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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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John
Kelly It
is no doubt true that Ireland, of all countries of the world, has sent more
emigrants in proportion to population to the United States than any other
country, and the reason is well known. For
hundreds of years the Emerald Isle has been denied many valuable rights and
privileges by Great Britain, and the pride and honor of the people were ground
into the dust. They could avoid all this by leaving the island, much as they
loved it, and accordingly, thousands of them, as the years rolled around, have
crossed the great Atlantic to find a home of greater freedom in America.
They began to come in large numbers soon after the Revolution and have
continued to come until the present time. In
every state they settled and built up comfortable homes. They were among our first teachers and businessmen, and today
they occupy many of the proudest positions within the gift of the inhabitants.
In that country was born John Kelly, farmer and stock raiser of Rock
Creek Township, Jasper County. He
grew up and received what education he could in his native county of Roscommon.
He is the son of George and Ann (Grady) Kelly, both natives of Ireland,
and there they lived and died, the father being a shepherd, and consequently led
a quiet life, close to nature and ever unobtrusive, his wants being simple.
His family consisted of six children, three of whom are living, two in
Ireland, Charles and Maria Burn. John
Kelly, of this sketch, spent his boyhood days as a shepherd, but not being
content with conditions at home, and having heard of the great opportunities
that existed in the new world, he set sail on the City of Antwerp, October 6,
1869, for New York City. He came on
to Richmond, Indiana, and remained there three years, working on the Vandalia
railroad, then went to Indianapolis and during one winter worked in the railroad
rolling mills. In 1893 he moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and there resumed railroad
work, in which he remained four years, then went to Montana and worked in the
place mines at Virginia City for a few months, then went to Glendale City and
did the work of a roaster in the silver mines, remaining there three years,
during which he was on one furnace. Then
returning to Des Moines, he worked there until his marriage, then moved to
Poweshiek county where he bough eighty acres of land at Oak Grove, Washington
Township, and remained there four years. He
then moved to Palo Alto County, and a year later located in Rock Creek Township,
Jasper County, where he bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres.
This he has improved in an up-to-date manner and had been very successful
as a general farmer and stock raiser, and he is a breeder of short horn cattle
and Poland China hogs. Politically, he is a Republican and he and his wife are
members of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1880 Mr. Kelly was united in marriage with Martha Hotchkin, who was born in New York City, the daughter of John Hotchkin, of England, am one of the honored old settlers of Jasper County, Iowa; where he died December 12, 1911, being advanced in years. He married Rose Gaughran, a native of Ireland. She and Mr. Hotchkin came to New York City single and there married. He was a blacksmith by trade. He came west and located in Illinois, three years after his marriage, and in 1870 he came on to Jasper County, Iowa, where he lived until his death. His wife passed to her rest on June 6, 1909. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, namely Mary, George. John (deceased), Martha, Charles and Lucy. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 734. |
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