Carl Ellan Kelley lived much of her life away from the spotlight, even though she was part of one of America’s most recognizable musical families. She was the daughter of renowned Baptist preacher Reverend C. L. Franklin and the paternal half-sister of Aretha Franklin, the legendary singer widely known as the “Queen of Soul.”
Unlike Aretha, Carl never pursued a career in music or became a household name. Her life followed a quieter path, shaped largely by family circumstances and her search for a relationship with the father she had always known about but had not grown up with.
Carl Ellan Kelley was born on November 17, 1940, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mildred Jennings and C. L. Franklin. She was raised by her grandmother, Mrs. Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry, rather than in the Detroit household shared by some of her better-known half-siblings.
What makes Carl’s story particularly compelling is that she eventually took the initiative to contact her father herself. As a teenager approaching adulthood, she wrote him a letter because she wanted answers about her identity and hoped to establish a relationship with him. That decision would eventually bring her into the Franklin family.
Quick Bio Information
| Biography Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Carl Ellan Kelley |
| Reported Birth Name | Carl Ellan Franklin Kelly |
| Date Of Birth | November 17, 1940 |
| Birthplace | Memphis, Tennessee |
| Father | Reverend C. L. Franklin |
| Mother | Mildred Jennings |
| Raised By | Mrs. Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry |
| Famous Half-Sister | Aretha Franklin |
| Other Franklin Siblings | Erma Franklin, Carolyn Franklin, Cecil Franklin |
| First Contact With Father | Through A Letter As A Teenager |
| First Known Family Reunion | Detroit |
| Children | Vivian Smith, Herman E. Wheatley III, Charles G. Smith |
| Grandchildren | Several, According To Her Obituary |
| Great-Grandchild | Her Obituary Lists One Great-Grandchild |
| Death Date | January 30, 2019 |
| Age At Death | Reported Differently In Public Records |
| Death Location | Reported In Obituary Records; Funeral Arrangements Were In Seattle |
| Known For | Being C. L. Franklin’s Daughter And Aretha Franklin’s Half-Sister |
| Public Profile | Largely Private |
The most useful public record for Carl’s personal details is her published funeral-home obituary. It confirms important information about her birth, parents, grandmother, children, siblings, and death.
Carl Ellan Kelley’s Birth And Early Life
Carl Ellan Kelley was born in Memphis on November 17, 1940. Her arrival placed her in the family of C. L. Franklin, a preacher whose influence would eventually reach far beyond the walls of his church. Yet Carl’s childhood was very different from the lives of the Franklin children who would later become well known.
Her grandmother, Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry, raised her. That detail is recorded in Carl’s obituary and is one of the clearest pieces of information available about her early years.
Carl therefore grew up apart from the better-known Franklin household. While Aretha and several of her siblings would eventually become associated with music and public life, Carl remained largely out of view. That separation from the family helps explain why reconnecting with her biological father became such an important chapter in her life.
Who Was Carl Ellan Kelley’s Father, C. L. Franklin?
To understand Carl Ellan Kelley’s family story, it helps to understand the man at its center.
Reverend C. L. Franklin was one of the most prominent Baptist preachers of his generation. He became pastor of Detroit’s New Bethel Baptist Church and was known for his powerful sermons and public influence. His work also brought him into the civil rights movement, making him an important figure in Detroit’s Black community.
For millions of people, C. L. Franklin is best remembered as Aretha Franklin’s father. But for Carl, his significance was much more personal. He was her biological father, and that connection eventually led Carl to seek him out.
His public reputation and private family history were not always easy to reconcile. That contrast became particularly significant when Carl entered his life.
The Complicated Story Behind Carl’s Family
The circumstances surrounding Carl’s birth are among the most sensitive aspects of her biography. Historian and biographer Nick Salvatore documented that C. L. Franklin fathered Carl with Mildred Jennings, who was 12 years old and a member of his congregation in Memphis. Carl was born while Franklin was serving at New Salem Baptist Church.
Because Mildred was a child at the time, this part of the story requires particular care. It shouldn’t be reduced to casual descriptions of an “affair.” The circumstances recorded in historical accounts raise serious concerns about the power imbalance and the age of those involved.
At the same time, Carl’s own identity shouldn’t be reduced to the circumstances of her birth. She grew up, formed relationships, raised a family, and lived a largely private life of her own.
For Carl, the more immediate question was what her father’s identity meant for her as she grew older. Eventually, she decided that she wanted to find out for herself.
How Did Carl Ellan Kelley Contact Her Father?
One of the most revealing parts of the Carl Ellan Kelley biography is that she reportedly made the first move toward establishing contact with C. L. Franklin.
According to an account based on Nick Salvatore’s biography Singing in a Strange Land, Carl had always known who her biological father was. But when she was approaching 18, she decided to write him a letter. She wanted to understand her identity and, ultimately, establish some kind of relationship with the man who had been absent from her upbringing.
A minister at A. R. Williams’s church in Memphis reportedly knew about Carl’s desire to contact Franklin and encouraged her to follow through.
It was a significant decision for a young woman. Instead of allowing the unanswered questions about her family to remain in the background, Carl chose to confront them directly.
C. L. Franklin’s Response To The Letter
Carl’s attempt to reach her father didn’t result in an immediate, straightforward reunion.
According to the same account, C. L. Franklin did not simply call Carl after receiving her letter. Instead, he contacted the Memphis minister who had been involved in the situation.
The account says the minister eventually pressed Franklin to acknowledge Carl as his daughter. For Carl, that reportedly made the beginning of their relationship uncomfortable. She viewed his acknowledgment as something he had been pushed into rather than something he had freely initiated.
Even so, the acknowledgment opened a door that had previously been closed. Carl would soon have an opportunity to meet her father and the family connected to him.
Carl Ellan Kelley Met Her Father In Detroit
A few months after making contact, Carl traveled to Detroit. There, she finally met C. L. Franklin in person and began getting acquainted with members of the family she had previously known from a distance.
The meeting was significant for everyone involved. Franklin’s other children were confronted with the discovery that they had a sister they hadn’t previously known about, while Carl was suddenly stepping into a family with an established history and complicated relationships.
For Carl, however, the Detroit visit represented something she had been seeking for years: a direct connection with her biological father.
It wasn’t necessarily an easy beginning, but it was a beginning nonetheless.
How Did The Franklin Family React?
The available accounts suggest that Carl’s arrival brought some surprise and discomfort to the family, particularly because her existence had not been widely known among Franklin’s Detroit children.
Still, the response wasn’t entirely negative. Carl reportedly met several of her half-siblings, although the supplied account says she did not meet Carolyn Franklin. Rachel Franklin, affectionately known as “Big Mama,” reportedly welcomed Carl warmly.
Beyond those details, relatively little reliable information is available about Carl’s private relationships with individual members of the Franklin family. That’s an important distinction when writing about her life. A lack of public documentation shouldn’t be filled with assumptions about what family members felt or how close they were.
What can be said is that Carl eventually became recognized as part of the wider Franklin family.
Carl Ellan Kelley’s Relationship With C. L. Franklin
Carl’s relationship with her father appears to have changed considerably after their initial meeting.
At first, she reportedly felt that Franklin had been forced to acknowledge her. That understandably created an awkward foundation for their relationship. But the tension apparently eased as Carl began visiting him more regularly.
According to the published account, Carl later lived in New Orleans, where Franklin sometimes had her beside him while preaching. After she moved to Seattle, the two reportedly continued to maintain a familial relationship.
That evolution is one of the more human aspects of Carl’s story. Their relationship didn’t begin with an easy reunion or a neatly resolved family history. Instead, it developed gradually.
Carl Ellan Kelley And Aretha Franklin
Carl Ellan Kelley and Aretha Franklin shared the same father, making Carl Aretha’s paternal half-sister. They had different mothers and did not grow up together.
Aretha’s life was, of course, extraordinarily public. She became one of the most influential singers in American history, while Carl largely remained outside the entertainment industry and the media.
Because Carl kept her private life largely out of the public eye, there’s limited reliable information about the exact nature of her relationship with Aretha. It would therefore be misleading to describe them as either especially close or distant without stronger evidence.
What is established is that Carl was recognized as part of Aretha’s family. When Aretha died in August 2018, contemporary coverage identified Carl among her surviving half-siblings.
Did Aretha Franklin Leave Carl Money?
One of the most frequently reported details connecting Carl Ellan Kelley and Aretha Franklin concerns Aretha’s estate.
Several secondary reports say that Aretha included Carl in a handwritten will made in 2014 and reportedly left her $50,000. Those reports describe Carl as a sister who had a different mother.
The detail is noteworthy because it indicates that Carl was recognized in Aretha’s estate planning. However, it should be described carefully. The widely available sources discussing the $50,000 provision are secondary reports rather than the complete underlying probate record.
For that reason, the most responsible wording is that Carl was reportedly left $50,000 in Aretha Franklin’s 2014 handwritten will, rather than presenting the figure as an independently reviewed legal fact.
Carl Ellan Kelley’s Other Siblings
Carl was part of a larger Franklin family that included several notable names.
Her best-known half-sister was Aretha, but the family also included singer Erma Franklin, songwriter and singer Carolyn Franklin, and Cecil Franklin, who followed his father into the ministry.
Erma became a respected recording artist in her own right and is particularly remembered for the original recording of “Piece of My Heart.” Carolyn was also a musician and songwriter, while Cecil worked in ministry.
By the time Carl died, several of her Franklin siblings had already passed away. Her published obituary confirms that Aretha, Cecil, Erma, and Carolyn were among the family members who had died before her.
That family history gives Carl’s story a broader context. She wasn’t simply connected to one famous singer; she belonged to a family with deep roots in both gospel and popular music.
Carl Ellan Kelley’s Children And Family Life
Although readers often encounter Carl’s name because of her famous relatives, her own family was an important part of her life.
Her 2019 obituary identifies Herman E. Wheatley III and Charles G. Smith as her surviving children. It also states that her daughter, Vivian Smith, had died before her. The obituary further records grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
These details are particularly valuable because they provide a fuller picture of Carl beyond her connection to the Franklin name. She was a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother whose personal life was mostly kept away from public attention.
In that sense, describing her simply as “Aretha Franklin’s sister” doesn’t tell the whole story. It explains why people became interested in her, but not who she was as an individual.
Carl Ellan Kelley’s Later Years And Death
Carl Ellan Kelley died on January 30, 2019, only a few months after the death of Aretha Franklin in August 2018.
Her funeral-home obituary records her death date and lists her age as 78. Another published obituary record lists her age as 79, creating a discrepancy in the public reporting. Because of that inconsistency, the safest approach is to focus on her confirmed date of death rather than emphasize a disputed age.
There is also no reliable cause of death in the obituary records cited here. Claims circulating online about a specific medical cause should therefore not be presented as established fact without a stronger source.
Her funeral-home record says services were held in Memphis and that she was to be laid to rest at Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle, Washington.
Her death marked the end of a life that had intersected with one of America’s most famous families without ever being defined entirely by that connection.
Carl Ellan Kelley’s Legacy
Carl Ellan Kelley’s legacy is considerably quieter than that of Aretha Franklin, but her story remains compelling because it touches on questions of family, identity, and belonging.
She was born into difficult circumstances and raised by her grandmother. For years, she lived apart from the father whose identity she knew. As she approached adulthood, she made the decision to contact him herself, opening the way to a relationship that would eventually connect her with the wider Franklin family.
Her experience also offers an important reminder about the difference between public reputation and private life. C. L. Franklin was an influential preacher and civil-rights figure, but his family history was complicated. Carl lived within that complicated history without allowing it to become her entire identity.
She also never needed a music career of her own to have a place in the Franklin story. Her life, family, and eventual connection with her father were significant in their own right.
Final Thoughts
Carl Ellan Kelley will always be associated with Aretha Franklin and C. L. Franklin, but reducing her life to a single family connection misses what makes her story interesting.
Born in Memphis in 1940 and raised by her grandmother, Carl spent her early years outside the Franklin household. As a teenager, she decided to reach out to her biological father, beginning a complicated process that eventually brought her into contact with C. L. Franklin and several of her half-siblings.
Her relationship with her father reportedly started awkwardly but became more familiar over the years. Her connection with Aretha Franklin remained largely private, although reports about Aretha’s 2014 handwritten will indicate that Carl was included in her estate planning.
Carl died on January 30, 2019, just months after Aretha. By then, she had lived a life that extended well beyond her connection to a famous singer. She had children, grandchildren, and a great-grandchild, and she had spent much of her life away from public attention.
Perhaps the most meaningful part of the Carl Ellan Kelley story is that she didn’t simply wait for her family history to define her. When she wanted answers about her father, she reached out herself. Her journey from a child raised apart from the Franklin family to a woman eventually acknowledged as part of it is a story about identity and the complicated ways families come together.
FAQs About Carl Ellan Kelley
Who Was Carl Ellan Kelley?
Carl Ellan Kelley was the daughter of Reverend C. L. Franklin and Mildred Jennings and the paternal half-sister of Aretha Franklin. She was born in Memphis on November 17, 1940, and was raised by her grandmother, Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry.
How Was Carl Ellan Kelley Related To Aretha Franklin?
Carl Ellan Kelley and Aretha Franklin shared the same father, Reverend C. L. Franklin, but had different mothers. That made Carl Aretha’s paternal half-sister.
Although their family connection is well established, relatively little reliable information is publicly available about the sisters’ private relationship. It’s therefore best not to make assumptions about how close they were.
Who Was Carl Ellan Kelley’s Father?
Carl’s father was Reverend C. L. Franklin, a prominent Baptist preacher and civil-rights figure who served as pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. He was also the father of Aretha Franklin and several other children.
Franklin’s public influence was considerable, particularly within Detroit’s religious and civil-rights communities.
When Did Carl Ellan Kelley Meet Her Father?
According to an account based on Nick Salvatore’s biography Singing in a Strange Land, Carl contacted C. L. Franklin by letter when she was approaching 18. She later traveled to Detroit, where she met her father and members of the Franklin family.
The relationship reportedly became more comfortable as Carl continued visiting him.
Did Carl Ellan Kelley Have Children?
Yes. Carl’s 2019 obituary identifies Herman E. Wheatley III and Charles G. Smith as her surviving children and says that her daughter Vivian Smith had died before her.
The obituary also mentions grandchildren and a great-grandchild, showing that Carl had built a family of her own.
Did Aretha Franklin Leave Carl Ellan Kelley $50,000?
Several secondary reports say that Aretha Franklin’s 2014 handwritten will included a $50,000 bequest to Carl Ellan Kelley. Because the widely available reports are secondary sources rather than the complete underlying probate document, the amount should be described as a reported bequest rather than an independently verified legal fact.
When Did Carl Ellan Kelley Die?
Carl Ellan Kelley died on January 30, 2019. Her funeral-home obituary records that date. Public obituary records differ over her age at death, so the death date is more reliable than the reported age.
Where Was Carl Ellan Kelley Buried?
Her funeral-home obituary states that Carl’s services were held in Memphis and that she was to be laid to rest at Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle, Washington. This is the most useful published source for her funeral arrangements.
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