Читать книгу A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography - Various - Страница 66
Kelly, Thomas
ОглавлениеKelly, Thomas, Judge of the County Court of Prince county, Summerside, Prince Edward Island. His Honour Judge Kelly is of Irish parentage, and was born at Covehead, in Queens county, Prince Edward Island, in 1833. His parents were Thomas Kelly and Mary Grace, who emigrated from the county of Kilkenny, Ireland, about the year 1824. Judge Kelly received his education in the old Central Academy of his native place, and at St. Dunstan’s College, Charlottetown, and pursued his law studies with His Honour Judge Watters, in St. John. He was called to the New Brunswick bar in Trinity term, 1865, and to that of Prince Edward Island the same year, and immediately thereafter began the practice of his profession as barrister and notary public at Summerside, where he has since resided. While a law student, he was for two years president of the Irish Friendly Society of St. John, N.B. Before accepting a position on the bench, Judge Kelly for many years took an active interest in the politics of his native province, especially in connection with the party controversies arising out of the education, railway, and confederation questions, as they existed in Prince Edward Island. He was twice elected a representative from Prince county to the Island legislature. In 1870 he was appointed a master in Chancery, and in 1871, a Railway commissioner, to which office he was again elected in 1872, but resigned it a few weeks subsequent to the overthrow of the Pope administration. In 1873 he was offered the chairmanship of the Railway board, and in 1874 the speakership of the House of Assembly, both of which positions he declined in consequence of a misunderstanding on the school question. In 1876 he retired temporarily from public life; but in a couple of years thereafter he again entered it, and in 1879 was an unsuccessful candidate for the legislature, at the general election of that year. For several years Judge Kelly was a director of the Summerside Bank, and afterwards became solicitor for that institution. He was elected license commissioner in 1877, and the same year was chosen recorder for the town of Summerside. He is a commissioner for Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, for taking affidavits for use in those provinces, and is also commissioner dedimus to administer oaths of office to Dominion appointees. He was appointed to the bench, as successor to the late Judge Pope, on the 24th October, 1879, and revising officer under the Electoral Franchise Act on the 26th October, 1886. Judge Kelly is a Roman Catholic, and was married, first, in September, 1867, to Mary Emeline, daughter of Henry Eskildson, of New York (she died October, 1868); and, secondly, in November, 1871, to Marianne H., daughter of the late William A. Campbell, barrister, Toronto, Ontario. Judge Kelly’s family consists of four children—one boy and three girls.