bessie and James H. Gray and the part that they played in the church’s history. Kay M. Kelley (who was married to  Floyd Kelley, another Kelley descendant) wrote a play based on the book. The book was titled, ‘Ladies First — Saints All,” and the play was, “Bessie,”
    Our daughter, Deanna (Amos Kelley’s great-great-great-granddaughter) had a role in that play.
     It is exciting to be a part of the progress that “Our town,” has achieved.