William Rolfe Kelley and Dinah Rush

William (Bill) Kelley and Dinah Rush raised a family in 19th century Texas despite state and federal laws which banned their union. Kelley was born in 1832 in Buckingham Co., Virginia, to Radford and Susan Kelley. Bill’s oldest sister, Martha, married Pleasant Jennings in 1839 and moved to this area (then in Polk County), where Pleasant became an overseer on the hightower plantation. Bill became the head of his family when his father died of an unknown illness. By 1851 he joined his sister and brother-in-law in Texas, accepting a job as an overseer on the Todd Robinson Plantation. Dinah rush was born a slave in Alabama in 1848. Her owner and likely father, Otis Rush, arrived in this area around 1852. According to an 1860 census, he owned 17 slaves including Dinah, who was described as Mulatto (mixed African-American and Caucasian heritage).

Bill Kelley served in the 25th regiment of the Texas Cavalry, C.S.A., during the Civil War. In 1863, he was taken prisoner at Fort Hindman, Arkansas, and was later transferred to Fort Butler, Illinois. In 1867, he bought 154 acres of land; ultimately the Kelley farm would comprise nearly 700 acres and become known for its hogs, potatoes, yams and cotton. Bill Kelley and Dinah Rush had ten children: Eliza, Lawson, Mittie, Harley, Lois, Herndon, Susan, Will, Fanny, and John. Laws against interracial marriage prevented Dinah from marrying the father of her children or sharing their surname. In 1884 Dinah died shortly after delivering her tenth child. Bill died in 1922 surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Today descendants include leaders in business, law, medicine, and education, the products of a loving union and enduring values