When George Samuel Kelsey was born on 15 January 1854, in Clinton, Kentucky, United States, his father, William Kelsay, was 45 and his mother, Artemasia Coones Coffey, was 38. He married Frances Elizabeth Dunbar in 1877, in Kentucky, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in Magisterial District 1, Russell, Kentucky, United States in 1900. He died on 6 February 1915, in Jamestown, Russell, Kentucky, United States, at the age of 61.