JOHN A. KELLY DIARY, COWAN UNION COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA
The daily farming diaries of John A. Kelly, son of David H. Kelly, Esquire and late county commissioner of Union County, who was the son of Colonel John Kelly. John A. is the cousin of the Honorable James K. (Kerr) Kelly, United States Senator, who was the son of James and brother of David H. Kelly. David H. Kelly was married to Mary Baker. He is listed on the 1870 census as a retired farmer with his sons John A. and James B listed as farmers. John’s wife's name was Christena Kelly.
The diaries are dated for the years 1871-1887, 1889-1893, 1899-1904 and depict the day's weather, principal occupation, sales, purchases, contracts/bargains made, cash received, cash paid out, bills receivable, bills payable, along with a memoranda column of some interesting notations including: (May 1872) Horace Greely nominated for president by Reform Republicans at Cincinnati and U. S. Grant nominated at Philadelphia by Republicans for President. (July 1872) Horace Greely (Republican) received nomination of Democratic for President at Baltimore convention. James K. Kelly (cousin) of Oregon paid us visit. U.S.S. James K. Kelly left for Oregon: Priscilla Rudy died in forenoon. Father and Perie Kleckman returned from West. Major Schott of Philadelphia visited us. Samuel Herman and Brady called with us this evening. Major Schott returned to city. (March 1873) Grant inaugurated President of U.S. (July 1873) David S. Kelly returned from school at Mansfield. (February 11, 1875) Father died in morning quarter til 9 o'clock, he suffered much. (November 1876) News came Tilden is President (Note: The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed and intense presidential elections in American history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York defeated Ohio's Rutherford Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes yet uncounted. These 19 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared illegal (on account of being an "elected or appointed official" and replaced. The votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter electoral dispute.) (November 1878) Smallpox is raging along Buffalo Mountain. (December 1862) Hunting accident notation made where John S. Schrack, a wealthy farmer of Lewisburg, was on a hunting expedition with some friends recently, their wagon was upset on a rough mountain road, and one of the guns discharged its contents into Schrack's back, causing a wound of which he has since died. (Tuesday, January 16, 1883, The Wellsboro Agitator, Wellsboro, Tioga Co, Pa.) (February 1884) Brother James B. Kelly departed this life Friday night (February 8). (September 1893) Started for the Worlds Fair at Chicago. Round trip ticket to Chicago $16.75. (September 1901) President McKinley was shot twice at Buffalo Exposition by Czolgosz, Assassin….President dead. (February 1903) Mother's birthday born February 8, 1812.
Colonel John Kelly was born in Lancaster, PA, February 1744, and died in Kelly Township, February 1832. He is buried at Lewisburg. His father was John Kelly, who was born in Ireland. Colonel John Kelly was married to Sarah Poak, born 1752 in Northumberland County and died 1831 in Kelly Township. The Annals of Buffalo Valley, pages 506-511, outlines a complete history of Colonel Kelly's early life, his first settlement in Pennsylvania, his service in the revolutionary war--he served with distinction at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, his troubles with the Indians--he was considered an outstanding Indian fighter of Buffalo Valley, and his later life. On April 8, 1835, a monument to the memory of Colonel John Kelly for whom Kelly Township was named, was erected in the Presbyterian burial-ground in Lewisburg. It was a grand ceremony with a company of cavalry and three infantry companies leading the procession. Samuel Hursh was one of the architects that set the monument in the Presbyterian burial-ground. This was later moved to the Lewisburg Cemetery.
James Kerr Kelly (1819-1903) was an American politician born in Pennsylvania. He was a United States Senator for Oregon from 1871 to 1877, and later Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Prior to his election to the Senate he had been elected to both houses of the local legislature, serving in the Territorial House and State Senate, and was a member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention in 1857. Kelly was born in Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1819. Until he attained the age of sixteen years his life was spent upon a farm. He was prepared for a collegiate course at Milton and Lewisburg Academies, and became so far advanced in classical and mathematical learning that in 1837 he entered the junior class at Princeton College, New Jersey, from which institution he graduated in 1839. James Kelly then studied law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and was admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania in 1842. Upon entering the legal profession, Mr. Kelly began private practice in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, then was the deputy attorney general for Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. In 1849 he left for California and the newly discovered gold fields, then moved on to the Oregon Territory in 1851. In Oregon he set up a law practice in Portland and was one of three people selected to help re-write the laws of the territory.
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