A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
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=Kelly, Thomas=, Judge of the County Court of Prince county, Summerside,
Prince Edward Island. His Honour Judge Kelly is of Irish parentage, and
was born at Covehead, in Queens county, Prince Edward Island, in 1833.
His parents were Thomas Kelly and Mary Grace, who emigrated from the
county of Kilkenny, Ireland, about the year 1824. Judge Kelly received
his education in the old Central Academy of his native place, and at St.
Dunstan’s College, Charlottetown, and pursued his law studies with His
Honour Judge Watters, in St. John. He was called to the New Brunswick
bar in Trinity term, 1865, and to that of Prince Edward Island the same
year, and immediately thereafter began the practice of his profession as
barrister and notary public at Summerside, where he has since resided.
While a law student, he was for two years president of the Irish
Friendly Society of St. John, N.B. Before accepting a position on the
bench, Judge Kelly for many years took an active interest in the
politics of his native province, especially in connection with the party
controversies arising out of the education, railway, and confederation
questions, as they existed in Prince Edward Island. He was twice elected
a representative from Prince county to the Island legislature. In 1870
he was appointed a master in Chancery, and in 1871, a Railway
commissioner, to which office he was again elected in 1872, but resigned
it a few weeks subsequent to the overthrow of the Pope administration.
In 1873 he was offered the chairmanship of the Railway board, and in
1874 the speakership of the House of Assembly, both of which positions
he declined in consequence of a misunderstanding on the school question.
In 1876 he retired temporarily from public life; but in a couple of
years thereafter he again entered it, and in 1879 was an unsuccessful
candidate for the legislature, at the general election of that year. For
several years Judge Kelly was a director of the Summerside Bank, and
afterwards became solicitor for that institution. He was elected license
commissioner in 1877, and the same year was chosen recorder for the town
of Summerside. He is a commissioner for Quebec, Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, for taking affidavits for use in
those provinces, and is also commissioner _dedimus_ to administer oaths
of office to Dominion appointees. He was appointed to the bench, as
successor to the late Judge Pope, on the 24th October, 1879, and
revising officer under the Electoral Franchise Act on the 26th October,
1886. Judge Kelly is a Roman Catholic, and was married, first, in
September, 1867, to Mary Emeline, daughter of Henry Eskildson, of New
York (she died October, 1868); and, secondly, in November, 1871, to
Marianne H., daughter of the late William A. Campbell, barrister,
Toronto, Ontario. Judge Kelly’s family consists of four children—one
boy and three girls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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