The picture above. on the left, at Bass River, Yarmouth, Massachusetts, is the gravesite of two of our ancestors through the McDermott/Renslow line, David O’Kelley and Jane Powell, my 9th great-grandparents (see below by the poem about David for a more detailed family tree- message me here if you are having trouble figuring your relationship to David). The picture on the right is a view of Kelley's pond, which was named for them. Their story is one of my favorites, because it illustrates a love that was truly meant to be. David and Jane made a life together in the face of overwhelming obstacles. Nothing stopped them- not age, not language, not culture, not betrayal, not servitude, not distance, not law, not time.

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I’ll start with Jane, since very little is known of her background. She was Welsh, born around 1638, and probably of the Pwyll family of Wales, but barring a DNA match on Ancestry we may never really know. Both of her parents died on board the ship, and all record of who they were was lost. She spoke no English, and was all alone, penniless, in the middle of the Atlantic, on a ship bound for a new continent. She was about 7. The only other human being on board who she could communicate with was David O’Kelley. He spoke an Irish form of Gaelic (he also did not speak English), and Welsh is a Gaelic language, so the two were able to understand each other and, apparently, bonded.

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Two years older than Jane, David O’Kelley was most likely born in Galway, Ireland, to John Mac Teige O’Killia and his wife, Anne Daly (at this point, family genealogists are 98% sure this is accurate. One family genealogist has apparently traced the O’Killia line numerous generations in Ireland- “back to Adam and Eve,” is what he said, I think. As soon as I have verified the information, myself, I will add it to the tree, and let everyone know). At this point, no one knows if David’s parents also died on the ship, or never got on it, but however it happened, David was also alone among strangers. Historically, this was during Cromwell’s subjugation of Ireland, and large numbers of young men were taken as conscripts and prisoners of war (yes, a 9 year old could be a prisoner of war, and, essentially, sold into a type of slavery. It was a pretty brutal era, especially for children). However it happened, young David was the only Irishman on the ship (and, in fact, they were rare enough in the New England Colonies that many records simply refer to him as “the Irishman.”)

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It was about 1645, and the ship was supposed to be bound for Virginia. The ship may have made it to Virginia, but David did not. The British hatred of the Irish was at its peak at this time, and that, and, of course, basic human greed, are the only reasons I can think of for what happened next. The ship’s captain robbed 9 year old David of what few possessions he had left, and put him off the ship at Cape Cod before sailing it to its final destination (it is my understanding that the ship's captain eventually ended on the gallows for other crimes, but I need to do more research on this). He survived, first, by being indentured to John Darby of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, then his indenture was transferred to Edward Sturgis. (An interesting side note- one of Edward’s descendants, Sarah Blake Sturgis, born 1815, married into our family, but on a Potts/Slusser branch. She married Francis George Shaw, my 15th cousin through my great-grandmother, Nellie Ethel Potts. You should be able to figure your relationship to Francis from there, but message me here if you need help. Btw, Francis and Sarah were the parents of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, my 16th cousin, the extraordinary American hero that the movie, “Glory,” was about.) By all accounts, Edward was kind to David, even enabling him to earn enough money to buy his own indenture early and, eventually, Jane’s. 7 year old Jane was not so lucky. She ended up on a farm 24 miles away, in Sandwich, Massachusetts, the indentured servant of William Swift. Swift, apparently, denied her proper clothing, rarely fed her or gave her a decent place to sleep, and beat her (beyond what was considered “normal” at the time), and she had a heavy daily schedule of work, taking care of his 10 kids.

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Somehow, David and Jane managed to maintain a friendship, eventually sneaking out at night to meet, in the Sagamore woods, in the middle of the night. Remember, their two farms were 24 miles apart. This meant walking 12 miles, one way, and they still had to get back by sunrise! I suppose it’s really no wonder that the next time the two of them appear in the official Plymouth Colony records, is October 4th, 1655 when Jane, then 17, and David, 19, were arrested and tried for fornication.

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“And att this Court, Jane Powell, servant to William Swift, of Sandwidge, appeered, haveing been psented for fornication, whoe, being examined, saith that it was committed with one David Ogillior, an Irish man, servant to Edward Sturgis; shee saith shee was alured therunto by him goeing for water one evening, hoping to have married him, beeing shee was in a sadd and miserable condition by hard service, wanting clothes and living discontentedly; and expressing great sorrow for her evell, shee was cleared for the psent, and ordered to goe home againe.”

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Those of you who have studied this time period, or even read "The Scarlett Letter," know how extraordinary this is! Basically, after investigating, they found that the mistreatment Jane suffered really was extreme, and they let them both off without even a slap on the wrist. The records do indicate that they seemed honestly repentant, and that they were sincere in the desire to marry, someday, when they were free, and it was legally allowable to do so. Burt Derick (another distant cousin), wrote about their story in his article, "Gaelic Love on Cape Cod: David, the Irishman, and Jane, the Welsh Maid," in the Dennis Historical Society Newsletter, Feb/March 2008:

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“David and Jane were poor, lonely, scared, moving to an uncertain future and they were Gaelic, sharing a common language others on the ship may not have had. They would have been immediately separated and endured a hard life, as Jane’s plea in court shows. Many of the colonists were religious fanatics, ruling with an iron hand, punishing people for minor infractions. Somehow, in a time when roads were less than cartways and transportation was slow, David found Jane. Perhaps he had an errand to do for his master, attending the only gristmill in the area to get the corn ground to flour. It is unlikely it was a chance encounter–not a single encounter in the woods of Sagamore, but one of many. There was certainly a background relationship between these people that resulted in the encounter for which they were charged. The fornication charge likely means she was pregnant, rather than caught in the act.

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"Despite Jane’s guilt, the magistrates could not bring themselves to levy the typical punishment of public whipping and they sent her home. They also didn’t charge David with seducing the girl. They leave the two to work out the problem. It’s also remarkable the Clerk took time to record so many details of Jane’s predicament. After securing freedom for both of them, David did the honorable thing and married Jane and they moved to a 100 acre farm that was eventually named Kelley’s Point, at the head of Bass River on the banks of what is today called Kelley’s Bay. The area is now called Mayfair in current day South Dennis, Massachusetts.”

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Mr. Derick’s assertion that Jane may have been pregnant is one that I can find no proof, either for or against. If there was a pregnancy, it either ended in a miscarriage or she did not (or was not allowed to) keep the baby. The first of their recorded 7 children was Sarah, born 1669, one year after David and Jane wed, followed by my 8th great-grandfather Jeremiah, then Joseph, John, David Jr., Benjamin and Elizabeth. It is clear that David loved Jane (and, I’m sure, she him) until the day he died in 1697. Besides leaving Jane their house (along with their youngest son, Benjamin, who was to inherit after his mother’s death, in return for caring for her in her widowhood), and making Jane the executrix of his will (-very- unusual for a woman at that time), he also bequeathed to “my loving wife Jane my Bed and Beding and Bedstead and Curtins and all the moveables that are not above mentioned.” There is something very tender in this specific bequest, and is reminiscent of Shakespeare leaving his wife his second best bed, a gesture that has been sorely misinterpreted by modern readers, who use this as proof of his infidelity. The fact is that beds were extremely expensive back then, and were considered a -prized- possession. If someone were to be wealthy enough, like Shakespeare, to be able to afford more than one, the laws of hospitality dictated that the -best- bed be reserved for guests, while the               -second- best bed would be the marital bed. So the bed he left his wife, Anne, was the one in which they spent their most intimate moments, and where she gave birth to their three children, which, to me, makes this a final act of love and devotion, which is exactly the feeling I get from David’s bequest to Jane.

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At any rate, Jane followed her husband in death in 1711, and is buried next to him, both in unmarked graves (because they are the oldest), in a cemetery in Bass River Massachusetts, near where their farm was located (the picture above). Their descendents migrated to every corner of the continent and carry many names because, of course, of the female lines, but also because of the discrimination and hate-crimes perpetrated against Irish immigrants. Most of them dropped the beginning, very Irish, ‘O,’ (or ‘Mc,’ in other families) and allowed people to assume they were Kelleys, from England, so among David and Jane’s descendants you will find both O’Kelleys and Kelleys (as well as O’Cillia, O’Gillior, O’Killea and O’Killia- with and without the ‘O’). Our direct line, from Jeremiah to Emma Renslow, Seems to have kept the ‘O,’ and typically used O’Kelley.

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Derived from the Gaelic, Ó Ceallaigh, O’Kelley is the second most common Irish name, after Murphy, and is actually made up of eight different families from different areas. Our branch is from Ui Maine (Hymany), Roscommon, Galway. (Which, I believe, may be where our McDermott ancestors may have been from? McDermott relatives, help me out here?) The family motto, in Latin, is Turris Fortis Mihi Deus (which, literally translated, means, God is a strong tower to me- Or God is my tower of strength.) There are numerous O’Kelley, or Kelley, Clan Associations, but most charge money to join. This one is free: http://www.kellyclanireland.com/ You will find the family crest, famous O’Kelleys (including the 2nd President of Ireland), and other fun facts.

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There is also a Kelley Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Kelly-Clans-of-Ireland-Homepage-1…

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A couple of other interesting pages that have to do with David and Jane's story are:

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https://minerdescent.com/2010/05/25/david-okelly/

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http://massandmoregenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/08/david-kelley-born-1630s-and-jane-powell.html

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http://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2016/10/gaelic-love-on-cape-cod-david-irishman.html

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Each clan not only had their own tartan pattern (and you can find the Kelley tartan, and kilts made from it, here), but their own knitted pattern as well. If you are feeling particularly proud of your Kelley heritage, you can get a sweater or blanket in the traditional Aran knitted Kelley pattern here.

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This has gotten pretty long, so just one final thought. A few years back, my mother, my oldest child, and I went to Ireland. We knew we were connecting with our McDermott heritage, but I hadn’t started working on this yet, and we knew nothing of David O’Kelley. I am posting a picture, below, of Kieran Roston and Deborah McDermott, on the West coast of Ireland, just south of Galway. Even in retrospect, I am extremely moved by the fact that we may have stood on the very shore that our great-grandfather was torn from. Thank you for sticking with me this far! I promise, not all of my stories will be this long, but this really is a story that deserves to be told! Two lost and lonely children find each other, and build a life together on a new continent- a life that leads to us!