KELLY, WILLIAM MOORE (1827-1888)

KELLY, WILLIAM MOORE, stagecoach owner, MLA, and MLC; b. The Bend, 1827, s/o James M. Kelly; m. 1st, 1847, Elizabeth Long, of Cocagne, N.B., and 2nd, 1857, Margaret Fraser, d/o Alexander Fraser Jr and Catherine Fraser; d. Montreal, 12 Dec 1888.

William M. Kelly's father came to New Brunswick in 1798 from Belfast, Ireland, and settled at the Bend of Petitcodiac (Moncton). In 1839 his father obtained a contract from the provincial government to operate a mail stage once a week between Fredericton and the Miramichi, as successor to William and James Swim of Fredericton. After the collapse of the stagecoach business of Donald McBeath & Bros his father also took over the Moncton to Miramichi stage, which carried both mail and passengers.

When his father died in 1844 William M. Kelly succeeded him, although he was still less than eighteen years of age. He was a businessman, as opposed to a stagecoach driver. His younger brothers Joseph and Robert Kelly were among four stage drivers being employed by him in 1851. Later in the 1850s he was in partnership with his brother-in-law Robert Orr on the Fredericton to Miramichi stage route. In 1860 he announced the inauguration of a daily mail and passenger service between Chatham and Shediac, which had become the terminus of the Eastern and North American Railway line from Saint John. He was still described as a mail contractor in 1871.

It was probably on a Kelly stage that Wilford Woodruff, one of the apostles of the Mormon Church, travelled from Fredericton to the Miramichi in July 1848 to visit Joseph Russell. On that trip the horses pulled not only the wagon but a load of lumber. They struggled to the top of each hill and then "raced down the other side at breakneck speed." Much of the time the driver was "fast asleep and snoring," awakening only occasionally when the wagon was "sliding to disaster towards the cliffs" at the side of the road. "I left the stage," stated Woodruff, "feeling very thankful that my bones were whole and my life preserved."

In connection with his business Kelly took over the Royal Hotel in Chatham in 1849 and renamed it Miramichi House. He did not remain long in the hotel business, but he continued to make his home at Chatham. He entered provincial politics in 1867 when John M. Johnson nominated him as his successor in the House of Assembly. He took the seat by acclamation and was also successful in elections held in 1869, 1870, and 1874. In 1869 he was appointed chief commissioner of public works in the administration of Premier Andrew R. Wetmore. He retained this portfolio for the duration of Wetmore's term and throughout the administration of Premier George E. King. A number of the first 'great bridges' of New Brunswick dated from his years in office. He was an able minister, but his influence declined after he became entangled in the controversies which surrounded the introduction of the Common Schools Act in 1871 and the building of the railroads.

Kelly was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1878. Without resigning, he moved to Toronto in 1880. The Chatham World contended that he was still occupying a council seat in 1884, taking care to re-establish his residence in Chatham before each meeting by renting a room at the Bowser House. "Business reverses came upon him" in his last years, and in the end "his mental powers gave way." In the summer of 1888 a question concerning his ability to manage his own affairs was brought before the magistrate's court in Chatham. His death occurred several months later at the Montreal home of one of his sons. His remains were returned to Chatham for burial in the cemetery of St Paul's Anglican Church at Chatham Head.

Kelly had at least seven children who survived infancy. A daughter of his marriage to Elizabeth Long was enumerated in the census of 1871, along with three sons and two daughters from his marriage to Margaret Fraser. Another son, J. Carling Kelly, was born after 1871.