Standard History of Adams & Wells Counties, Indiana – 1918
Tyndall & Lesh, Pages 499 & 500

B. C. KELLEY

B. C. Kelley is head of the firm of B. C. Kelley & Son, manufacturers of granite and marble monuments at Bluffton. It is a business which has been developed through successive years, and the present firm has been in existence almost twenty years.

Mr. B. C. Kelley was born at Zanesville, Ohio, April 30, 1857. His father, Patrick Kelley, was a native of Dublin, Ireland, coming to the United States and first settling in Pennsylvania, where he married Miss Axe. After their marriage they moved to Ohio. They were the parents of five children: James Kelley, of Kentucky; George Kelley, of Topeka, Kansas; John W. Kelley, of Geneva, Adams County, Indiana; Samuel F. Kelley, who died in 1917; and B. C. Kelley.

B. C. Kelley grew to manhood in Ohio, and had to be satisfied with a common school education. He came to Adams County, Indiana, in early life, and at Geneva married Rebecca J. Nelson. After his marriage he took up farming near Geneva and lived on a farm for a time, until the death of his wife in 1892.

He then began learning the trade of marble cutter and in 1897 entered business for himself at Geneva. Soon afterward he established a branch shop at Berne, and in 1906 removed to Bluffton and bought the old established business of W. S. Kapps. Since 1897 his son John W. Kelley has been associated with him.

By his first wife B. C. Kelley had six children, and the four still living are: John W.; George H., a railroad man with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Plymouth, Indiana; Louise, wife of Joe Klug, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Susie, wife of Albert Boseker, of Fort Wayne. Mr. B. C. Kelley owns a home at 315 Miller Street in Bluffton.

His son and business partner, John W. Kelley, was born near Geneva in Adams County, April 16, 1882. He grew up on a farm, was educated in the high school at Geneva and at the early age of fifteen went into business with his father. In June, 1902, John W. Kelley married Bessie M. Kelly. Though of the same family name they were not relatives. Mrs. Kelley was born near Geneva, Indiana, and was educated in the common schools there. They have a family of bright and attractive children, Madeline M., Helen L., Susie Marie, Joseph W., and Martha E. This family are members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at Bluffton.

Politically Mr. Kelley is a democrat and has taken an active part in local affairs. He owns his home at 633 South Marion Street. The business building occupied by B. C. Kelley & Son belongs to both partners. B. C. Kelley also owns a farm of forty acres in Union Township and his son is interested in real estate at Fort Wayne and Bluffton, Indiana.