[p. 521] who is extensively engaged in general farming, dairying and stock raising on a highly cultivated tract of eighty-five acres, located nine miles southwest of New Castle, on the Mt. Jackson and Mt. Air road, is one of the progressive and representative citizens of North Beaver Township. He was born April 28, 1844, in Mahoningtown, then located in North Beaver Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of James and Nancy (Patterson) Kelso, and a grandson of George Kelso, an early settler of Lawrence County who came from the eastern part of the State. James Kelso was a native of Pulaski Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.
Until twelve years of age William P. Kelso lived with his parents near New Castle Junction. During the winter of 1856, the family moved to Mr. Kelso's present farm, where, with the exception of two years spent at Beaver Falls, he has since continued to reside. Mr. Kelso has always devoted his time and energies to agricultural pursuits and has made various improvements on the home place, in 1900 having built his present large and commodious residence, the barn having been erected in 1859.
Mr. Kelso enlisted for service in the Union Army August 1, 1862, for nine months, and was discharged in May, 1863. He re-enlisted in February, 1864, in the Third Pennsylvania Artillery, and was honorably discharged in November, 1865, having served almost three years.
Mr. Kelso was joined in marriage with Nancy J. Fullerton, a daughter of Robert and Eliza (Wilson) Fullerton, and of their union were born the following children: Charles Clyde, who is a graduate of Geneva College, also spent some time at Westminster College at New Wilmington, and is now principal of the Sharpesburg schools. He married Margaret Jane McKinley and they have four children, namely, Charles Sharp, Willis Elbert, Daniel McKinley and George William; Mary, who lives at home, operates the Mt. Air exchange of the Independent Telephone Company, the exchange being located in Mr. Kelso's residence; Robert Mark, married Rachel E. Gilmore and has two children, Rachel Jane and William David, who is superintendent of the Vulcan Crucible Steel Mills of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania; and James, who resides at home, is secretary and treasurer of the Independent Telephone Company. He married Myrtle Iva Kyle.
Mr. Kelso is a man of public spirit and enterprise and is ever ready to support those measures which tend toward the advancement of his community. He holds membership in the Bethel United Presbyterian Church, of which he is and has been an elder for a period of twenty-five years.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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