Husband William Newton Kelley 1
AKA: William A. Kelley 2
Born: - northern Ireland
Christened:
Died: - Wisconsin
Buried:
Father: Samuel Kelley ( - ) 3
Mother: Jane Austin ( - ) 3
Marriage: - Ireland
Wife Agnes Adams 2
Born: Abt 1806
Christened:
Died: 1879 - Wisconsin 2
Buried:
Children
1 M John J. Kelley 3 5
AKA: J. J. Kelly Esq. 4
Born: 1824 - Mercer Co, PA 5
Christened:
Died: 1907 - ? Ellwood City, Lawrence Co, PA 5
Buried:
Spouse: Elvira Leech (1828-1908) 5
Marr: 1847 2
2 F Mary J. Kelley 2
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
3 M William A. Kelley, Jr. 2
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
4 M Samuel Kelley 2
Born:
Christened:
Died: Bef 1897
Buried:
5 M James Kelley 2
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
6 M David Kelley 2
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
7 M Joseph Kelley 2
Born:
Christened:
Died: Bef 1897
Buried:
8 F [Unk] Kelley 2
Born:
Christened:
Died: when twenty years old
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - William Newton Kelley
In the very early part of the nineteenth century he and four brothers-Samuel, John, David and James-members of a sturdy Presbyterian family-emigrated to the United States, settled at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and there engaged in the contracting business. They constructed a large section of the Juniata canal, the old one, and also a portion of the original Pennsylvania Railroad, west of Philadelphia. William Newton, John and David later located on farms in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and William Newton also conducted a large general store. He had the spirit of the true pioneer in him, and when Mercer County began to be more thickly settled, it became too crowded for his taste, and he removed with his family, with the exception of his son John J., to Wisconsin, then a wilderness. There they cleared a large farm, and cultivated this successfully. As more settlers came to Wisconsin, he removed still farther west, this time taking up land in Oregon, but finally returned to his home in Wisconsin, where he died at a very advanced age. He was a man of dignified presence, and an extraordinary amount of executive ability. In all these settlements, he never did any of the labor personally, contenting himself with being the guiding spirit of the enterprises. His invariable attire was a dress coat, a stiff shirt, a large white choker, and a silk high hat. [GPHWP, 713]
He married in the Old Country, just before their departure for the West; he helped his father on the homestead, and then began contracting in canal work on the Pittsburg & Blairsville Canal, also on the extension of the Johnstown Canal, and at length made his home in Johnstown, where he finished a contract on the Juniata Canal, and was the proprietor of an hotel for a while. In 1833, he settled in Mercer County, between Mercer and Sharon, invested in a property of 250 acres, cleared a great part of the land, and built a house, since well known in that vicinity as the “Red Tavern”; later on when the original structures on the land became unsuitable for occupancy or use, he sold a portion of the farm, and with the proceeds went to work and put up a nice house, and barns to match. In 1846, he removed to Platteville, Wisconsin, where he lived on a farm until the '49 gold fever began to excite adventurous minds; in 1850 he joined the train of eager seekers for the yellow metal, and remained in the mining country until 1860, speculating and mining, at which date he returned to Wisconsin and lived with his wife, until she was removed from his side in 1879. He then sought his old Pennsylvania home, and lived with his son until his own decease at the age of fourscore years. [BOBLC, 216]