which he was granted a furlough and started home but 'died while on his way to Davenport, Iowa; William, deceased; John, who enlisted from Story county and served for a year and a half in the Civil war, his death occurring since his discharge, which was occasioned by disability; Abram, of Bloomington, Illinois; George W.; and Hezekiah, who died in Kansas. Of the above sons William and John were twins.
George W. Kelley with his mother and younger brother, Hezekiah, went to McLean county, Illinois, in the fall of 1850 and in the fall of 1853 they came to Story county, Iowa. It was on the 22d of September of that year that George W. Kelley started from Illinois, accompanied by his mother and brother and by Samuel and Isaac Jones and their families, for Iowa. The Kelleys had two covered wagons drawn by horses. They crossed the Mississippi at Muscatine, traveled from there to Iowa City and thence to Marietta, which at that time was the county seat of Marshall county. Later they proceeded to Story county, which was then largely a wild, unsettled and undeveloped region. There was only one house upon the present site of Nevada and it is still standing–one of the old landmarks of the early days–occupied by T. E. Alderman. The Kelley family traveled on to what is now the eastern part of Boone county, where they arrived in October, remaining there until the 12th of December, at which time George W. Kelley took up his abode on section 1, Palestine township, Story county. At that time there resided in Palestine township R. Balldock, Washington Thomas, George Thomas, Robert and William Hawk and E. McKinzie. There was not a house between Grove and Madrid, a distance of fifteen miles. Mr. Kelley entered one hundred and forty acres of land from the government. In the fall of 1852 he had entered eighty acres in Marshall county but never resided thereon. He has made his home continuously in Story county since 1853 and after locating in Palestine township he at once began the task of developing and improving his land. In the fall of 1854 it became necessary for him to go to mill, and the nearest place where he could get grist ground was at Oskaloosa, about seventy-five miles away. He had to journey with an ox team and it took a week to make the round trip. Because of this he had to carry provisions with him and camp on the prairie at night. The same fall he took a load of dressed pork to Des Moines and received a dollar and a half per hundred weight therefor. On the return trip he brought home a barrel of salt, for which he paid twelve dollars and ten cents. At that time there was only one dry-goods store and two grocery stores in Des Moines and the state capital was at Iowa City. Deer and elk were seen in Story county in large numbers and wild turkeys were very plentiful, so that it was not difficult to supply the pioneer table with meat. The first schoolhouse in Palestine township was built on section 1 in the spring of 1854, was made of round logs and had a dirt floor. A young man by the name of G. Brown was the first teacher. Mr. Kelley aided in building the school house and has always been a friend of education and progress. He also