Tombstone Tuesday: Christiana and Frank P. Kelly

Was looking through Mom's tombstone photo file and ran into these two that I hadn't noticed before. They belong to my great grand parents and Dad's father's parents: Christiana Kelly (1861 - 1932) and Frank P. Kelly (1854 - 1923). Frank's full name was Francis Patrick Kelly but everyone called him Frank. He is just one of seven or eight Francis Patrick Kellys, including my Dad who everyone called Pat, on Mom's Big Tree. This couple rests in St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery in Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland and here's a link to this cemetery on FindAGrave.

His wife was Christiana Eckhart Kelly, but here on the tombstone, as you can see, her name was spelled with two "n"s. Additionally, we have records with the surnames spelled both as Kelly and Kelley. Sounds about right, doesn't it? Just enough to drive our search a tad crazy:)

This couple holds a bit of special interest for me because they were the first big inter-religious marriage in this line: a Catholic groom and a Lutheran bride. And they had to work at it to get the blessing of the bride's family. Their strategy, and one taken by many a couple, was to have kids so as to put the pressure on. Here's a link to a recent post about it, "Treasure Chest Thursday: Secrets", and you can find it here.

Christiana Eckhart Kelly came from an old family in the area of Western Maryland and Eckhart (or Eckhart Mines as it's now named) going back to the Revolutionary War. Her great great grandfather was George Adam Eckhart who purchased military lots and combined them with the lots of Jacob Loar to form the large parcel he owned. Eventually his son's wife sold the most valuable parcels to a mining company. This bituminous coal-rich land came to be known as The Big Vein and made the coal barrons rediculously wealthy. And that, my friends is a whole other story for another day!

Uncle Delbert still tells of being a boy and visiting his grandmother Christiana on Sundays, walking down the hills to the old Kelly house, across from Kelly's pump, and having to sit at attention on the big leather chair and mind his manners. One gets the impression that he was on very best behavior, and totally out of character for one of the Kelly boys.

Dad as a school boy,

Francis Patrick Kelly (1916 - 2007)

Frank and Christiana's family, about 1913.

Please click on the image to read names and dates.
And yes, there's another Frank Kelly Jr. in this picture.

John Lee Kelly (1892 - 1969), Dad's Dad, and his mother,
Christiana Eckhart Kelly (1861 - 1932)

Christiana Eckhart Kelly's parents:

John Eckhart (1831 - 1917) and
 Mary Catherine Myers Eckhart (1837 - 1909)

 

 

Tombstone Tuesday is a weekly blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. You can find the whole week's list of prompts here. Thanks, GeneaBloggers for inspiring genea bloggers!!

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