Early Years
Kelso attended a state convention held by African Americans in Alexandria in August 1865, and later that year or early in 1866 began teaching in a Lynchburg school sponsored by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. He also led a band performance for the June 1866 exhibition by the Freedmen's Bureau schools in the city.
Political Career
In the spring of 1867 Kelso tried without success to be elected to represent Campbell County in the Republican State Convention. On October 14, 1867, he and a white Republican, Samuel D. Williamson, jointly announced their candidacies for the two seats to represent the county (which included the city of Lynchburg) in the convention called to write a new state constitution. Kelso's speech announcing his candidacy made a favorable impression on one of the people who reported on it for an unfriendly Lynchburg newspaper. On October 22, 1867, African Americans, in the first election in which they voted in Virginia, propelled Kelso and Williamson to victory. All but 9 of the 2,589 men who voted for Kelso and all but 13 of the 2,590 men who voted for Williamson were African American. Two white conservative candidates received more than 2,000 votes each, all but 31 of them from white men.
On January 21, 1868, the convention appointed a committee to invite General Ulysses S. Grant, who was then in Richmond, to visit the convention. The president appointed Kelso to the committee, but one of the white delegates, Hugh H. Lee, refused to serve with an African American and declined the appointment. The next day when the committee called on Grant, the white members reportedly left Kelso in the hotel parlor and saw Grant without him. Even the hostile editor of the Richmond Daily Enquirer and Examiner thought that was out of line. "He is one of the most respectable looking negroes in the Convention," the paper reported of Kelso, and added that he "dresses well, and is certainly as well worthy of respect as any negro that could have been appointed."
Later Years
Kelso died of heart disease in Lynchburg on December 4, 1880, and was buried in what is now known as the Old City Cemetery in that city.
Time Line
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ca. 1825 - Samuel F. Kelso is born into slavery, reportedly in Lynchburg.
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August 1865 - Samuel F. Kelso attends a state convention held by African Americans in Alexandria.
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1866 - Samuel F. Kelso teaches in a Freedmen's School in Lynchburg.
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Spring 1867 - Samuel F. Kelso fails in an attempt to win election as a delegate to the Republican State Convention.
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October 14, 1867 - Samuel F. Kelso and Samuel D. Williamson jointly announce they are running to represent Campbell County in the constitutional convention.
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October 22, 1867 - Samuel F. Kelso and Samuel D. Williamson win election to represent Campbell County in the constitutional convention.
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December 3, 1867–April 17, 1868 - Samuel F. Kelso and Samuel D. Williamson represent Campbell County in the constitutional convention.
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January 21, 1868 - The state convention appoints a committee to invite General Ulysses S. Grant, then in Richmond, to visit.
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May 1868 - Samuel F. Kelso is present at a Republican rally in Campbell County when two armed white men tear up an American flag and order a black speaker to leave the platform.
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January 1869 - Samuel F. Kelso is a delegate to the National Convention of the Colored Men of America, in Washington, D.C.
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March 1869 - Samuel F. Kelso attends the Republican State Convention, in Richmond.
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November 1869 - Samuel F. Kelso attends the Republican State Convention, in Richmond.
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March 1870 - Samuel F. Kelso opens the term of his one-room school in Lynchburg with fifty-four students.
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Spring 1871 - The Lynchburg post office hires Samuel F. Kelso as the agent to transport the mail between the city's railroad stations.
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December 4, 1880 - Samuel F. Kelso dies in Lynchburg and is buried in that city.
References
Further Reading
External Links
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Tarter, B., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Samuel F. Kelso (ca. 1825–1880). (2019, January 4). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Kelso_Samuel_F_ca_1825-December_4_1880.
- MLA Citation:
Tarter, Brent and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Samuel F. Kelso (ca. 1825–1880)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 4 Jan. 2019. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: August 24, 2018 | Last modified: January 4, 2019
Contributed by Brent Tarter and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Brent Tarter is founding editor of the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.