assisted in building the first church in Palestine township about 1856, it being a house of worship for the United Brethren congregation, Rev. Marks acting as the first pastor. The church was started with the idea of making it a United Brethren school but sufficient aid was not received and. they converted the building into a church, Mr. Kelley giving twenty-five dollars and his labor toward the work. In 1854 he also helped to lay out the first road from Palestine township to Nevada. It was practically only a trail made by sticking poles in the ground to guide the wagons over the prairie through the tall grasses.
As the years passed on Mr. Kelley devoted his time and energies closely to the development of the farm, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, which he converted into a rich and productive property, annually gathering good harvests therefrom. He made his home upon that place until November 27, 1906, when he retired, taking up his abode at his present residence at No. 1302 Kellogg avenue in Ames. He sold the farm about two years ago and since removing to this city has lived retired, enjoying well earned rest, which is the merited reward of his labor.
Mr. Kelley was living in this county at the time of the Civil war and enlisted in August, 1861, as a member of Company A, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Captain McCauley. The command was assigned to the Army of the West and after serving for three and a half years he was honorably discharged in the fall of 1864. He was in the hospital at Camp Dennison, Ohio, for two months, yet took part in all of the engagements with his regiment, including the battles of Island No. 10, Iuka, Corinth, Jackson, Champion's Hill, the siege of Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, the Atlanta campaign and was also with Sherman on the march to the sea and on the campaign through the Carolinas. He was mustered out at Kingston, Georgia, and returned home with a most creditable military record, for he had manifested unfaltering loyalty on the field of battle. He not only had narrow escapes while upon the firing line but again seemed to escape with his life in almost miraculous manner during the cyclone of September, 1882, for on that occasion his buildings, stock and crops were all destroyed, leaving him nothing save the land. Undiscouraged by this condition, however, he resolutely set to work to retrieve his losses and in the course of years gained a substantial competence, 'now enabling him to live retired.
On the 22d of December, 1870, Mr. Kelley was united in marriage to Miss Henrietta Selby, who was born in La Grange county, Indiana, September 5, 1841, and in 1868 came to Iowa with her parents, Ralph and Catharine Selby, who were natives of Ohio and spent their last days near Des Moines. Their family numbered four children and unto Mr. and Mrs. Kelley four children have been born, namely: Annetta, the wife of Frank Smith, of Dayton, Iowa; Clinton, who died at the age of twenty-one years; Harry, living in Ames ; and Frank, of Boone county, Iowa.
Mr. Kelley is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and thus keeps in close touch with his old army comrades. He has always been