Kelly, James Kerr

Kelly, James Kerr, a Senator from Oregon; born in Center County, Pa., February 16, 1819; attended the country schools and Milton and Lewisburg Academies; was graduated from Princeton College in 1839; studied law at Carlisle, Pa.; was admitted to the bar in 1842 and commenced practice in Lewis-town, Mifflin County, Pa.; deputy attorney general for Mifflin County, Pa.; went to the California gold fields in 1849, and later, in 1851, to Oregon Territory and settled in Portland, where he engaged in the practice of law; one of three commissioners for the codification of the Territorial laws in 1852; served in the Territorial legislature 1853-1857 and was twice its president; lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment, Oregon Mounted Volunteers, in the Yakima Indian War in 1855 and 1856; a member of the State constitutional convention in 1857 and a framer of the Oregon constitution; served in the State senate 1860-1864; appointed by President Buchanan in 1860 United States district attorney for Oregon, but declined to accept the position; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1866 for Governor of Oregon; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877; was not a candidate for reelection; chief justice of the State supreme court 1878-1882; resumed the practice of his profession in Portland, Oreg.; moved to Washington, D.C., in 1890 and continued the practice of his profession until his death there on September 15, 1903; interment in Rock Creek Cemetery.