OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: The Kelleys of Lake Erie *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 June 4, 1999 ********************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio The Kelley Family Collections Newspaper article, Plains Dealer compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925 And Then They Went West by Darlene E. Kelley 1998 ********************************************** Island History, ( James A. Ryan, writing an article entitled " Close-Ups of Ohio's 'Farthest North' contributed a special feature to the Sunday Magazine section of the Plains Dealer on July 12. In the following communication , Charles C. Web of Mount Vernon , discusses some phases of Mr. Ryans article. Editor; Plain Dealer--Sir: Through a courtesy of a friend who knows my interest in everything pertaining to the Lake Erie Islands I have before me Mr. Ryan's Article on the early history of North Bass in the Plain Dealer of July 12. It is lamentable that this interesting writer should not care to look up the authorities for the statements which he puts in print which would give his article a real value in addition to their readability. I quote from Mr. Ryan: " Horace Kelley's possessions ( in North Bass and Cunningham Islands ) passed to the ownership of his son's, Irad and Datus. " Horace Kelley had reached the mature age of 14 years when, in 1833, Datus and Irad Kelley purchased Cunningham Island; Horace was born in 1819, Datus in 1788 and Irad in 1791. They were sons of Daniel Kelley, Clevelands first Postmaster, in which he was suceeded by his son, Irad. Horace Kelley never owned a foot of Cunningham Island but did later buy from one of the Uncles--Datus or Irad-- a comparatively small acreage on Kelley's Island. Daniel Kelley--- Daniel kelley brought to Cleveland a family of five sons, all of whom settled in or near Cleveland and all of whom were men of more than ordinary force and ability; Alfred Kelley elected first " President " (mayor) in 1814 by unanimous choice of the twelve voters; the Ohio Canal is a monument to the persistance and executive ability of Alfred Kelley. Irad, second Postmaster, was one of the first merchants and a leader in Cleveland in those early days. Firmly convinced that Superior and Ontario Streets should be cut through the Public Square ( as was afterward done ) he would not walk to his office but laboriously climbed the fence as his protest against the obstruction. Thomas Kelley was President of the Merchants Bank , later known as the Merchantile National Bank, a member of the city council and of the State Legislature. Joseph Reynolds Kelley, father of Horace Kelley, was an early merchant and prominent in the Real estate business in which were all his investments. Datus Kelley, the eldest son, settled on a farm about a mile west of the Rocky River, where he lived until the purchase in 1833 by himself and his brother Irad, of Cunningham Island, thereafter to be known as Kelley's Island. He put the whole entire proceeds of the sale of his farm into the purchase of the island, to which he shortly removed and where he resided continuously until hs death in 1866. Irad still continued to reside in Cleveland, were his large business interests claimed all his time until his retirement. As a Grandson of Datus Kelley and therefore a grandnephew of Irad, spending my first 21 years on Kelley's Island, I naturally saw a good deal of " Uncle Irad "; he was usually a dinner guest in the house of my parents some time during his summer visits to the island and I was an eye-an-ear witness to some of his eccentricities of action and speech. Datus and Irad Kelley did not derive title in whole or in part either by will or by purchase from their little nephew, Horace Kelley, in fact, they did not acquire the whole from any one owner but from six or seven different parties, one of which was the Connecticut Land Company, through its agents. The Family-- Some months ago a writer in your columns referred to Datus Kelley as a "benevolent despot , moving amoung his tennants." I want to say that he did not rent any land, therefore did not have any tennants; the land was sold, much of it to people of sturdy New England stock like the Kelley's, but England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany gave their best to make the people of that beautiful Isle to which he gave his name, both those who were his relatives and those who were not, as one has said, " like a patriarch of old" but his hold on the people of the Island was neither the iron clad control of one of the patriarchs of ancient times nor the " influence" of one who owned the farm on which his neighbor lived; it was a real bond of affection founded on his sterling honesty, hard-headed good judgement and fatherly, unselfsh interest in those around him and these he was ably seconded by his wife, " Auntie Sara" ( as she was known to all the Island except those of us who were priviledged to call her " Grandma Kelley"). ***********************************************