Alfred Kelley was born at Middletown, Conn., Nov. 7th, 1789. He was the second son of Daniel and Jemima Kelley. His mother's maiden name was Stow. She was a sister of Judge Joshua Stow, and also of Judge Silas Stow of Lowville, N. Y. The latter was the father of Judge Horatio Stow, of Buffalo, N. Y., and of Alexander Stow, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, both of whom were men of great talents and distinction. In the winter of 1798, Alfred Kelley removed with his father's family to Lowville, N. Y. His father was President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lewis county, N. Y., was one of the founders of Lowville Academy and President of its Board of Trustees. Alfred Kelley was educated at Fairfield Academy, N. Y. He read law at Whitesboro, N. Y., three years, in the office of Jonas Platt, a judge of the Supreme Court of that State. In the Spring of 1810, in company with Joshua Stow, Dr. J. P. Kirtland, and others, he removed to Cleveland,--traveling on horseback. At the November term 1810, on motion of Peter Hitchcock, Alfred Kelley was admitted as an attorney of the Court of Common Pleas for Cuyahoga county. On the same day, being his 21st birth day, he was appointed Public Prosecutor as the successor of Peter Hitchcock, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Mr. Kelley continued Prosecutor till 1821, when he resigned. In October 1814, he was elected from Cuyahoga county a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, being barely old enough under the Constitution when the Legislature met to take his seat in that body and being the youngest member. Chillicothe was then the temporary State capital. On the 25th of August, 1817. Alfred Kelley was married to Mary S. Welles, oldest daughter of Major Melancthon Wolsey Welles, of Lowville, N. Y. They had eleven children of whom six are now living. He continued, with intervals, a member of the Ohio Legislature from Cuyahoga county, from 1814 until 1822, when he was appointed, with others, State Canal Commissioner, by an act of the General Assembly, empowering the Commissioners to make examinations, surveys and estimates, to ascertain the practicability of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, by canal.