University of Virginia Library

KELLY.

John Kelly was already engaged in business in Charlottesville
under the firm of John Kelly & Co. in 1795. He had
previously been a citizen of Lancaster County, Virginia, and
from that county was accompanied by his first wife, Sarah
Norris, the daughter of his uncle. She died a few years after,
and in 1802 he married Mary, daughter of William Alcock.
For many years he transacted business as a merchant with
great success. About the beginning of the century, he
received into partnership his nephew, Opie Norris, of Lancaster,
who married his daughter Cynthia. His other daughter,
Eliza, became the wife of Dr. John C. Ragland. In 1803 he
purchased from Hudson Martin Lot No. Three, on the west
corner of Fifth Street and the Square, where his store was
located. In 1814 he bought from John Nicholas, who then
resigned the County Clerkship, four hundred and forty acres,
extending from near the western boundary of the town across
Preston Heights to Meadow Creek. In 1816 he gave to Mrs.
Norris Lot No. Four, running from Jefferson Street to the

old People's Bank, which he had acquired in 1809 from Edward
Butler, and to Mrs. Ragland the north half of Lot Fifty-Nine,
and Lot Sixty, at present occupied by the family of J. J. Connor,
and Dr. Joseph Norris. In 1821 he contemplated removing
to another part of the country, and advertised for sale
his land west of the town; and in 1824 he sold to Rev. John
D. Paxton thirty-three acres on the north side of University
Street, reaching from Harris's Warehouse to the Junction.
In 1828 he purchased from Rice Wood the property on
Park Street, where he built the large brick in which he
resided till his death, and which his widow occupied till her
death during the war. Mr. Kelly was often employed in the
general affairs of the town, discharging many responsibilities
as administrator, trustee, and offices of a similar kind. He was
a man of earnest piety, assisting in the founding of the South
Plains Presbyterian Church, in which he was a ruling elder,
and in the erection of the old Presbyterian house of worship
in town. He died in Staunton in 1830, on his way to or from
the Virginia Springs.

His son-in-law, Dr. Ragland, died in 1821. He was
exceedingly popular both as a man, and as a physician. His
death was greatly lamented, and his remains were followed by
a large concourse of friends and Masons to the family burying
ground in Louisa. Four or five physicians at once settled in
Charlottesville, to fill the gap occasioned by his decease.
His widow was some years after married to Talbot Bragg, and
subsequently removed with him and her children to Missouri.

Opie Norris, his other son-in-law, was an enterprising and
prosperous man. He was concerned in many other engagements,
in addition to his stated business as a merchant. For
many years he was one of the town trustees, sometimes acting
as their president. In 1819 he was appointed a magistrate
of the county, and filled the office with much diligence.
He was Secretary and Treasurer of the Rivanna and Rockfish
Gap Turnpike Co., and awarded the contracts for the
construction of that road. At one time he owned the Swan,
and half of the Eagle Tavern. With Dr. Charles Everett he

was largely interested in the real estate of Anderson's Addition
to the town. He departed this life in 1839.