Titus Kellogg was born in Dorset, Vermont, June 3, 1797, the seventh generation of his family to born in the United States. His father was a carpenter and a joiner who died in Dorset in 1832. Titus resided in Chautauqua County, New York (in the southwestern New York, on Lake Erie, next to Pennsylvania) from 1816 to 1837. He married Lucy Fletcher in Ashville, NY on 7 February 1819. They had six children before they moved to what would become Bossier Parish, Louisiana.
Lucy Fletcher Kellogg, Titus' widow, left a manuscript after her death, and it was preserved with other papers at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. The manuscript is one of the earliest by an American woman, and has been published in Appleby, Joyce, ed. Recollections of the Early Republic, Northeastern University Press, Boston: 1997. Mrs. Kellogg's story describes in detail the trip of her family from Ohio to wilderness in Louisiana, and their troubles there. The mere existence of such a journal is remarkable, but it is fascinating, too. Where else can you read a paragraph that begins, "I remember when George Washington died..." You can read a copy of the manuscript at Lucy Fletcher Kellogg
In 1837 four young women matriculated Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, for the regular college course, the first four women to be admitted to a regular college course in the United States. One of these women was Mary Fletcher Kellogg, son of Lucy and Titus Kellogg. Three of the four graduated in 1841 and became the first women in America to receive A.B. degrees. Mary Fletcher Kellogg was the one who did not graduate-her father went bankrupt and moved the family to Northwest Louisiana in 1837.
James H. Fairchild |
James Harris Fairchild was a teacher at Oberlin when Mary had to leave with her family. They evidently corresponded, and he resolved to visit her in Louisiana on her birthday in 1841, November 22. The trip took almost six weeks, but he made the appointment.
The two were married in Minden, Louisiana, that same day, and she returned with him to Oberlin. Fairchild was a professor there, and became the third president of the College from 1866 to 1889.
I've been able to track down a copy of the orginal typewritten manuscript by Fairchild, written almost fifty years later from notes he took at the time. On that journey, he met Professor Lyman Beecher and Professor Beecher's daughter Harriet Beecher Stowe. I regret that space considerations do not allow me to make it available on this website, but if you have an interest in seeing a copy of the manuscript, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Oberlin's reputation as a liberal institution was notorious in the days leading to the Civil War, as Fairchild alludes. His description of slaves is jarring to modern ears, especially to those who know Oberlin was a major Abolitionist institution, and early proponent of women's rights. Fairchild, however, opposed women's suffrage throughout his life.
Titus Kellogg and his family show up on the 1830 Census as residing in Chautauqua. They apparently moved to Louisiana in 1837 or 1838, with their six children, all of whom had been born in Chautauqua.
According to the Federal Bureau of Land Management, records show that approximately 400 acres of land were bought by the Kellogg family from the federal government October 1843 and April of 1844. The purchasers were Titus, (120 acres), his wife Lucy (120 acres), and their sons Charles and William (80 acres each). At the time of the purchase, this acreage was in Claiborne Parish, but Bossier Parish was incorporated shortly thereafter.
Headstone in Koran La. Cemetery
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Titus died on 29 August, 1848, and is buried in the Koran Cemetery located on Johnson-Koran Rd., south of Haughton, Bossier Parish, LA. You can get complete directions and a listing of those buried there by clicking on Koran Cemetery. Additionally, you can see a picture of the entrance to the cemetery at Entrance to Koran Cemetery
His wife was the administrator of his estate (which probably means he died without a will, otherwise she would have been an "executrix" ). Between 17 Dec 1848 and 13 Apr 1849, various transfers of property were executed by Lucy. These are reflected in the Bossier Parish Conveyance Records, Book 1 Page 415, 17 Dec., 1848; Book 2 Page 28-29, 34-36, 38, 40-43. It should be noted that this property also included the sale of several slaves.
According to TIMOTHY HOPKINS, after Titus' death, his family returned north, and his widow resided with her daughter, Mary Burge, in Keokuk, Iowa. Hopkins lists Titus children were as follows:
But Hopkins' summary is wrong, and there is a lot more to be told.
Charles Augustus Kellogg, Titus' son, is listed in the 1852 and 1855 New Orleans City Directories, but left before the Civil War broke out. His sister, Marcia Louisa Kellogg and her husband Alfred Augustus Kellogg, remained in the South during the Civil War.
Charles' brother, George Martin Kellogg, became a physician. What is particularly fascinating is that although he had lived in Koran with his family, he became an officer in the Union Army and was among the Union troops that fought in Northwest Louisiana during the last days of the Civil War.
An intriguing item from the New Orleans Daily Picayune, 11/18/1847 P2 C6, says that Charles Kellogg of New Orleans married Miss Margaret H. Todd, daughter of Robert S. Todd, Esq. In Lexington, KY. Robert Todd was also father of Mary Todd, who married Abraham Lincoln. After further research, it is clear that this Charles Kellogg was not Titus' son but rather Charles Henry Kellogg, who was a commission merchant in New Orleans, then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He was related to William Pitt Kellogg, however, who is covered in another portion of this document.
Although Titus is buried in Koran, and Alfred Augustus Kellogg married Titus' daughter in Minden, there don't appear to be any direct descendants from Titus still in Louisiana. But it also seems clear that Titus' brother Hiram was the father of the head of the family that eventually moved to Red River Parish, LA.