Harper’s Ferry and Cumberland. On the organization of the Department of
West Virginia, in 1863, he was assigned to that command. His services
from the beginning to the end of the war are too well known to repeat
them here. During the invasion of Pennsylvania, in 1862, his conduct
brought to him the thanks of General Wright, and for his successful
defence of Cumberland, Md., in 1864, he received from the president the
rank of major-general by brevet, and from the people of Cumberland,
their heartfelt thanks for the skill and courage displayed by him and
his officers, and the bravery exhibited by his soldiers in their
successful resistance to the capture of the city. General Kelly had six
children, four of whom were sons, all of whom served in the United
States army.
Capt. Warren Michael Kelly was the son of Michael B. Kelly, the nephew
of Gen. B. F. Kelly, and the great-great-grandson of Darby Kelly. He was
born in New Hampton in 1821. He was residing in Manchester when the
Civil War broke out. In August, 1862, he raised a company which was
attached to the Tenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry,
commanded by the late Gen. Michael T. Donohoe. He remained in the
service until the close of the war. He was wounded once. His first fight
was at Fredericksburg, one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, on
Dec. 13, 1862. It is claimed for him that he commanded the first
organized body of white troops that entered Richmond, after the
surrender of Lee. Captain Kelly was as modest as he was brave. He was 41
years old when he went to the front with his regiment in 1862, but none
in his command rendered more efficient service during the three years
following.
There was no opportunity for promotion in his regiment, as there was no
change in the colonel or the lieutenant-colonel from 1862 to 1865,
neither of them being killed, neither did they resign, for both Gen. M.
T. Donohoe and General Coughlin were among the bravest of the brave.
Captain Kelly, as the ranking captain, had command of his regiment on
several occasions during the first quarter of 1865, and was in command
of the skirmish line when the Union troops entered Richmond on April 3d
of the same year. It is quite a coincidence, and worthy of mention, that
Captain Kelly should serve in a regiment whose field officers and a
large proportion of the rank and file were composed of men of the same
nationality as his great-great-grandfather, Darby Kelly.
Of the sons of Gen. B. F. Kelly, John G., the eldest, was colonel of the
Seventh Virginia Infantry. William B. was a captain on his father’s
staff. Frank was a quartermaster in the United States army and died in
Texas in 1870. Wright Kelly, a captain of cavalry, was wounded and died
from the effects of his wounds in 1869.
Hon. Frank H. Kelly was a brother of Capt. Warren M. Kelly. He was born
in New Hampton, Sept. 9, 1827. He was a physician, studying and
practising in various places until 1851, when he located in Worcester,
Mass. He followed his profession actively 32 years. He joined the
Massachusetts Medical Society in 1875. He was the first president of the
board of trustees of the City Hospital in 1870, serving in that capacity
13 years. As a member of the school board, of the common council, of the
board of aldermen, he served his adopted city long and faithfully.
He wrote the _Reminiscences of New Hampton_, from which a goodly portion
of this paper, or rather the material for it, has been culled. Therein
he styled his great-great-grandfather, Darby Kelly, “a bright,
quick-witted Irishman.” Here we will leave the emigrant Darby Kelly and
his American descendants. It is said that regardless of the number born
in New Hampton, none of the name resides there. They are scattered all
over the country, but wherever located, it will be found that they are
keeping up the record made by their New Hampshire fathers. The Kelly
blood runs in the veins of some of the best people within and without
the state of New Hampshire, and in at least one instance it returned
across the Atlantic by the marriage of one of Darby’s descendants to M.
Clemenceau, the celebrated Parisian writer and statesman. But few of
Darby’s descendants are here mentioned. They are too numerous. But
judging from the record of those given, the emigration of Darby to New
Hampshire was quite an accession to the people of the province and
state.
Referring again to John Kelly who came to Newbury, Mass., in 1635, many
of his descendants must have come to New Hampshire. Among them
undoubtedly was Abial Kelly of Methuen, Mass., originally, whose name
occurs several times in the Provincial papers in connection with the
settlement of the boundary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts,
in 1745. It also occurs in the Province wills, 1728, 1740, and 1743.
Capt. Richard Kelly, another descendant of the Newbury immigrant, was an
officer in the Sixth Regiment of militia, in 1744. The same name appears
on a petition from Londonderry, N. H., for the release of Stephen
Holland, the Tory, in 1777. The names of Hugh Kelly and Peter Kelly are
on the same petition. Richard Kelly, Jr., evidently the son of Captain
Kelly, served in the company commanded by Captain Nesmith in Canada in
1776.
A Richard Kelly was a grantee and one of the first settlers of
Contoocook, now Boscawen, in 1748. As Boscawen’s first settlers were
from Newbury, Mass., it is reasonable to think he was also a descendant
of John Kelly. A Richard Kelly was at Winter Hill, near Boston, Mass.,
in 1775, in the company of Capt. Jacob Webster, which was one of the
companies raised at the request of General Sullivan to take the place of
Connecticut troops, during the siege of Boston, who had refused to serve
after their term had expired.
This interesting episode of New Hampshire history cannot be repeated too
often. On Dec. 1, 1775, Sullivan sent up word by express of the
defection of the Connecticut men, and made an urgent request for
volunteers to take their places. In response to this, 31 companies,
numbering 2,058 men, were enlisted for six weeks, and marched to Winter
Hill. New Hampshire had at this time, in addition, three full regiments
in the field, thus making the total number of New Hampshire men at the
siege of Boston in 1775 over five thousand. This is evidence of the
character of the men of the old Granite State in those stirring times.
Capt. Richard Kelly was authorized by Gov. Benning Wentworth to call the
first town meeting in Salem, N. H., in May, 1750.
William Kelly was a taxpayer in Newcastle, N. H., in 1727. Doubtless he
was a descendant of Roger or John Kelly mentioned.
A William Kelly appears on a petition in 1737. Another was one of the
company commanded by Captain Eastman on scouting duty in Penacook, now
Concord, N. H., in 1747.
Still another William Kelly served at Crown Point, in 1755, in Captain
Goff’s company, and another was one of the grantees in the town of
Salem, N. H., in 1750; a William Kelly was also on the alarm list of the
town of Warner, N. H., in 1741. William P. Kelly was in Northwood, and
another William Kelly in Salisbury, respectively, in 1735 and 1813.
A William Kelly was enrolled in Captain Page’s company, Senter’s
regiment, in 1777. Sergt. William Kelly was in Captain Libby’s company,
Col. Stephen Evans’ regiment, at Saratoga in 1777. Corp. William Kelly
served in the battle of Rhode Island in the regiment of Colonel Hercules
Mooney in 1779. He was from Epping, N. H.
Rev. William Kelly was the first settled minister in Warner, Feb. 6,
1772. He was born in Newbury, Mass., 1744, and was undoubtedly a
descendant of John Kelly who landed there a little over a century
before. His pastorate closed in 1801. He made the opening prayer at the
first town meeting held in Warner.
Hon. John Kelly was his son. He was born in Warner. He was an attorney,
editor and author. He was the first Warner man to take a degree from
Dartmouth. His permanent home was in Exeter, N. H. He was register of
probate for Rockingham County.
Abner B. Kelly was his brother. He was Warner’s town clerk in 1820. He
was representative to the state Legislature, postmaster of Warner for
six years, state treasurer of New Hampshire for six years, a clerk in
one of the departments at Washington, D. C., a director of the Concord
Mechanics Bank of Concord, and of the company incorporated for the
manufacture of silk. He is credited as being a fine penman. “His
handwriting was faultless.”
William Kelly, “an Irish tailor,” was in Barnstead, N. H., in 1814. The
historian of that town wrote that he was the first Irishman in
Barnstead. Regardless of that statement, however, Thomas, John and
Stephen Pendergast were among its first settlers. This name is not quite
as Irish as Murphy, but comes very near it. It came from France to
Ireland in 1170.
George W. Kelly, a brother of Rev. William Kelly, was deputy sheriff in
Warner in 1808. Caleb Kelly came to Warner from Newbury, the nursery of
the Kellys. Kelly Hill takes its name from him. His family removed to
Wisconsin. J. R. B. Kelly is recorded as a graduate of Francestown
Academy, and Frank H. Kelly was one of the directors of the Francestown
Soapstone Company.
Dudley Kelly was serving at West Point in 1789. He was from Brentwood.
Zachariah Kelly was also at West Point in 1781, and an entry in the
records reads, that he had received a ration of half a pint of rum and a
pound of sugar with the other members of his company.
Israel W. Kelly of Boscawen was a lieutenant in Captain Green’s company
in 1797, when there seemed to be a prospect of a war with France.
In December, 1776, James Kelly was paid for services in apprehending
Daniel Meserve and others for counterfeiting Provincial bills.
Another James Kelly appeared on a petition in 1732 for the laying out of
a new town along Lake Winnepesaukee. The names of John and James Kelly
appear on the roll of ratepayers in the parish of Cocheco in 1753.
Another James Kelly appears on a petition from Northwood in connection
with some town dispute. James Kelly served in Captain Drew’s company in
the expedition to Canada in 1776 and 1777, and a man of the same name
from Exeter enlisted for three years in the Fourth regiment of militia.
A James Kelly was one of the proprietors of Wakefield in 1749, and
another James Kelly was one of the grantees of Peterborough in 1750.
Still another of the same name was engaged in the defence of Piscataqua
Harbor in 1791. James Kelly was a British prisoner of war in 1781, who,
with others, was consigned for safe keeping to New Hampshire.
James Kelly was one of the soldiers who were indebted to the sutler for
supplies in 1761. This kind of a creditor was not infrequent in 1861, a
hundred years later. He served in Captain Gerrish’s company.
James Kelly was one of the grantees of Holderness, N. H., in 1751. Among
those who were with him were John Cavanaugh, John McElroy, William
Curry, Hercules Mooney, Bryan McSweeney and Michael Dwyer.
John Kelly was one of the selectmen of Dover, N. H., who aided in taking
the census in October, 1775. He served in the state Legislature four
years, and from the records seemed to have been an active,
public-spirited citizen. John Kelly was a ratepayer in Plaistow and
Atkinson in 1786.
A John Kelly in Salem appears on a petition for the formation of one or
more counties in 1769. Samuel Kelly was one of his associates. John
Kelly renders an account of individual losses which he met at
Ticonderoga. John Kelly of Dover, in 1782, furnished an affidavit in
relation to the identity of a soldier. John Kelly of Deerfield was a
recruit for the Continental army in 1780. John Kelly was one of the
selectmen of Salem in 1775.
John E. Kelly was one of Warner’s selectmen in 1801. John Kelly of North
Hampton was one of Captain Parsons’ company, Colonel Runnells’ regiment,
at Charleston, in 1781.
John Kelly of New York was granted 69,100 acres of land in Lamoiville,
Vt., in 1787. In 1791 he was given 30,000 acres more. In both cases the
grants were made by the legislature of Vermont. This John Kelly must
have been one of the “Royal Order of Patroons.” Kellyburg, Kellyvale,
and Kelly Grant marked his progress in the Green Mountain state. John
Kelly, a native of Plaistow, graduated from Amherst College in 1825. He
lived in Chester in 1833. The history of the town speaks of him in the
highest terms.
Ezekiel Kelly, a native of Newbury, Mass., was in Chester, N. H., in
1784. Col. Israel W. Kelly resided there in 1810, and Ephraim Kelly was
one of the selectmen in 1825.
Rev. John Kelly of Hampstead was of the sixth generation of John Kelly
of Newbury, Mass., who came over in 1635. He had five sons and seven
daughters. He died in Hampstead in 1848. Three of his sons were college
graduates. He wrote a history of Hampstead. He was pastor of the church
in that town from 1792 to his death in 1848, fifty-six years.
The ways of the Kellys were not always smooth, for Brewster’s _Rambles
Around Portsmouth_ says, that in July, 1686, John Kelly and his family
were ordered to give security or leave town, a survival of the custom in
vogue in Boston and probably introduced to New Hampshire when the
Province came under the control of Massachusetts Bay.
John Kelly was a Revolutionary soldier and died in Raymond. A John Kelly
was one of Windham’s first settlers, and a type of the late historian
Morrison’s so-called “pure-blooded Scotch Irishman.”
John Kelly was a member of the governor’s council in 1846. John Kelly
was register of probate for Hillsborough County, N. H., 1831 to 1837.
John Kelly was register of deeds in Rockingham County from 1832 to 1837.
Joseph Kelly was one of the selectmen of Sunbudy in 1757. Joseph Kelly
was a prisoner in Amherst jail in 1774. The occasion for it was an
assault he made on John Holman. It seems clear that the cause of the
trouble was political, for the Provincial papers contain several
petitions from some of the towns of Hillsborough County asking for his
release. He was a Nottingham man, and from the records seemed to be in
hot water a good part of the time. He raised a company in June, 1775,
but his men refused to allow Major Hobart to muster them into the
service. His troubles extended to 1787.
Col. Moses Kelly, on the authority of Dearborn, historian of Salisbury,
was born in Newbury, Mass. He was living in Goffstown, N. H., before the
outbreak of the Revolution. He represented that town in the Fourth
Provincial Congress held in May, 1775, and again in the Fifth Provincial
Congress in December, 1775.
He represented Goffstown and Derryfield in the Legislature of 1776.
Although not serving in the Continental army, he was, from the State
records, one of the most active men in the state. It is written of him
that he owned mills in Goffstown at the place now known as Kelly’s Falls
upon the Piscataquog River. He was a zealous patriot, and kept a public
house upon the Mast road. Many of the forays against the Tories of that
neighborhood were concocted at Colonel Kelly’s.
He was appointed major of the Ninth regiment of militia on Dec. 21,
1775, and promoted to colonel of the same regiment in 1779. New
Hampshire possessed an efficient force of militia during the Revolution
and from its ranks were drafted men for three Continental regiments as
occasion required. Some of these militia regiments distinguished
themselves at Bennington, under Stark, and at Rhode Island, under
Sullivan.
It is doubtful if any one man had more to do with affairs at home than
Colonel Kelly, and his special forte was in furnishing recruits for the
veteran regiments at the front. In the reorganization of the state
militia under General Sullivan, in 1784, he was reappointed colonel of
his old command, the Ninth New Hampshire.
Like Sullivan, he was continually in the service of the state in one
capacity or another. As late as 1807, he read the Declaration of
Independence from the top of a large boulder in Amherst, N. H. His son,
bearing the same name, was coroner of Hillsborough County in 1789.
Another son, Hon. Israel Kelly, removed to Salisbury, in 1803. In 1843
he removed to East Concord, where he made his home until his death in
1857.
He was the sheriff of Hillsborough County, a judge of the Court of
Sessions, and United States marshal under President Taylor. His wife was
a sister of Grace Fletcher, who was the wife of Daniel Webster. Her
mother and grandmother, bore the time-honored name of Bridget, denoting
an affinity of some sort with the natives of the Emerald Isle.
Joshua Kelly was one of the proprietors of Conway, N. H., and on its
list of rate payers in 1773. He was one of the active men of the town,
and had seen military service. Samuel Kelly was one of the coroners of
Strafford County in 1776. One of the same name was a member of the House
of Representatives in 1776. It appears again on a petition from Madbury
in 1786. Lieut. Samuel Kelly was one of the special force raised by
Sullivan in December, 1775. A Samuel Kelly served in Captain Barron’s
company from Pembroke in 1776, and a Samuel Kelly was in Captain Moore’s
company in Stark’s regiment in the same year.
Samuel Kelly of New Hampton, undoubtedly one of Darby’s descendants,
served in Col. Hercules Mooney’s regiment in Rhode Island in 1779.
Another Samuel Kelly of Meredith, saw service at Ticonderoga. Rev.
Samuel Kelly, according to Bouton’s History of Concord, N. H., was the
first settled pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Concord. He
was chaplain of the state prison in 1730. The name of Samuel Kelly of
Brentwood is mentioned four times in the Provincial deeds, and once
again in Derryfield in 1768. He was undoubtedly the oldest son of Darby
Kelly and one of the first settlers of New Hampton.
Daniel Kelly was in Sanbornton, N. H., in 1748, and another Daniel Kelly
was recorded as a deserter from a British vessel in Boston Harbor in
1770. He probably found the change from the forecastle of a ship to the
picturesque hills of New Hampshire desirable.
Daniel Kelly was ordered to appear before the Committee of Safety at
Exeter to account for being concerned in the destruction of powder at
Brentwood, May 20, 1799. Daniel Kelly was one of two grantees of a
bridge, called Bridgewater and New Hampton bridge, at New Hampton in
1784.
Daniel Kelly was a soldier in Captain Light’s company at Louisburg in
1745. Daniel Kelly of Hawke and Sandown was interested in some scheme
relating to the currency in 1786. The Province deeds contain the name of
Daniel Kelly three times from 1720 to 1731, from Hampton; five times,
from 1737 to 1740, from Kingston, and once each from the towns of Epping
and Newton, and twice from the town of Nottingham, from 1752 to 1764.
Edward Kelly of Sanbornton was one of the signers of the test oath in
1775 and his name and that of his son Edward appears on a petition for a
ferry in 1781, and Edward Kelly was one of the men who enlisted under
Sullivan’s call in November, 1775. He served in the company of Captain
Copp. An Edward Kelly recruited from the militia regiment of Colonel
Webster in 1780 for the Continental army.
The name Edward Kelly is written in two deeds dated 1761 and 1765, both
at Brentwood.
David and Ebenezer Kelly were two signers for the incorporation of a new
town in Strafford County in 1788. David Kelly was a private in Captain
Tilton’s company, Colonel Poore’s regiment, June 12, 1775. Later, he was
promoted to sergeant-major and second lieutenant.
David H. Kelly of Warner was a soldier in Capt. Jonathan Bean’s company
in 1812. Jacob Kelly and Micajah Kelly were in Gilmanton in 1789. Jacob
Kelly and Israel Kelly were two of the grantees of Newport, N. H., in
1753.
Nehemiah Kelly served in Captain Calfe’s company, Colonel Bartlett’s
regiment, in 1776–1777. He was also under Sullivan in Rhode Island.
Philip Kelly was a soldier in Colonel Blanchard’s regiment, at Crown
Point, in 1755.
Robert Kelly’s name was on a petition for the appointment of Captain
Folsom to be lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth regiment in 1775.
Jonathan Kelly of Epping was a soldier in Captain Moore’s company,
Poore’s regiment, in 1775, and served in an expedition to Canada in
1776. He re-enlisted in 1777 in the First New Hampshire of the
Continental line for three years, or during the war. This man had a
splendid record, serving from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. He is recorded as
re-enlisting in 1781 for three more years. His grave, wherever it may
be, should be decorated Memorial Day.
A Jonathan Kelly appears in the list of soldiers living in Northfield,
N. H., in 1785.
Abial Kelly, by the establishment of the boundary line, in 1745, was
transferred to Methuen, Mass. His name often appears in the Province
deeds. Josiah Kelly served in Colonel Gilman’s regiment in 1776. Dr.
Benjamin Kelly, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, was a resident of
Gilmanton in 1801. Stephen Kelly was a ratepayer in Cocheco parish in
1741. Ebenezer Kelly was a petitioner for a classification of towns for
representatives in 1798. He lived in Bridgewater.
Ephraim Kelly was a soldier in Stark’s regiment at Bunker Hill, where he
was wounded.
Holbridge Kelly was on the roll of Colonel Walton’s men for scouting
duty, in 1710. This name occurs eight times in the Province deeds, as of
Stratham, Nottingham and Bow.
Timothy Kelly was one of Captain McConnell’s company, Colonel Hazen’s
regiment, in 1778. As the most of the soldiers in this regiment were of
Irish or French-Canadian parentage, and recruited in Canada, this
Timothy Kelly may have been of Irish birth. Another Timothy Kelly was in
Candia in 1770, and still another was in Boscawen in 1812. His daughter,
who was the wife of Nicholas M. Noyes of the same town, is the authority
for stating that her father was a native of the County Waterford,
Ireland. His parents were well-to-do. He was involved in the movement
for Irish independence in 1798, which resulted in the murder by the
British of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and the execution of Robert Emmet.
For his safety, his parents sent him to this country. He landed in
Newbury, Mass., and from thence he moved to Boscawen, marrying his wife
as stated, and he remained there until the time of his death. Through
him his daughter, Mrs. Noyes, was well acquainted with the history of
Ireland, as well as with the events that resulted in the sad tragedy of
the execution of young Emmet.
He had three sons, John M., Roland B., and Andrew J. Kelly. The latter
was a soldier with an exceptionally fine record. He enlisted for three
years in the New Hampshire battalion of Berdan’s sharpshooters on Aug.
8, 1861. He re-enlisted for three years more on Jan. 2, 1864, remaining
until he was mustered out at the close of the war, June 28, 1865. At
this date, June, 1905, he resides in Hopkinton, N. H., a living type of
one of the trio of “Kelly and Burke and Shea.”
Hon. Timothy Kaley was born in Dunmanway, County Cork, Ireland, in 1817.
He came to this country when quite young. He arrived in New England by
way of Canada, a frequent route taken in these early days by Irish
emigrants, and a sad way it proved to be for thousands whose remains lie
along the banks of the St. Lawrence, from its mouth to Kingston, who
died from ship fever. Mr. Kaley was in business for a time in Canton,
Mass. In 1860 he came to Milford, N. H., where he remained until the
time of his death. In this town he established himself as of the firm
Morse, Kaley & Co., for the manufacture of knitting cotton. The product
of his mill became known all over the country. It is written of him that
“from the time he became a citizen of Milford until the day of his
decease, he ranked among the most enterprising and progressive citizens
of the town.” He was a public-spirited man, taking an active part in the
affairs of the community as well as in those connected with his adopted
state and nation. He was elected to the state senate in 1881 and 1882,
but died before his term of office expired. He was a good speaker, a
ready debater, and was gifted with a very retentive memory.
In 1879 or thereabouts, while in Richmond, Va., on an excursion with the
New Hampshire Club, he declaimed the celebrated speech of Patrick Henry
from the same pew in the historic St. John’s Church in which it was
given originally by the fiery Virginian whose inspiring words “Give me
liberty or give me death” have been repeated in every schoolhouse in New
England.
His son, the Hon. Frank E. Kaley, is the worthy heir of an honored sire.
He is the treasurer of the firm established by his father, director of
Souhegan National Bank, president of the Milford Building and Loan
Association, a trustee of the Milford Savings Bank, vice-president of
the Milford Tanning Co., and a member of the Board of Water
Commissioners. He was elected a member of the Executive Council of
Governor Bachelder for the years 1903 and 1904, but what is better than
all these positions of honor, is that few men in New Hampshire are
esteemed more highly at home or abroad, and what is still better, it is
all deserved.