Ella Kelly was born on December 7, 1914, on Klondike Road near Lithonia, Georgia— just eleven years after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk and Henry Ford put cars on the assembly line. She would witness the entire transformation of the twentieth century.
Ella describes her birthplace and early family life
Key Facts
The Transcript
[00:58] They called her Vassie. Albert was my mother's mother.
I was born on Rockland Road—I mean Klondike Road, close to Rockland Road. The church and the school were very near and handy. You turn on Rockland Road, you turn left, and my grandfather's and grandmother lived about 100 yards from the road.
We lived in the tenant house—my granddaddy's tenant house. And they were farmers. My grandfather and grandmother were farmers. Both families were farmers, because most people were then I guess.
My father was Graylee Kelly and my mother was Ari Dini Abbott.
It was very nice that we lived that close because mama and dad were farmers, and mama would go to the field with my daddy. And grandma and two aunts would keep the children.
So one of these aunts was Adeline, and she was my favorite in that family. She mentored me all the way through high school and was just all of my life—she was just a great person.
Because mama had so many children and she didn't have two, she was involved with my life. So she was very interested in mama's children because she lived right on the next street. You know, just a little bit—she lived right on the next street. If you could have walked straight across, just a hundred yards or so, but we had to go up the railroad track to get to her house. And she was always seeing about us, you know, just helping mama out a little.
[02:52] I was born December 7, 1914. I was born just 11 years after Henry Ford put cars on wheels—the assembly line—and the Wright brothers did the airplanes.
My grandfather and grandmother Kelly had the first—they were two cars in the community. One was the Maxwell and the other one was my grandfather Kelly's.
Historical Context: Rural Georgia in 1914
When Ella was born, most Americans still lived on farms. The automobile was a rare novelty—her grandfather's was one of only two cars in the entire community. Telephones were party lines shared by neighbors. Radio wouldn't arrive until the 1920s.
Tenant farming was common in the South. Families would work land owned by someone else, often paying rent in crops. The Kelly family worked their grandfather's land, which kept the extended family close together.
Lithonia, Georgia takes its name from the Greek word for "stone"—the area was known for its granite quarries. But the Kelly family, like most in the area, were farmers working the red Georgia clay.
People Mentioned
Graylee Kelly (Father) Ari Dini Abbott (Mother) Aunt Adeline (Mentor)
Places Mentioned
Klondike Road Rockland Road Lithonia, Georgia