Mr. Kelly was born in Bayonne, N. J., on the 4th of October, 1873, and received his education in Public School No. 1, in that place, at St. Francis Xavier College on Sixteenth Street, New York City, and at St. Peter's College and Drake's Business College in Jersey City. After graduating from the latter institution he went to work in the office of the Singer Sewing Machine Company at Elizabethport, N. J., and while there was appointed Assistant Collector of Revenue for the City of Bayonne, which position he held three years. He then engaged in real estate operations on his own account and has since conducted a large and successful business in his native city.

Mr. Kelly has gained an excellent reputation for business ability, integrity, and enterprise. He is actively interested in the welfare of his native city, has contributed materially to its prosperity in various real estate operations, and with Dr. Lucius F. Donohue was largely influential in locating the Babcock and Wilcox Company there. He was one of the organizers of the Fourth Regiment, New Jersey Militia, joining Company I, the first company organized in Bayonne. He is also a prominent member of the Bayonne Democratic Club, of the Young Men's Association, of the Knights of Columbus, of the Jersey City Catholic Club, of Drake's Alumni, of the old New Jersey Athletic Club of Bayonne, and of the Greenville Musical and Social Club.