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Thomas Kelly
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Born at Roscommon, Ireland on 7 August 1855, son of Thomas Kelly (1816-1891) and Elizabeth Joanna Connelly (1815-1913), he emigrated to the United States in 1864 and was educated in Oneida County, New York. He commenced business in Winnipeg as a contractor in 1881 as a partner in the firm of Kelly Brothers, with his brothers Michael Kelly and Martin Kelly.
In 1908, he formed the firm of Thomas Kelly & Sons and was later connected with a scandal relating to the construction of the Legislative Building for which he was sentenced to two and a half years in the Stony Mountain Penitentiary. He started his sentence in November 1916 but was released after nine months due to ill health. He moved to the United States in 1924 and lived successively in Kansas, Missouri, and California.
In 1882, he married Mary Margaret “Maggie” Corbett (1860-1955) of Toronto, Ontario. They had seven children: Robert Emmet Kelly (1884-1915, husband of Bessie O. Noden), Charles Bernard Kelly (1886-1920, husband of Cecilia Rochon), Thomas Harry Kelly (1888-1912), Laurence Corbett Kelly (1889-1965), Maurice Vincent Kelly (1895-1970), Francis O'Donohue Kelly (1897-1928, son-in-law of Isaac Capel Tilt), and Mary Cecilia Kathleen Kelly (1898-1918). The family lived at 358 Notre Dame Avenue (c1883-1908) and 19 Carlton Street (1908-1924). He was a member of the St. Charles Country Club and Carleton Club.
He retired to Beverly Hills, California and died there on 15 March 1939. He was buried in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Kelly House (88 Adelaide Street, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Kelly House / Graystone Arms (19 Carlton Street / 383 Assiniboine Avenue, Winnipeg)
Manitoba Business: Kelly Brothers / Manitoba Construction Company / Kelly Brothers and Mitchell / Thomas Kelly and Sons
Birth registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.
The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.
The Leading Financial, Business & Professional Men of Winnipeg, published by Edwin McCormick, Photographs by T. J. Leatherdale, Compiled and printed by Stone Limited, c1913. [copy available at the Archives of Manitoba]
“Kelly to ‘pen’ for 2 1-2 years,” Winnipeg Tribune, 20 November 1916, page 1.
“Kelly is released from jail,” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 August 1917, page 1.
“Thomas Kelly, of parliament bldg. fame, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 21 March 1939, page 3.
“$25,000 estate left by Kelly,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 March 1939, page 3.
Thomas Kelly, FindAGrave.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
We thank David Ennis, Michael Loader, Ed Krahn, and Terry Warsaw for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 20 June 2024
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