Household #72: Kelly, Sebran

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Sebran Kelly headed a 7-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Sebran Kelly headed a 7-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 5 children.

Sebran Kelly's listed occupation was Day Laborer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

The 1900 Barney census shows Sebran Kelly and Ella Kelly as a Brooks County family with five young sons and a reported marriage of about fourteen years. Sebran was a Georgia-born day laborer, and both husband and wife were reported as Georgia natives. The household no longer looks like a one-record family. Later Florida censuses track a closely matching family under the surnames Kelly and Kelley and under given-name forms that include Sebran, Sebron, Seabram, and the initials S. C.

The clearest early anchor outside Brooks County is the Sumter County marriage record for S. C. Kelley and Ella Wingate, dated 30 August 1885. That record fits the 1900 household well and provides a documented Sumter County origin for Ella before the family's appearance in Barney. Additional Sumter County Wingate records now place Ella in a broader local family cluster, but they do not yet settle her exact parentage. In 1870 an Ella Wingate, age four, appears in the household of Franklin Wingate and Sarah J. Wingate in Sumter County. In 1880 an Ellen Wingate, age eighteen, appears in the household of F. C. Wingate and Sarah Wingate in the same county. Those records show that Ella belonged to the Sumter County Wingate cluster. The exact relationship among the Franklin, F. C., and later Lawrence Wingate lines remains unproved through primary sources, and the 1870 and 1880 Ella or Ellen entries should be treated as strong contextual evidence rather than a completed proof chain.

The later census sequence is strong. In 1910 the family appears in Branford, Suwannee County, Florida, under S. C. Kelley. The children in the household closely match the 1900 Brooks County family, including Cleveland, Charley, Olin or Orin, and Earnest, along with younger children born after the Barney census. In 1920 Sebron C. Kelly appears in Branford with wife Mary and children including Irvin, Minnie, Nettie, and Winnie. In 1930 S. C. Kelley appears in Alachua County, Florida, still with wife Mary and several younger children. In 1940 Seabram C. Kelly appears in Lafayette County, Florida, again with wife Mary. Taken together, those records point to a single family line that moved from Georgia into north Florida over several decades.

The main unresolved issue is the name of Sebran's wife after 1900. The Brooks County census and the 1885 marriage record point to Ella Wingate Kelly, but the later Florida censuses identify the wife as Mary. Several explanations remain possible. Ella may have used Mary as a first or middle name in later life. Sebran may have remarried between 1900 and 1910. One or more records may also have been read or indexed imperfectly. For now, the safest wording is that Ella Wingate is securely tied to the 1885 marriage and to the 1900 Brooks County household, while the exact relationship between 1900 Ella and later Mary still needs direct confirmation.

The children's sequence also helps tie the records together. Cleveland, Charley, Olin, and Earnest continue in ways that are broadly consistent across 1900 and 1910, while younger Florida-born children appear in the later censuses. Early Kelly, the youngest child in 1900, has not yet been followed securely into later records under that exact name, and may have been recorded later under a nickname, middle name, or variant reading.

No reliable cemetery memorials have yet been identified for this household. The Find a Grave memorials reviewed for Thomas Christian Kelley and Ellen Wood Kelley from Jones County, Georgia, belong to a different family and should not be used for HH#72.

Connections to Other Barney Families

• HH#72 to Sumter County Wingate cluster: Ella Kelly is strongly associated with the Sumter County Wingate cluster through the 30 August 1885 Sumter County marriage of S. C. Kelley to Ella Wingate and through the 1870 and 1880 Sumter County census placements of Ella or Ellen Wingate in households headed by Franklin Wingate and F. C. Wingate.
• Possible connection to HH#102 Ben Wingate: The HH#102 line also traces to Sumter County through Benjamin Wingate's death certificate, which names his father as Lawrence Wingate and gives Sumter County as the birthplace for both father and son. The HH#72 and HH#102 households appear to belong to the same broader Wingate family cluster in Sumter County, Georgia, but the exact relationship between those lines has not yet been established through primary-source evidence.
• No proven Kelly-to-Kelly link: No evidence currently proves any relationship between HH#72 and HH#64 James Kelly beyond the shared surname.

Open Research Questions

• Parentage audit: Keep head-of-household and spouse parentage as unresolved unless a cited direct record names the parents or the entry explains the census chain supporting the identification.
• Child census audit: Continue direct-record tracking for each child named in the 1900 household where later census, marriage, death, burial, obituary, or other parent-link proof is not already cited above.
• Other household member audit: Verify every non-nuclear household member, including in-laws, boarders, servants, laborers, uncles, grandchildren, and collateral relatives, before treating the stated relationship as part of the proved family structure.
• Sebran's own pre-1900 census placement has not yet been fixed with confidence.
• Ella Wingate's exact parentage within the Sumter County Wingate cluster remains unsettled. The households of Franklin Wingate, F. C. Wingate, and the later Lawrence Wingate line appear to belong to the same broader family cluster in Sumter County, Georgia, but the precise relationships have not yet been established through primary-source evidence.
• The transition from wife Ella in 1900 to wife Mary in later Florida censuses still needs direct evidence, ideally through a death record, second marriage record, or children's records naming the mother.
• Early Kelly from the 1900 household has not yet been followed securely into later records.
• Death and burial records for Sebran or Sebron or Seabram C. Kelly and for Ella Wingate Kelly or Mary Kelly remain to be found.
• No evidence currently proves any relationship between this household and HH#64 James Kelly beyond the shared surname.

Research Status

Partially reconstructed and materially improved. The household is now supported by the 1885 Sumter County marriage record, the 1900 Brooks County census, a strong later census trail through Suwannee, Alachua, and Lafayette counties in Florida, and contextual Sumter County Wingate records that place Ella within a broader local family cluster. The major remaining questions are Ella's exact parentage and whether the later wife Mary is the same person as Ella Wingate Kelly or a second wife.

Sources

• 1870 U.S. census, Militia District 745, Sumter County, Georgia, household of Franklin Wingate and Sarah J. Wingate, including Ella Wingate, age 4.
• 1880 U.S. census, Sumter County, Georgia, household of F. C. Wingate and Sarah Wingate, including Ellen Wingate, age 18.
• Georgia death certificate, Benjamin Wingate, died 19 June 1929 at Nashville, Berrien County, Georgia; born in Sumter County, Georgia; father Lawrence Wingate, also born in Sumter County, Georgia, cited here as supporting context for the broader Sumter County Wingate cluster.
• Sumter County, Georgia, marriage record for S. C. Kelley and Ella Wingate, married 30 August 1885.
• 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Sebran Kelly and Ella Kelly.
• 1910 U.S. census, Branford, Suwannee County, Florida, household of S. C. Kelley.
• 1920 U.S. census, Branford, Suwannee County, Florida, household of Sebron C. Kelly.
• 1930 U.S. census, Precinct 20, Alachua County, Florida, household of S. C. Kelley.
• 1940 U.S. census, Lafayette County, Florida, household of Seabram C. Kelly.
• Reviewed and rejected as false positives: Find a Grave memorials for Thomas Christian Kelley and Ellen Wood Kelley, Wells-Kelly Cemetery, Gray, Jones County, Georgia.

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