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Note: JOHN KELL John Kell who lived to age 83, married Jane P Morton, 1738-1817
left Ireland. in 1771, landed South Carolina 1772 in Rocky
Creek District Chester county, S. C. Both are buried in Paul's
Graveyard, Chester County, S.C.
John Kell came over with Rev. William Martin, who led a colony of
Scotch Covenanters from the Kellswater Congregation in Ballymoney,
Ireland. These Scotch Presbyterians had left Scotland for Ireland
in search of religious freedom and again left Ireland for America.
It is not known whether Jane Morton Kell was related to Thomas Morton,
but we do know John Kell and Thomas Morton were intimately associated
in the Rocky Creek Congregation of Covenantors under Rev.
Martin. Thomas Morton was made elder in 1789 and John Kell two
years later. In 1801 John Kell and David Stormont, elders, sat on
a court with three Covenanter ministers to banish slaveholders
from the Church.
Children of John Kell and Jane Morton:
Alexander Kell married and moved to Indiana probably near Princeton. Little is known of his descendents. John Kell, B.1772. Married Jane Hartin (of Beechwoods,Ohio) Minister and missionary in Presbyterian Chuch. Organized Church at Princeton, Ind. in 1810. He and wife buried there. See Personal Sketch-herein. Left no descedants. Thomas Kell B. in S.C. l774, Married Margaret Ann Gaston B.1783. See -Gaston Family.History, Thomas Kell. died Mar. 21, 1844 It is not known, what part the first John Kell had in the Revolution, but it was evidently displeasing to the British, who burned their home. Meanwhile the mother hid her sons, including John and his little brother Thomas In the bushes, lest the British harm them. Apparently the father was away that day. As the Scotch Covenantors in this Chester District hated all things British, they were patriots, and are said a1most to a man to have borne arms for the cause of the Revolution. To them it was not only a War for their homes, but a War for religious freedom for which their fathers had been fighting the Britich Crown for over a century. Rev. Wm. Martin was a patriotic leader, urging the men of his congregation to bear arms. Since John Kell was one of his first elders, he must have been one of the close followers of Rev. Martin. It is quite possible that further search may sometime give proof of John Kell's Service in the Revolution.
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