Clinton DeWitt Kelley
: Company B, 64th Regiment, NY State Volunteers. Age 21 years, enlisted August 17, 1861 at Randolph to serve three years; mustered in as Private on September 28, 1861; promoted Corporal in November, 1862; returned to ranks in April, 1863; mustered out September 27, 1864 near Petersburg, VA."When Clinton was 13, his father died and it is presumed that the family stayed on the family farm after his death. In 1861, at age 20, he drove a load of wood to Randolph, Cattaraugus County, NY. While on that errand, he joined a body of men being raised in that village for the Union Army. Without returning home, he was sent to... Elmira the same evening. He served three years and was in six major engagements and many minor skirmishes, including battles at Gettysburg, Antietam, Fair Oaks, Spottyslvania Court House, Chancellorsville, and Fredericksburg.
Clinton maintained a great interest in G.A.R. affairs and was the last surviving member of the William Fancher Post at Leon. He addressed the Leon Women's Relief Corps a week before his death, relating in his address that he had shaken hands with President Lincoln."
In addition to farming and having race horses, "Clinton held numerous public offices in the Town of Leon. He was Superintendent of the poor (Poor Master) for at least forty years, was Highway Superintendent, and for thirty years was President of the Leon Cemetery Association. Clinton was a strong Republican."
References: "Adjutant General's Report, 1901", and granddaughter Dorothy Bever
