Santa Clara County
Biographies
JAMES
H. KELLY
JAMES H. KELLY. For a
period of thirty-two years a successful horticulturist in Santa Clara county,
Cal., the late James H. Kelly, was among the first in this section to
engage in fruit culture and his success in this line was pronounced almost from
the very start. A native of Exeter, N. H., born
September 28, 1827, Mr. Kelly was a son of John B. Kelly,
who left his native country, Ireland, for a home in the United States, and
settled for a time in New Hampshire, working in the cotton mills of that
section. About 1835 he removed to Michigan, locating on a farm near Monroe, and
in this locality the balance of his life was spent, actively engaged in farm
pursuits. His death took place amid the same scenes which marked his career of
usefulness. It was in the schools of that section that James H. Kelly
obtained his primary education, and he grew to manhood on his father’s farm. In
1846 he became a student in Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, and was
graduated from that institution in 1850.
Being adventurous and
enterprising, Mr. Kelly, in 1850, joined a party en route to California, being
tempted, like others, by the visions of gold. Arriving in Georgetown early in
October, he followed mining pursuits there until the following February, and
then went on to Sacramento. Here for a brief time he was engaged in freighting
on the Sacramento river, but in May of the same year he went into the fertile
Santa Clara valley and for several years thereafter gave his undivided
attention to farm pursuits on the Coyote creek. Having accumulated quite a
little capital, he returned east as far as Iowa, intending to purchase stock
for the western market, but owing to the high prices which prevailed this idea
was abandoned, and instead Mr. Kelly turned his attention to the real
estate business in the latter state and was so occupied until 1858, when he
drifted into his old home in Michigan. Here a few years afterward his marriage
took place and in 1861, responding nobly to his country’s call, he enlisted in
the Union army as sergeant in Company K, Eighteenth Michigan Volunteer
Infantry. His term of military service covered a period of three years and during
this time he participated in numerous engagements, performing a soldier’s duty
nobly at all times, and his record as a defender of our country is above
reproach. Entering the service as a sergeant, he was made second lieutenant,
November 24, 1862; first lieutenant, November 6, 1863; and
for two and a half years had command of his company. He was in the Army of the
Cumberland and was honorably discharged from service June 26, 1865.
Returning to his home
in Michigan, for the following five years he conducted a milling business at
Monroe, and in 1870 again went west to California and to Santa Clara county,
where he located permanently. Purchasing sixty acres of land near San Jose, he
set out an orchard and to him belongs the distinction of having been the first
man to plant a general variety of fruit trees on the dry lands west of the
Willows. Here for years he devoted his time to horticulture, having forty-five
acres in fruit, principally prunes and apricots, which yielded him a fair
income. In 1883 he built a nice, two-story residence, the same in which his
widow still resides, and the farm itself has been reduced in size from the
original sixty acres to forty-five acres. At the time of Mr. Kelly’s
death, April 7, 1902, Santa Clara county lost one of her pioneer
settlers and most progressive men, and Phil Sheridan Post,
No. 7, G. A. R., one of its most active members.
Since the death of Mr.
Kelly, the fine fruit ranch on Fruitdale avenue is
managed and cared for by his widow, who with their children survives him.
Mrs. Kelly was, prior to her marriage, Miss Eveline P. Beisel, a daughter of Peter Beisel,
and she was born in Monroe, Mich. Her father, a native of Pennsylvania, was an
expert carpenter, and after his removal to Michigan, he followed contracting and
building in Monroe county for a number of years. He also died there. It was in
Michigan, on the twenty-first day of March, 1861, that the marriage of Mr. and
Mrs. Kelly was solemnized and their union was prolific of the birth of
four children, two sons and two daughters. Of these, James B., the eldest,
lives in San Jose; Jonathan C. resides on the home place; Jennie D.
married Lewis Myers of San Jose, and resides at home, and Jessie E.
resides on Magnolia avenue. In politics, Mr. Kelly was a stanch Republican. In her religious views Mrs. Kelly
favors the Episcopal faith, being an active member of the church of that
denomination.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 21 April 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 470. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.