When a time capsule recently placed in a veterans memorial monument in Upshur County, Texas, is opened, it will contain the history of one of the oldest surviving LDS colonies in the southern United States - Kelsey.
Fayrene Bonebrake, a member of the Gilmer 1st Ward, Gilmer Texas Stake, and of the Upshur County Historical commission, submitted a brief history of the northeast Texas community at the request of County Commissioner Gaddis Lindsey. Twenty items were placed in the capsule.A Texas State Historical Survey Committee marker stands in front of a now-abandoned store to give a brief history of the colony, which is located about five miles west of Gilmer.
"Kelsey's history was the only community history included in the capsule," she said. "Much of Kelsey's history is also church history since many of the activities of the community revolved around the Church."
Kelsey was founded in 1899 by brothers Jim and John Edgar, who were passing through Upshur County on a trip from Arizona to Alabama. In the red-clay hills of Kelsey, they saw room for a Mormon colony. After church leaders gave their approval, the Edgar brothers advertised in various Church publications for colonists to settle there.
Latter-day Saints, fleeing religious persecution in many area of the country, came to Kelsey from places as far away as New York.
The colony reached its peak in 1913 when the population reached 600. Townsite lots were laid out and a business district started. The community continued to grow until 1923, when the population stood at 750.
Kelsey Ward was combined with two branches to form the Kelsey-Gilmer Ward in 1958. The business climate of Kelsey has declined but there are still residents, the majority of whom are LDS and attend Church meetings in nearby Gilmer.
No date has been set for the opening of the time capsule.
