MARION COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
"K"
KELLY, James M. - 1825 - 1890 Cumberland Presbyterian Minister (Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, March 13, 1890, page 98)
Kelly, James M died, at his home in Kellyville, Texas, February 22, 1890, the Rev. J.M. Kelly. Brother Kelly was born in East Tennessee January 22, 1825; professed religion when about twenty-one years of age, and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian church; joined the Ocoee Presbytery in April, 1849. The date of his licensure and ordination is not definitely known. He was licensed at Ebenezer Camp-ground, and was ordained at Sale Creek. The Rev. A. Templeton preached the ordination sermon, and the Rev. William Bell presided and gave the charge. He was married to Miss Magdalena Reagan August 14, 1849. The fruit of this union was eight children, two of whom have gone before. Brother Kelly enlisted in the army and served in defense of his country in the war with Mexico, during which service he contracted chronic diarrhea, from which he suffered to the end of life. He arrived at Kellyville, Texas, October 20, 1869, and preached his first sermon in Texas on Sunday, the 24th day of the same month, and he preached his last sermon from the same pulpit on Thanksgiving day last November. Brother Kelly suffered much from affliction for more than forty years. Patience and resignation under affliction was a marked characteristic of his life. As a husband he was affectionate and kind; as a father, gentle and loving; as a minister of the gospel, zealous and faithful. He kept up regular appointments as long as he was able to preach. He filled his last regular appointment in June, 1887, where he was taken sick and came very near dying before he could reach home. Often have I heard him say, "If I fall by the wayside God will take care of me." In the judicatories of the church he was an efficient member and a safe counselor. If any exciting question arose he was ready with a Christ-like spirit to calm the troubled waters. The immediate cause of his death was an attack of la grippe, which terminated in pneumonia, the shock of which was too much for his shattered constitution. His funeral was preached by the writer to a large audience on the 23d of February, and his remains were laid away to await the voice that shall bid the dead arise. He has left a widow and six children to mourn their loss, but they sorrow not as those who have no hope.
Thou servant of the living
God,
Affliction's road thou long hast trod;
Thy work well done, thou now dost rest
In Jesus' presence, ever blest.
W.M. Allen.
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