Joseph E. Kelley (and others from the Foresters) from Cambridge Fifty Years a City, 1846-1896: An Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1896 June 2-3
Joseph E. Kelley (and others from the Foresters) from Cambridge Fifty Years a City, 1846-1896: An Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1896 June 2-3
Description:
'This includes a picture of Joseph E. Kelley (and others from the Foresters) from Cambridge Fifty Years a City, 1846-1896: An Account of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 2-3, 1896. Published 1897 by Riverside Press, Cambridge. I came across an obituary of my great-uncle [Joseph Kelley], who was the older brother of my great-grandmother. When I saw it, I was amazed at what this man was involved with and what he accomplished after coming over on a famine ship, right after the famine first broke out, at four years of age. I went to New England Genealogy [NEHGS] and happened to show one of my friends there, Judy Lucy, this obituary. She got more excited than I did when she saw that he was a Forester. I knew nothing about what a Forester was or did; I just knew that Joseph Kelley collapsed at a weekly ‘Foresters meeting’ and subsequently died. I joined TIARA, and in finding Joe [in the Foresters records], I also found my grandmother's older sister, Mary Finnerty. I found a baby who had died on the famine ship or right after they landed. Joe went on to become quite the self-made man. He ran for mayor, was an Alderman, was in the legislature, and wound up opening his own business. I found out he adopted a child because the child's father had died and the mother couldn't provide for him. That young man grew up to run the funeral home that Joe Kelley eventually had in Cambridge. He was well-respected. In one of the articles where he's nominated to be mayor around 1892, I can see the Irish wit; he apparently was quite a character. The Foresters records have just been a treasure trove for me … I'm constantly checking the database to see if there are any new names. It's like reading a mystery story and putting puzzles pieces together. This has been absolutely wonderful for me and I am thrilled now that the Foresters records have a home. I look forward to exploring more details.'
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