Bio of Thomas J. Kelly b.1861 from History of Renville Co, MN ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Kathryn Kelly ========================================================================= The following excerpt comes from The History of Renville County, Minnesota compiled by Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge H. C. Cooper Jr. Company, Chicago, 1916 p. 1014 THOMAS J. KELLY a well-known farmer of Henryville township, was born April 16, 1861, in McHenry County, Illinois, son of Thomas G. and Ann (Corcoran) Kelly, both native of Roscommon, Ireland, and married in Baltimore, Maryland. Thomas G. Kelly had come to America with his two brothers when a young man in 1842. The father had died in Ireland when the children were young and after four years the mother came to America, accompanied by her daughter Catherine. She was seventy years of age when she died. Thomas G. was a blacksmith and followed that trade till thirty-three years ago when he took up farming in McHenry county, Illinois, where he had a tract of 240 acres of land. This was in 1860. He spent eight years on this farm in Illinois and then moved to Minnesota, to Renville county, and located on Section 1, Henryville township. Half of the section was wild prairie land. The son, Thomas J., came first and located the land before the rest of the family came. A frame building was erected and they had only one team at first, but in time good buildings were built on the farm. Here the parents lived until their death, the father dying in 1897 at the age of sixty-six and the mother in 1901 at the age of seventy-six. They were faithful members of the Catholic church and the father helped build the Catholic church at Olivia. There were ten children in the family: Mary, Katie, Sarah, Thomas J., Ellen (deceased), Rebecca, Elizabeth (deceased),William, Edward, and Julia (deceased). Thomas J. Kelly has held several school offices and one was of the founders of the handsome school house in District 137. He has been the director of the Farmer's Elevator of Olivia for the past four years. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and of the Knights of Columbus. He is also a member of the Catholic church. The subject of this sketch lived with his father until his marriage in 1897 to Mary O'Nell, born in Henryville township. There are seven children all living at home, Leo, Hazel, John, Gladys, Gordon, Charles and Francis.