There is a record in the Provincial papers of payment to Roger for services as a soldier. The date of the death of Roger Kelly cannot be given here, neither can his descendants be traced without trouble; but undoubtedly they, as well as those of his brothers, are scattered all over the United States, for as Kelly, or Kelley, the name is now one of the most common among Americans. Clarke has immortalized the name in his poem, “The Fighting Race,” and it is well to remark here that “Kelly and Burke and Shea” were here in New Hampshire long before 1700 in the persons of Roger Kelly, James O’Shea and John Burke, whose names appear in the Provincial records.
According to Coffin, the historian of Newbury, Mass., John Kelly of that town was of English as well as of Irish descent. His father, as tradition has it, was an Irishman who went from his native country to Newbury, England. While in the service of a gentleman there he was successful in defending the house from an attack by robbers. He secured the gentleman’s daughter for his wife. The immigrant, John Kelly, was the offspring of this union. He came to Newbury in 1635.
In the allotment of land to settlers he was dissatisfied with his assignment and selected his land so far away from the rest that the people of the town were fearful that he would be destroyed either by the Indians or by wild beasts, and in consequence the town voted “that if the said John Kelly or any of his family are killed by the Indians or wild beasts their blood” should be on their own heads.
However, this did not trouble John Kelly. In time, he was looked upon as one of the most enterprising and courageous men in the settlement, and fearless to an extreme degree. He had five sons and five daughters. His descendants are numerous in New England, and especially in New Hampshire. They were thrifty, prosperous and leading citizens in the towns in which they settled.
Before the Revolution, not a few schoolmasters, natives of Ireland, were teaching the young ideas how to shoot in New Hampshire. They were well thought of in those days, and spoken of, as a rule, in the highest terms by the people with whom they came in contact.
Such men as John Sullivan, father of the general, in Dover; Edward Evans of Northfield, who was General Sullivan’s secretary, and adjutant of one of the three Continental regiments; Henry Parkinson, whose grave is in Canterbury Center cemetery; Edward Donovan of Sandwich; William Donovan of Weare; Patrick Quinlan of Concord; Richard Dowling of Stratham; Darby Kelly of Exeter and Hercules Mooney of Somersworth, were some of these schoolmasters.
Few of New Hampshire’s early settlers have left more useful descendants than Darby Kelly, whose name appears in the Province wills in 1728. The exact time of his arrival, or the section of Ireland from which he came, is unknown. Kelly is one of the most ancient names in Connaught, the western province of Ireland. It is an Anglicization of the Gaelic Ceallaigh. It would not, therefore, be surprising if he emigrated from that part of the country. In the Reminiscences of New Hampton, which were written by one of his descendants, the Hon. F. H. Kelly, ex-mayor of Worcester, Mass., it is stated that he settled in Exeter, N. H., in the early part of the 18th century, and that little is known of him except by tradition. He was reputed to have taught school before leaving home, and “is said to have been a bright, quick-witted Irishman.”
Contrary to rule, this much was said of him by the writer quoted, who had not followed the usual course in calling his ancestor a “Scotch-Irishman.” However that may have been, the record shows that he was a useful, thrifty citizen, possessed of the traits which distinguished so many of his descendants. There is another tradition that he taught school in New Hampshire. If so, the inscription, in part, on the headstone of Capt. Henry Parkinson, Stark’s quartermaster, who died in 1829, would also apply to Darby Kelly. “Hibernia begot me. Columbia nurtured me, ... I have fought, I have taught, and I have labored with my hands,” etc. For if Darby had taught, which is likely, he had also labored with his hands, and fought as well.
The Provincial papers show that when his services as a soldier were required, he shouldered his musket and fought against the common foe, the French and the Indians; so in this way we find his name enrolled as one of the company commanded by Capt. Moses Foster, on scouting duty in 1748; again, serving in Capt. Elijah Sweet’s company, Col. Peter Gilman’s regiment, in New York, 1755; again, in Capt. Elisha Winslow’s company, Col. Nathaniel Meserve’s regiment, in the Crown Point expedition, 1756; and as Sergt. Darby Kelly he is found again in Capt. Richard Emery’s company, Col. Nathaniel Meserve’s regiment, in the second Crown Point expedition, 1757. One battalion of this regiment suffered severely in the massacre at Fort William Henry. Out of 200 men engaged 80 were killed or captured. His final enlistment was in Capt. Somerbee Gilman’s company, of Col. John Hart’s regiment, in 1758. Here is a military record his descendants may well point to with pride, for it enables them to gain admission to all the patriotic Colonial War societies thus far organized.
That he was an active business man is clearly evident, for there are on the records, especially in the Province wills in the New Hampshire State House, entries of deeds of land to or from him from Dec. 11, 1728, to March 31, 1770,—one in Exeter, four in Kingston, and ten in Brentwood. His name appears on a petition from Exeter for parish privileges in 1741, and on another from Brentwood in 1742, and he is recorded as a ratepayer in that town. His name is signed to a receipt for 100 pounds, old tenor, paid to him in 1769 for services as a soldier.