From Ireland, one man leaves his mark

In the summer of 1837 a
small army of Irishmen and their families arrived in the frontier town of
Quincy.

Their task was to construct one of the country’s most
ambitious railway projects, the Northern Cross Railroad. Plans were for the
railroad to run from Front Street up Broadway, formerly known as Railroad
Street, and east as far as Columbus. Included among this band of Irishmen was a
youngster named Maurice Kelly. A lad of only seven years in 1837, he would bear
witness to Quincy’s remarkable growth and take an active role in shaping the
future of his adopted city, county and state.

Maurice Kelly, born in March 1830 in County Cork, Ireland,
was the fourth of six children of Patrick and Honora (Cashman) Kelly. The
Kellys came to America aboard the ship John Cumming, arriving in New York City
on May 11, 1837. They stayed briefly in New York before coming to Quincy with
the prospect of work for the state of Illinois, due to its “Internal
Improvements Act” to build railroads and canals. By the mid-1840s the young
Kelly family saved enough money working on the Northern Cross Railroad to buy
some land in Concord Township and engage in farming. Being temperate and
industrious, the family prospered.

Maurice, known as Morris to friends and family, saved enough
money to buy his own land southeast of Liberty Township. Young Maurice’s
political ambitions quickly became apparent when he started to dabble in the
small town politics of the township. He landed the first of many political
victories by being named a parade marshal for Stephen A. Douglas at the
famous Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Quincy in 1858.

Shortly after the debate, Maurice was named to the Adams
County Board of Supervisors, a position he would retain for much of his life.
Here he honed his skills as an orator and politician, arguing for or against
improvements being made in the county. Kelly helped decide the fate of proposed
bridges, public buildings and rail lines. An important decision made while he
served on the board was to construct the third and grandest Adams County
courthouse to date. Its location was a critical concern. For several months the
board was split fairly evenly on building the new courthouse in either
Washington Park or Jefferson Square. Jefferson Square, which included Quincy’s
first cemetery, was located between Fifth and Sixth from Broadway to Vermont,
site of today’s Adams County Courthouse. After much debate and input from
members of the community and city officials, Jefferson Square was selected as
the new location for the courthouse. If the vote had gone the other way,
Washington Park as we know it would not exist.

In 1860 Maurice Kelly was elected sheriff of Adams County at
a particularly volatile time in the history of our country and of Adams County.
The county’s population was on the rise and crime was steadily rising. Civil
War loomed on the horizon, and the issue of slavery was being hotly debated around
the country. Quincy was right across the river from slaveholding Missouri, and
Kelly as sheriff was certainly in an unenviable position.

Sheriff
Kelly discharged his duties faithfully and earnestly. On Nov. 29, 1861, he
presided over the public execution of Attison Cunningham. Attison and his
nephew were arrested the previous May for the murder of Ratliffe Harrison just
outside Payson. They were tried and found guilty of the crime with the nephew
sentenced to 10 years and Attison receiving the death penalty. It was up to
Sheriff Kelly to arrange the details of the hanging, only the second such
execution in Adams County.

In 1862 he was the unanimous choice of the Democrats to run
for sheriff again but decided one term was enough and bowed out. He met and married
Jane Brennan, a neighbor outside of Liberty, and set to work building up his
farm and raising a family. His first child, Nora, was born in 1861 followed by
four more children in the next 10 years. His farm grew into one of the highest
regarded in Adams County, and he was consulted on all things agricultural for
the rest of his life, even being quoted in national newspapers. He remained
active on the board of supervisors during the remainder of the 1860s and
eventually was talked into running for other offices again.

In 1870 he was elected as state representative, and four
years later he was elected state senator, serving two full terms and most of a
third. Senator Kelly was the first to present a bill making minors punishable
for attempting to obtain liquor by falsely representing their age. The bill was
defeated as there was fierce opposition to it, and it took many more years
before this became law in Illinois.

In 1881 Sen. Kelly offered a resolution pointing to an early
adoption of the power of veto in appropriation bills. That resolution was
narrowly defeated but eventually was reintroduced and passed in 1884.

Kelly also had an important role in the selection of the
location of the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home in 1885. This was a
huge decision with 52 cities vying to have the facility located in their city
and county.

Quincy was eventually chosen through the exertions of a
delegation of local notables including Lorenzo Bull. In 1885 Kelly resigned his
senate seat to accept the position of revenue collector for a nine-county
district in western Illinois. He was appointed by President Cleveland.

During the next two decades, this well-known and admired Adams County resident stayed active in Democratic endeavors
including welcoming visiting national VIPs such as President McKinley,
presidential candidate and great orator William Jennings Bryan, and many other
regional and national figures. When Kelly attended a fair or community picnic,
he was invariably called upon to make a speech or be the guest of honor.

On Oct. 6, 1911, Maurice took a walk from his home in Liberty
to the post office to collect the mail, which was his daily custom. He stopped
at John Campbell’s store on Main Street to rest and talk awhile. He was sitting
on a box in the store when without warning his heart failed, thus ending the
life of one the most popular men in Adams County. Resolutions of respect were
adopted by the state assembly with particular attention paid “… to his record
that will long live after him.”

Kelly’s numerous contributions to local and state laws,
building facilities, railroads and highways live on today, most visibly with
the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy. Maurice Kelly and other members of the
Kelly family are buried at St. Brigid’s Catholic cemetery in Liberty.

Scott Reed is the Mid America regional manager for Terlato
Wines International. He is a member of the Historical Society and is writing a
book on the Irish in Adams County. Born and raised in Quincy, he now resides in
Edwardsville.

Sources

Debel, Niels Henricksen. “The Veto Power of the Governor of Illinois.” University of Illinois Studies in the Social Studies, VI (1917): 85-86.

The History of Adams County, Illinois. Chicago: Murray, Williamson & Phelps, 1879. (324-325)

Piggott, Michael. “Irish Pioneers of the Upper Mississippi Valley.” The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, IX (1910): 315.

Quincy Daily Journal, October 26, 1896.

Quincy Daily Journal, October 25, 1910.

Quincy Daily Journal, November 10, 1911.

Quincy Daily Herald, February 12, 1875.

Quincy Daily Herald, July 15, 1875.

Quincy Daily Herald, June 9, 1885.

Quincy Daily Whig, August 20, 1862.

Quincy Daily Whig, April 30, 1885.

Quincy Daily Whig, December 5, 1885.

Quincy Daily Whig, July 6, 1901.

Quincy Morning Whig, September 23, 1899.

Quincy Whig, May 15, 1879.

Quincy Whig Republican, December 7, 1861.