It gives us pleasure to be permitted to outline the career of the estimable gentleman and pioneer, whose name initiates this paragraph. Doctor Kelly came to Lewiston in 1862 and has been a familiar figure here most of the time until his death, being well and favorably known to all and the recipient of the friendship and good will of all. His father, Alexander Kelly, a farmer by occupation, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1780, and fought in the war of 1812. He came of Irish extraction and died in 1859. The mother of Dr. Kelly was Rachel Cox, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1783, of Scotch descent and she died at the ripe old age of ninety-five, in 1878.
On January 4, 1862, Dr. Kelly married Miss Abbie M., daughter of John Gordon, a lumberman of Oldtown. Maine. The wedding occurred in Marysville, California; Mrs. Mounce, of Lewiston, is the daughter of this worthy couple. Mr. Gordon’s mother, who was a St. Clair, was born in Oldtown, Maine, and died in East Portland, in 1898. She was a sister of the celebrated Dr. St. Clair of Cleveland, Ohio, and a woman of superior ability and education. Mrs. Kelly was born in Oldtown, Maine, in 1842, and had good educational facilities. She was attending the Catholic school at Marysville; California, when she married Doctor Kelly. A very interesting romance is connected with this marriage. The death of Dr. M. A. Kelly occurred on May 27, 1903.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903