Santa Clara County
Biographies
THOMAS KELLEY, M. D.
By reason of his long connection with the medical profession of San Jose, Dr. Kelley is known and honored throughout the Santa Clara valley. He is of southern parentage and Irish descent. His father, Alexander, who was born near Barboursville, Ky., was a son of James Kelley, who immigrated to Kentucky from Ireland in an early day and settled near Barboursville, but subsequently located near Mechanicsburg, Sangamon county, Ill. His death occurred at Clinton, Ill. For years the farm of Alexander Kelley was six miles southeast of Lincoln, near Two Mile Grove, Logan county, Ill., and there his oldest child, Thomas, was born September 18, 1836. From there in 1841 the family removed to the then pioneer region of Dewitt county, Ill., where Alexander Kelley engaged extensively in farm pursuits until his death. In early manhood he married Lucinda Anderson, who was born in Ohio and died in Illinois. Her father, Joel Anderson, a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent, engaged in farm pursuits in Ohio for many years, but spent his closing days of life in Livingston county, Ill.
Of the eight children of Alexander Kelley five are living. One son and two sons-in-law, who enlisted in Illinois regiments during the Civil war, were lost in the service. At twenty years of age Thomas Kelley began to teach school in Dewitt county and followed that occupation a few winters, working on a farm in the summer months. Later he took up the study of medicine under Dr. John Wright. August 24, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company K, Forty-first Illinois Infantry, and at Bird’s Point, Mo., was mustered into the army of the Tennessee, with which he participated in the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Shiloh, Hatchie’s river, Coldwater (Miss.), siege of Vicksburg, Jackson (Miss.), and the Georgia campaign from Resaca to the fall of Atlanta. Among the various engagements of the regiment that at Jackson was the most fatal. They entered the field with almost a complete corps of men, but only forty-two men came out in line. At the same battle the Third Iowa, Forty-first Illinois and Fifty-third Indiana regiments were almost annihilated. While on the battlefield Mr. Kelley was promoted to be first lieutenant of Company K. There, too, when in the fiercest of the fight, he received his first baptism of blood being wounded in the right thigh. Amid the shots of the Confederates he made his escape from the field. After he entered the woods the brush and trees protected him from their fire. Soon he met an orderly on horseback and he, seeing he wounded man’s serious condition, placed him on the horse and hastened to a hospital with him, thus undoubtedly saving his life. On his recovery he rejoined the regiment and remained at the front until the expiration of his term of service, being mustered out at Springfield, Ill., October 8, 1864, with the rank o first lieutenant.
After his return from the war the young soldier turned his attention to farming near Clinton, Ill., and continued his studies under Dr. Wright. In 1868 he entered Rush Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1871 at the close of a three years’ course. In the fall of the latter year he came to California and has since practiced in Santa Clara county, being the second oldest physician in this county, in point of years of location. While his attention has been largely give to professional work, he has found leisure to engage in the fruit industry. Some years ago he bought one hundred and fifty acres in Tulare county, which he planted in an orchard and vineyard, but later sold the property. In Ohio he married Miss Alice Leeds, who was born near Batavia, that state, and died in Illinois. The only son of that union, A. M. Kelley, is a farmer and horticulturist of Morgan Hill, Santa Clara county. After the death of his first wife Dr. Kelley was married in Illinois to Miss Sara A. Watkins, who was born in Ohio and died in California. Three daughters were born of that marriage, namely: Lessie, wife of Charles H. Ledbetter, of Portland, Ore.; Elizabeth and Nannie, who remain with their father and have charge of the home.
In the county and committee work of the Republican party Dr. Kelley has been active. During the administration of President Harrison, in 1889, he was appointed postmaster of San Jose and held the office for over forty years. For one term he served as county physician and for two years was engaged as surgeon to the O’Connor Sanitarium. During his residence in Illinois he was made a Mason. In the organization of the John A. Dix Post No. 42 he was interested and afterward served as commander, also for two terms as a member of the department staff. Societies formed for the benefit of physicians have ever received his encouragement and support, affording him an appreciated opportunity for keeping in touch with his professional brethren. At one time he was honored with the presidency of the County Medical Society, and he is further associated with the California State and American Medical Association, in addition to which he retains an honorary membership in the Illinois Medical Association.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 945-946. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Joyce Rugeroni.