John S. Kelley

JOHN S. KELLEY was appointed to the Camden Fire Department as an extra man with Engine Company 1 on April 5, 1882. He replaced Howard Sharp. John S. Kelley served for two years, when he was replaced in turn by Charles H. Peters. John S. Kelley worked as an iron moulder before, during, and long after his time with the Fire Department.

John S. Kelley was born in New Jersey, according to the 1900 Census, in June of 1858 to Margaret and Henry Kelley, both of whom had been born in Ireland. The Kelley family was living in Camden’s South Ward by the time of the 1860 Census. Besides John, the family included older siblings Sylvester, Robert H., Sarah “Sallie,” and Isabella. Two more children were born after John, brothers Richard and James. Older brother Robert H. Kelley was working as an iron moulder at the time of the 1870 Census, and John S. Kelley followed him into this trade.

When the census was taken in 1880, John S. Kelley and his younger brother James were living with their mother and father at 826 South 6th Street. The house at 826 South 6th Street would remain in the hands of the Kelley family into the 1930s.

John S. Kelley married shortly after the 1880 Census was taken. His wife, Mary, was born in Pennsylvania, and the couple appears to have lived there at one time or another. Census records indicate that their two children, Sylvester and Mary, were both born there. Sylvester was born in Philadelphia, and it is probable that Mary was also.

John S. Kelley’s activities through the 1880s and 1890s are somewhat difficult to track using the Camden City Directories, for three main reasons, one being that he may have moved back and forth from Philadelphia to Camden more than once. A second reason is due to the fact that there were two men named John S. Kelley who lived in Camden during those years, and several other “John Kellys” and “John Kelleys.” The third reason is that both men were sometimes listed in the directories as “John Kelley,” “John Kelly,” and “John S. Kelly.” Oddly enough, both men lived at times on South 6th Street, although never in the same block.

As stated above, John S. Kelley was appointed to the Camden Fire Department as an extra man with Engine Company 1 on April 5, 1882, and served in that capacity for two years. While Fire Department records indicate that he was working as an iron moulder at the time, they do not list his address.

The 1900 Census shows the John S. Kelly’s living with his wife’s sister, Elizabeth Mitchell, a widow, of 1426 South 10th Street in Philadelphia.

By 1906 John S. Kelley had returned to Camden, making his home at 824 South 6th Street. The 1910 Census shows that John S. Kelley owned the home at 824 South 6th Street, where he and his wife Mary then lived with their son Sylvester, his wife and two children.

John S. Kelley made his home at 824 South 6th Street for the rest of his days. The 1920 and 1930 Census shows that he and his wife Mary were living there with their daughter Mary and her husband John Goodwin. Son Sylvester Kelley had returned to Philadelphia in the mid 1910s.

John S. Kelley died on July 24, 1935. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill), New Jersey. He had been prominent in a number of fraternal organizations in Camden after moving back to the city.

John S. Kelley was not related to the George W. Kelley who served with the Camden Fire Department as an extra man with the Hook & Ladder Company from November 1877 through April of 1879.

John S. Kelley’s older brother, Sylvester L. Kelley, was at different times a Camden police officer and a clerk with the Internal Revenue Service. He also kept a saloon at the corner of South 6th Street and Newton Avenue in the late 1880s.