When interviewed, Alexander Kelley was living with his wife, Bell Kelley (q.v.), at 1613 East Kirk Street in Muncie. His narrative follows:
My name is Alexander Kelley. I was born on the Wamoick plantation in Adkins [Anson] County, North Carolina, about 1855. My father’s name was Alexander Wamoick, and he was sold from the plantation in 1859 to Joe Gray and Larkin Lynch. These men were slave traders, and they sold my father to a master who took him to Texas. I never saw him to remember him dearly, for I was a child about four years of age when he was sold away from my mother. I was the last child in the family and the only one left, for my older brothers and sisters had been sold by Wamoick and taken away as fast as they became of profitable age. There were nine children in the family but they were widely scattered and never saw each other again in slavery or after they became free. A mature man-slave of good physique and steady temper and average working ability and not disposed to run away was worth on the slave market as high as $3,000. That’s why we slaves were always well fed.
My mother’s name was Margaret Kelley, but she was called Bell Kelley. [His wife’s name also was Bell Kelley.] After Father was sold, Mother remained, and I was a baby by her side. Then Mother was sold, and I went with her to the new master’s land whose name was Fitzgerald. This master then sold us to Jesse Wooten of North Carolina, and we went on his plantation. After Wooten bought us, he joined the army and went to the front. When he returned we were free, and I was now eight years old.
When Mother and I were freed, we were together but didn’t remain on the Wooten plantation. We went from there to a log cabin on the farm of Dan Hutchings, where we were employed by him for some time. I grew to be a boy sixteen years of age, and Mother decided to take me farther west where I would have better advantages. In the year 1873 we left the Hutchings cabin and traveled out of Carolina on west to Indianapolis, Indiana. We found quarters to live in and both found work. I got some schooling, and meanwhile I picked up some knowledge in cooking. In the year 1883 I was employed as chef at the Grant Hotel in that city. I kept this position for three years when Mother and I and my wife heard of the gas boom at Muncie. We came on to Muncie, and I cooked in the different public stands and private families until 1894. I was then employed as chef in the Kirby House Hotel in Muncie, which place I held for a long period, or until I retired.
I was married while living in Indianapolis. Our family now consisted of my aged mother, my wife, and myself. My ex-slave mother has long since passed beyond. My wife and I now reside at our home, 1613 East Kirk Street, Muncie, Indiana.