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Clinton Kelly was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky on June 15, 1808. In January, 1827, he became a minister in the Methodist-Episcopal church. In that same year, he married Mary Baston, by whom he had five children. Mary died in 1837. A year later, in 1838, he married Jane Burns. Jane died soon after the birth of the couple's only child, Mary Jane. On the 11th of March, 1840, he wed Moriah Maldon Crain, daughter of John and Sarah Crain, also of Pulaski county.
In 1847 the Kelly clan left for Oregon, settling first in Oregon City in the fall of 1848. The following spring the family moved to a cabin on the bank of the Willamette River opposite Portland. Kelly was the definition of a traveling preacher, filling appointments at Portland, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Fosters, and Mount Tabor. It is believed he preached the first sermon ever delivered in Portland in 1849, and assisted in building its first church. For much of his life Reverend Kelly was active in the cause of temperance, though he suffered, especially in later years, from heartburn and rheumatism. He passed away on June 19, 1875, preceded in death by his third wife Moriah in 1864.
[sources: History of the Pacific Northwest: Oregon and Washington. Portland, Oregon. North Pacific History Company, 1889. http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm.]
This collection is comprised of a donation land patent for Clinton Kelly and his wife Moriah Kelly of Clackamas County, Oregon. The land purchased totaled 640 acres.