JAMES W. KELSEY
James W. Kelsey owns and resides upon the northwest quarter of section 33, where he settled in 1874. At that time the land was wholly unimproved, but he now has a fine farm in a high state of cultivation, and is an enterprising and successful farmer. In 1884 Mr. Kelsey had one hundred and ten acres of his farm planted to corn, which will probably average fifty bushels per acre. He has an orchard containing one hundred trees, and all of the land is well fenced. Mr. Kelsey was born in Saratoga county, New York, November 19, 1831, and was reared a farmer. In 1854 he went to Whiteside county, Illinois, and opened a farm of eighty acres. He came to this county from Sterling, Illinois. He was married to Martha E. King, a native of Vermont, and daughter of Hosea King. They have no children living. They have lost one son--Willie.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 798.
