George Kelley, a prominent citizen of De Kalb County, was born in North Carolina about 1821. He is the youngest son of a family of twelve children born to Edwin and Sarah (Herbin) Kelley, both natives of North Carolina. The father spent his life at agricultural pursuits, and at the time of his death lived in Andrew County. The mother died in Clinton County. George's educational advantages were very meager. In 1839 he came to Missouri, locating for a short time in Andrew County; he then moved to Clinton County, where he lived until 1846, when he returned to Andrew County. In 1850 he went to California, and spent two years very profitably at mining, but again returned to Andrew County. In 1865 he went to Oregon, where he raised three crops, then moved into California and raised one crop. In December, 1872, he moved to De Kalb County, locating on the farm where he now resides. It consists of 200 acres of well-improved land. He has also, besides his home farm, 320 acres in his county. Besides tilling the soil he has been a very successful stock trader. In 1855 he was united in marriage with Elizabeth A. Tate, daughter of Gushum Tate. They have had eight children, as follows: Ida (deceased), Richard (deceased), William 0., Alfred, Dudley S., Sterling, Henrietta and Mary S. Politically Mr. Kelley has always been a substantial Democrat.
Source: History of Andrew and DeKalb Counties, Missouri (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1888), p. 570