OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Thomas Moore Kelley 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
June 9, 1999
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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
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     Thomas Moore Kelley, fifth son of Daniel and Jemima (Stow) Kelley,
was born at Middlefield, Conn., March 17, 1797, and, with his parents,
removed to Lowville, N.Y., in 1798, where, as in the case of his
brothers, he was educated, being one of the first students of Lowville
Academy, of which his father was one of the founders.  He attended
Onondaga Academy.      We find the following incident of his childhood
in the diary of an early settler of Lowville, under date May 20,1799:

    " At Kelley's, his child Thomas fell into his saw-mill pond, and lay
there as near as we could judge at least a quarter of an hour.  Every
appearance of life and heat was gone.  After much pains we restored him
to life.  He lay floating on the pond."

     In 1814 and 1815 we find him out of school and at Lowville and
Middletown, where he appears to be reading law.  Several letters are
preserved, which passed between him and his parents about this time.
Thus, on Jan. 5,1815, his father writes from Cleveland:

  " I am sorry you have been disappointed as to your attending the
lectures at Fairfield.  Respecting your attending the French school at
New Haven, you may go if you think most advisable, but as to the
learning of the French language I presume you may learn it in this place
[Cleveland] as there is a man, who keeps the post office, who is a
learned Frenchman and who I think could well instruct you. He is a
native of France, was in office under Napoleon, lost his property in
Detroit, is now in low circumstances, with his family here.--------  We
are now living in a house belonging to Alfred, prepared particuarly for
us until the other [i.e. the stone house built by Alfred] can be built.
It is comfortable, the lower rooms being finished, so we now can make a
home for our children to come to. Irad and Reynolds have moved into
their own house, which will well accommodate them as to house and
store.------  We shall be happy when it shall be convenient for you to
join the rest of our children here and make the number of our family
complete."

Feb. 2, his father writes again :

   " In your last you do not mention about going to Connecticut.  If you
conclude not to go there and are not particularly profiting yourself by
any studies there, perhaps you had better come here to Cleveland this
winter, if opportunity should present of getting along.  We should be
very glad to have you here as soon as can be consistant with your
profit. Alfred will probably be home from the legislature in about a
month, when you can profitably pursue your law studies here. and we
receive the pleasure of seeing our children all together once more."

     He came to Cleveland in June, 1815. and the family was once more
together until the middle of Sept., when his mother and brother Daniel
died.  The remainder of Thomas M. Kelley's life was spent in Cleveland,
with the growth and development of which city he was closley 
identified.
     On May 6, 1833, Thomas married Lucy Harris (Latham), the eldest
daughter of William Harris and Azubah (Jenks) Latham, of Thetford.
Vermont. Lucy was a descedant of William Latham, who, than a boy of
fifteen, came over in the Mayflower with John Carver in 1620.
There first home in Cleveland was in a house back of the store of Irad
and Joseph Reynolds Kelley, on Superior Street. This house was the one
in which Irad had lived so long and which his father, Judge Daniel
Kelley, had died two years before.      In 1836, Thomas built the
homestead which stood on the Northeast corner of Euclid Ave and
Huntington Street, Cleveland.  It eventually became the home of his
daughter, Mrs Alice K. Cole.      For many years Thomas was engaged in
Mercantile pursuits, and especially in packing and shipping beef and
pork, pot and pearl ashes, furs, and other articles, the products of
then a new country, down Lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence
River to Montreal, a distant, but, for such articles, the most
accessible market.  After the completion of the Erie canal, in 1825, a
large part of this trade was diverted through that channel.        From
an early date Thomas Kelley was largely concerned in real estate
operations.  In 1836, he and Ashbel W. Walworth allotted the lands south
of Ohio Street and large tracts beyond, reaching to the Cuyahoga River,
all of which property is now in the heart of the city.  His name also
appears upon many important transfers of property.  It was largely by
successful transactions in land in Cleveland that he accumulated his
fortune.      He also became interested in banking, and, in Jan. 1848.
was elected president of the Merchant's Bank, and afterward the
Merchant's National, now the Mercantile National Bank of Cleveland.  He
remained connected with this bank as president, and afterward as a
director, until 1874, when he resigned on account of ill health.
Thomas M. Kelley served as a mmber of the City Council from the second
ward of Cleveland in 1840, and took an active part in the political
campaign of that year, which resulted in the election of William Henry
Harrison to the Presidency. His brother Alfred was chairman of the Whig
State Central Committee, and he himself was a candidate for the
legislature, to which he was duly chosen.  In 1841-43, he represented
Cuyahoga County in the 40th and 41st General Assemblies and did
efficiant service to his constituents and state as a law maker.
Under the old Constitution, Ohio was divided into a dozen or more
judicial circuits, in each of what was a " president judge" [ a lawyer
], who held courts in the various counties.  The president judge was
assisted in each county by three associates, usually among the best men,
but not lawyers, who could and sometimes did over-ride the president and
who in his absence could hold terms without him.  In 1846, Thomas Kelley
was elected one of these lay judges,and from this was, like his father,
known in the community as Judge Kelley.  It is said that, in the absence
of the president judge, Mr. Kelley's charges to the grand jury were much
superior to most similar efforts even of trained jurists.  His legal
studies, while never turned to account in the actual practice of the
profession, must have been of material assistance to him in his judicial
position, as they doubtless were in his business relations.
     In 1841 the administration of President Harrison offered him the
office of United States Marshall for the District of Ohio, then
embracing the whole State.  The offer was the more complimentary
because, owing to the disturbed conditions arising out of the " Patriot
War," the relations of the United States with Great Britain were in a
very critical state.  The northern frontier swarmed with men eager to
involve the two countries in war, and the duties of marshall required a
man of great courage, firmness and discretion. Such Daniel Webster, then
secretary of state, knew Thomas Kelley to be.  Mr. Kelley has agreed to
accept the position, but the speedy death of Gen. Harrison and the
political difficulties which thereupon arose between President Tyler and
the Whig Congress, delayed and finally prevented further action upon the
appointment.
     He did not give his whole mind to the management of business
affairs.  He was early identified with the Western Reserve Historical
Society and other public interests. to all of which he was a free
contributor of money, labor, and influence. He was a man of unusual
intelligence, and was an industrious reader, not only of current
literature, but of standard books.  He formed his own opinions
deliberately, and generally correctly, and then, like his brothers, was
prone to adhere to them persistently.
     In his domestic relations, Judge Kelley was kind, liberal and
affectionate, and among his associates in the outer world was much
esteemed for his sterling integrity and business ability, which
contributed not a little to the development and prosperity of Cleveland.
     His wife, too, will long be remembered in the community for her
devout christian character, the patient amiability of her life and her
benevolent interest in every good work.  
     On April 8, 1874, four years before his death, while at a meeting
of the board of directors of the Merchant's National Bank, Mr. Kelley
suffered a stroke of paralysis, after which he was able to go out but
little, only visiting the bank once before his death, which occurred on
June 12,1878.  He was the last survivor of this pioneer brothers. 
     His wife, Lucy Harris (Latham) Kelley, had died June 16,1874.
Their childen are as follows;

Lucy Ellen, bn. Feb. 17, 1836; d. Dec. 30,1857.
Julia Latham, bn. Aug. 26,1842; d. Aug 17,1843.
Mary Alice, bn. Apr. 18, 1845
Thomas Arthur, bn. Mar. 15,1849. +++
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