Santa Clara County
Biographies
BERNARD E. KELL
Numbered among the active, intelligent and highly esteemed residents of Santa Clara county is Bernard E. Kell, who is now rendering efficient service as county coroner and public administrator in San Jose. He is a native and to the manor born, his birth having occurred in this city May 3, 1876. He is a son of the late Martin Daniel Kell, and comes of pioneer ancestry, his grandfather, Thomas Kell, Jr., having been one of the early settlers of California.
A son of Thomas Kell, Sr., Thomas Kell, Jr., was born in Devonshire, England, in 1804. In 1816 he came with parents to America and settled in Framton, thirty-six miles from Quebec, where the death of his father occurred in 1820. In 1828, In Framton, Quebec, he married Margaret Murphy, who was born in County Wexford, Ireland, in 1811, a daughter of Martin Murphy, Sr., and sister of Martin Murphy, Jr. Settling with his bride near Toronto, he resided there until the fall of 1841 when he joined his father-in-law in Atchison county, Mo. In 1844 Martin Murphy, Sr., and a few of his friends followed the trail across the plains to California, taking his family with him. Mr. Kell, who was doing well as a farmer in Missouri, was reluctant to leave Atchison county, but his father-in-law’s glowing reports of the climate and soil of California, and his golden prophecies as to its future greatness, so influenced him that he decided to follow the tide of emigration to the coast. Accordingly, with his family and household effects he began the long and wearisome journey across the plains on May 11, 1846, joining the company commanded by Major Cooper. The fifty-three wagons in the train were dawn by oxen, and the party, most of whom were bound for Oregon, were five months en route. Arriving at his brother-in-law’s, Martin Murphy, Jr., near the present site of the city of Sacramento, on October 11, 1846, Mr. Kell rested there three weeks, and upon leaving was presented with something more desirable than gold, and that was wheat for seeding purposes. In January, 1847, on the ranch belonging to Martin Murphy, Sr., lying eighteen miles southwest of San Jose, he sowed fifteen acres of land to wheat, of which he harvested an excellent crop. In the fall of 1857 Thomas Kell, Jr., established himself on a ranch near San Jose, the homestead property being still owned by his descendants. The first residence of the family was a frame house, built of redwood trees obtained from the forests of Gilroy, the lumber being hewed and sawed by hand. Several years later the original house was replaced by a more commodious and substantial residence, in which he lived until his death, March 8, 1878. He wife survived him, dying December 30, 1881.
A native of Canada, Martin Daniel Kell was born near Toronto April 5, 1840. While yet an infant his parents removed to Atchison county, Mo., and at the age of six years he came across the plains with them to California. Reared to agricultural pursuits, he chose farming as his life occupation, and owned a finely improved and highly cultivated ranch, lying about two and one-half miles from San Jose, on the Almaden road.
He was a man of strong personality, public-spirited and progressive, filled many public offices of trust and responsibility. From November, 1875, until March, 1878, until March 1880, was supervisor of district No. 4, having served in that capacity two terms. For four years he was under sheriff, serving under Sheriff B. F. Branham, and he was also county coroner and public administrator for a number of years, being an office-holder almost continuously from 1875 until his death, June 14, 1902, at the age of sixty-two years. On September 11, 1865, he married Mary A. Ward, who was born near Utica, N. Y., April 24, 1842. Her parents, Polk and Margaret Ward, were both born and reared in Lewis county, N. Y., and both died in their native state, the mother dying in 1874 and the father in 1876. Mrs. Kell survives her husband, and is now living in San Jose, beloved and respected by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
The sixth child in a family consisting of five boys and two girls, Bernard E. Kell obtained a practical education in the public schools, and was afterward graduated from a commercial college. He subsequently assisted his father in the management of the home ranch, and when his father was elected coroner and public administrator aided him in his official labors, becoming thoroughly familiar with the duties of the office. In 1902 he was nominated county coroner and public administrator, becoming the Democratic candidate, and being elected by a majority of one thousand two hundred and thirty-four votes, took the oath of office January 5, 1903. In this position Mr. Kell is serving with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the general public, his office being at No. 95 South Market street, in Ward’s undertaking rooms. He is a member of Palo Alto Parlor, Native sons of the Golden West, the Ancient Order of Untied Workmen, and of the Eagles.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 343-344. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Joyce Rugeroni.