THE KELL FAMILY by Maxine Wormer 1992
In 1772, several members of the KELL family came to the colony of South Carolina from Ballymena, County Antrim, Ire. There are those who claim they came aboard the ship Lord Dunluce, but a check of the passenger list for that ship failed to show their names, and I, long ago, discarded this fact. As evidence that they were not aboard that ship, the Lord Dunluce sailed from Larne on October 4, 1772. Then, Under date of January 6, 1773 the S.C. Council Journal listed "persons who had lately arrived from Ireland into this province in the ship Lord Dunluce, who were petitioning for land. Again, their names did not show. I have photostats of the Journal pages. It is my opinion that the KELLs arrived in America during the first half of 1772, or at least prior to July of that year. On July 20, 1772, six of them petitioned for land (I have photostats of this also). In any case, the KELLs who petitioned for land under the headright system were:

JOHN KELL - Petitioned for 350 acres of land which would indicate he had a wife and four children. Since we know he had only two children at the time, there must have been two other members of minor age in his household. I have photostats of his land grant. John was the progenitor of my KELL line through my grandfather.

JAMES KELL - Petitioned for 100 acres of land which would indicate he was a bachelor of legal age at the time. He was a brother to the above John and the progenitor of my KELL line through my grandmother, who was a KELL both before and after marriage.

MATTHEW KELL - Petitioned for 100 acres of land which would indicate that he too, was a bachelor of legal age. He was a brother to the above John and James and reportedly was killed during the Revolutionary War. Tradition, which quite often contains a grain of truth and a lot of fiction, says that he and his brother James both wanted to marry the same red- haired Irish girl - she chose Matthew and after his death she married James. I have no idea how much truth there is to this. In fact the only thing I know about my James' wife is that her given name was Martha. I do know that James acted as administrator of Matthew's estate.

JANNET KELL - Petitioned for 150 acres of land which would indicate that she was of legal age and was either a widow with a minor child or a single person with a minor in her care. Since we know she was a sister to John, James and Matthew, she must have been single at the time since she used the name KELL.

Archibald KELL, another brother did not petition for land at this time, but appeared on the scene a few years later. He seems to have a very close relationship with Jannet after she married Robert RAINEY, so perhaps Archibald was the minor who figured in Jannet's land petition. However, this is only speculation on my part. I do know that in his will Robert RAINEY mentioned Archibald KELL.

MARY KELL - Petitioned for 150 acres of land which would indicate the same-as Jannet's petition. However, nothing has come to light concerning her identity and it is a moot question at this time as to what relationship she bore to the others.

HENRY KELL - petitioned for 100 acres of land which would indicate that he was a bachelor of legal age, Nothing further is known of him. ...........