Biography

1794 - 1829

Born in Meredith, New Hampshire, February 1, 1794, Eben Kelley was the son of W. Bowdoin Kelley.  He attended rural schools, moved to Steubenville, Ohio, 1813, and read law with B. Tappan and Judge Baldwin of Pittsburgh; was admitted to the Pittsburgh Bar, 1815; entered private practice at Kittanning, Armstrong Co.; county prothonotary, 1816-1821; elected to the state senate, 1825; married Nancy Davidson of Berkeley County, Va. (WV), 1822; and died in office March 28, 1829, Harrisburg.  Described as a man of extensive reading and literary tastes, he was appointed corresponding historian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) by Richard Vaux, a week before his death.