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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 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 hone 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 as 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.
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