The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. V, 1905

by Various

Col. William B. Kelly, the fourth son of Samuel, and grandson of Darby, was born in Exeter in 1769. He came to New Hampshire with his father when he was six years old. He had 11 children, of whom six were sons. He was the first postmaster of New Hampton. The mails were distributed from his house before 1800. He was a member of the state Legislature, and one of the two founders of the New Hampton Academy, which was first opened in 1822. It is written of him that “he inherited the military spirit of his ancestors, and transmitted it to his posterity,” as will be seen by the prominent part taken by some of them in the Civil War. His children became widely separated, their descendants now dwelling in almost every state in the Union.

Maj.-Gen. Benjamin F. Kelly, son of Col. William S. Kelly, and great-grandson of Darby Kelly, was born in New Hampton in 1807. When a young man he moved to West Virginia, and was residing there when the first gun was fired on Sumter. It is claimed for him that he raised the first Union regiment and won the first Union victory south of Mason and Dixon’s line. He was commissioned colonel of his regiment on May 25, 1861. His first service was under General McClellan, in West Virginia, and under his direction Colonel Kelly assumed command of all the troops then in that part of the state. He won his first victory at Grafton, where he defeated a Confederate force under command of Colonel Porterfield. On this occasion, in addition to his own regiment, he had command of the Sixteenth Ohio and the Ninth Indiana regiments. The enemy was completely routed and large quantities of arms and ammunition fell into Colonel Kelly’s hands. Kelly was badly wounded. At first it was supposed mortally. For his conduct here he was congratulated by Generals Morris and McClellan. Both complimented him for his brilliant and efficient service. McClellan recommended him for promotion to the rank of brigadier-general. The request was complied with. He was also complimented for his valor and skill at Romney in October, 1861, by President Lincoln, General Scott, and Gen. E. D. Townsend, the assistant adjutant-general of the United States army. Thus were honors showered unlimited on the head of the grandson of the modest colonial Crown Point soldier, Darby Kelly, who was with Sir William Johnson at Fort William Henry a little more than a century before.

Later, General Kelly was assigned to the command of the department at Harper’s Ferry and Cumberland. On the organization of the Department of West Virginia, in 1863, he was assigned to that command. His services from the beginning to the end of the war are too well known to repeat them here. During the invasion of Pennsylvania, in 1862, his conduct brought to him the thanks of General Wright, and for his successful defence of Cumberland, Md., in 1864, he received from the president the rank of major-general by brevet, and from the people of Cumberland, their heartfelt thanks for the skill and courage displayed by him and his officers, and the bravery exhibited by his soldiers in their successful resistance to the capture of the city. General Kelly had six children, four of whom were sons, all of whom served in the United States army.

Capt. Warren Michael Kelly was the son of Michael B. Kelly, the nephew of Gen. B. F. Kelly, and the great-great-grandson of Darby Kelly. He was born in New Hampton in 1821. He was residing in Manchester when the Civil War broke out. In August, 1862, he raised a company which was attached to the Tenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, commanded by the late Gen. Michael T. Donohoe. He remained in the service until the close of the war. He was wounded once. His first fight was at Fredericksburg, one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, on Dec. 13, 1862. It is claimed for him that he commanded the first organized body of white troops that entered Richmond, after the surrender of Lee. Captain Kelly was as modest as he was brave. He was 41 years old when he went to the front with his regiment in 1862, but none in his command rendered more efficient service during the three years following.

There was no opportunity for promotion in his regiment, as there was no change in the colonel or the lieutenant-colonel from 1862 to 1865, neither of them being killed, neither did they resign, for both Gen. M. T. Donohoe and General Coughlin were among the bravest of the brave. Captain Kelly, as the ranking captain, had command of his regiment on several occasions during the first quarter of 1865, and was in command of the skirmish line when the Union troops entered Richmond on April 3d of the same year. It is quite a coincidence, and worthy of mention, that Captain Kelly should serve in a regiment whose field officers and a large proportion of the rank and file were composed of men of the same nationality as his great-great-grandfather, Darby Kelly.

Of the sons of Gen. B. F. Kelly, John G., the eldest, was colonel of the Seventh Virginia Infantry. William B. was a captain on his father’s staff. Frank was a quartermaster in the United States army and died in Texas in 1870. Wright Kelly, a captain of cavalry, was wounded and died from the effects of his wounds in 1869.

Hon. Frank H. Kelly was a brother of Capt. Warren M. Kelly. He was born in New Hampton, Sept. 9, 1827. He was a physician, studying and practising in various places until 1851, when he located in Worcester, Mass. He followed his profession actively 32 years. He joined the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1875. He was the first president of the board of trustees of the City Hospital in 1870, serving in that capacity 13 years. As a member of the school board, of the common council, of the board of aldermen, he served his adopted city long and faithfully.

He wrote the Reminiscences of New Hampton, from which a goodly portion of this paper, or rather the material for it, has been culled. Therein he styled his great-great-grandfather, Darby Kelly, “a bright, quick-witted Irishman.” Here we will leave the emigrant Darby Kelly and his American descendants. It is said that regardless of the number born in New Hampton, none of the name resides there. They are scattered all over the country, but wherever located, it will be found that they are keeping up the record made by their New Hampshire fathers. The Kelly blood runs in the veins of some of the best people within and without the state of New Hampshire, and in at least one instance it returned across the Atlantic by the marriage of one of Darby’s descendants to M. Clemenceau, the celebrated Parisian writer and statesman. But few of Darby’s descendants are here mentioned. They are too numerous. But judging from the record of those given, the emigration of Darby to New Hampshire was quite an accession to the people of the province and state.

Referring again to John Kelly who came to Newbury, Mass., in 1635, many of his descendants must have come to New Hampshire. Among them undoubtedly was Abial Kelly of Methuen, Mass., originally, whose name occurs several times in the Provincial papers in connection with the settlement of the boundary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, in 1745. It also occurs in the Province wills, 1728, 1740, and 1743.

Capt. Richard Kelly, another descendant of the Newbury immigrant, was an officer in the Sixth Regiment of militia, in 1744. The same name appears on a petition from Londonderry, N. H., for the release of Stephen Holland, the Tory, in 1777. The names of Hugh Kelly and Peter Kelly are on the same petition. Richard Kelly, Jr., evidently the son of Captain Kelly, served in the company commanded by Captain Nesmith in Canada in 1776.