William D. Kelley
| William D. Kelley | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 4th district |
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In office March 4, 1861 – January 9, 1890 |
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| Preceded by | William Millward |
| Succeeded by | John E. Reyburn |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 12, 1814 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US |
| Died | January 9, 1890 (aged 75) Washington, D.C., US |
| Resting place | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Political party |
Democratic Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Caroline Bartram-Bonsall |
| Children | Elizabeth Florence Marian Josephine Anna Kelley William Darrah, Jr. Albert Bartram Caroline |
| Profession |
Proofreader Jeweler Attorney Judge Legislator |
| Religion | Quaker |
William Darrah Kelley (April 12, 1814 – January 9, 1890) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. As an abolitionist, he was one of the founders of the Republican Party in 1854, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln. Kelley was a man of strict principles, advocating the recruitment of black troops in the civil war, and the extending of the vote to them afterwards. His belief in protective tariffs was so extreme that he refused to wear a single imported garment.
William Darrah Kelley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Hannah and David Kelley; his father died when he was two. David Kelley had been a watch and clock-maker, and later in life, William Kelley bought one of those clocks to adorn his library. William Kelley's daughter Florence later told of an incident that had occurred immediately after David Kelley's death. Since the law at the time said that all a man's possessions must be sold to discharge his debts, with no exemptions allowed for widows or orphans, all of the family's treasures were spread out on tables to be auctioned off. A "substantial" Quaker woman appeared with two large baskets, claimed that several items up for auction were hers, filled the baskets with as many as she could carry, and then departed while expressing mock indignation that Hannah Kelley had not previously returned these "borrowed" items. After the auction the woman returned the items to the Kelley family.
His mother opened a boarding house to support her children.
As a boy Kelley began working as an errand boy in a Philadelphia bookstore, a position which led to a position as proofreader with the Philadelphia Inquirer. He later apprenticed as a jeweler, and served in the State Fencibles, a militia unit commanded by Colonel John Page, a prominent attorney. Kelley then worked as a journeyman jeweler in Boston, Massachusetts for several years. Upon returning to Philadelphia, Kelley began the study of law in Page's office. Kelley was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1841.
Later, a reporter described Kelley in the United States House as "slightly noticeable for the disfigurement of the lid of one of his eyes, received in a machine shop in which his youth was educated -- a man who literally hammered his way up in life, and who is capable of hammering his representative way through life, on whatsoever paths social tyranny or political injustice seek to bar man's progress to a pure democracy."
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