Ezra Kelley (1798-1895) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Ezra Kelley

Born 26 Sep 1798 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Son of Cyrenius Kelley and Jerusha (Baker) Kelley

Brother of Lucy (Kelley) Sherman, Hannah Kelley and Eunice (Kelley) Gidley

Husband of Nancy (Simmons) Kelley — married 10 Jan 1823 in Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States

Husband of Abby S. (Wing) Kelley — married 12 May 1875 in New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States

Father of George S. Kelley, Joanna Rotch (Kelley) Wing, Nancy Kelley and Hannah Kelley

Died 14 Dec 1895 at age 97 in New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States

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Profile last modified 11 Jun 2022 | Created 14 May 2016

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1 Biography
2 Sources
3 Acknowledgements

Biography

Ezra Kelley was born on September 26, 1798, at Dennis, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA. he died on December 14, 1895, at New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA^[1] His genealogical record is as follows: he was the son of Cyrenius and Jerusha Kelley, and was born September 26, 1798. His father, Cyrenius, was born February 19, 1770, and his mother, Jerusha, daughter of Judah and Mary Baker, was born September, 1767.

His grandfather, Hattil Kelley, son of John 0. Kelley, was born in Yarmouth, Mass., April 22, 1720, and died March 8, 1809, at the advanced age of nearly eighty-nine years. He married Hannah Wing, of Rochester, Mass. Little is known of his great-grandfather, John O. Kelley, except that he came to this country from Ireland and settled on Cape Cod.

Ezra Kelley's father was a farmer, and like his contemporaries in the days of the American Revolution, obtained his living from the hard Cape Cod soil. He belonged to that race of men, who, through the hardships and deprivations of the colonial days, developed a character for self-reliance and unswerving integrity. It was these traits of nobility that he transmitted to his children, an inheritance above the value of gold or earthly treasure.

When Ezra was eighteen years of age he left home and moved to New Bedford, Mass., and sought, through his own exertion, to make a place for himself in the world. With a natural taste for mechanical art he apprenticed himself to Allen Kelley, of South Yarmouth, Mass., and took his first instruction in clock and watchmaking. Here he obtained sufficient knowledge, after two years' service, to enter the employ of John Bailey at Hanover, Mass. In this new field Ezra developed not only remarkable skill in his profession, but an executive ability that was to be of great service to him in his future career.

In 1820, he left the employ of Mr. Bailey and went to Venezuela, South America, and went into business for himself. He successfully pursued his avocation for several years in this new field. In 1838, he returned to his native country, and found a great change had been wrought in the manufacture of clocks and watches. It did not, however, take long for him to adapt himself to new methods and inventions. Mr. Kelley established himself in New Bedford, and for more than half a century has been diligently employed in the business. His clocks have almost a national reputation, and are to be found in many of the households of New England.

At eighty-eight years of age Mr. Kelley made a clock that for finish, style and accuracy is equal to any that ever came from his hand. It is held by one of the family as a treasure and as a sample of the rare skill of this venerable man.

A more important and by far the most profitable invention and discovery of Mr. Kelley was that of a lubricant oil, especially adapted for clocks and watches. This article he produced soon after he took his residence in New Bedford. The superior merits of "Kelley's watch and clock oils" were quickly appreciated, and their use became wider and more general as the years went by. Today it finds a place in almost every country throughout the world.^[2]

Mr. Kelley long ago passed the age at which most men cease to work, but he still exercised a vigilant supervision over his business, and thanks to the efficient management of Mr. John Wing, his son-in-law, the article for which he made a name maintains its high reputation.

His oils were in the recent French Universal Exposition. He has crossed the Atlantic five times, visiting many countries. While Mr. Kelley has made his business life a success, he has not accomplished it at the sacrifice of other things that go to make a well-rounded and useful career. Being a birthright Quaker, he was expelled from the Society of Friends for marrying Nancy Simmons, a member of the Methodist Church, with which people he was for many years identified. Mr. Kelley was an anti-slavery man of the most radical type, and it was because of his pronounced opinions on this subject that he withdrew from the Methodist Church.

It was the action of such men as he that precipitated the separation of this body into two organizations — M. E. Church North, and M. E. Church South. In his later years he has rejoined the church of his father, the Friends Meeting.

Parents

Cyrenius Kelley (1770 - 1840)

Jerusha Baker Kelley (1767 - 1843)

Spouses

Mr. Kelley married, January 10, 1823, Nancy Simmons, daughter of Allen and Silence Simmons, of Hingham, Mass. She died in New Bedford at the age of seventy-one years. ^[3]

May 12, 1875, he married Abby S. Ellison, daughter of Abraham and Rebecca (Tucker) Wing, of Sandwich. She died at Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, on February 12, 1899.^[4]

Children

George S. Kelley (1828 - 1900) Find A Grave: Memorial #145541551
Joanna Rotch Kelley Wing (1831 - 1904) Find A Grave: Memorial #76939095
Nancy Kelley (1846 - 1847) Find A Grave: Memorial #145266025
Hannah Kelley (1847 - 1847) Find A Grave: Memorial #145265985

Siblings

Isaac Kelley (1796 - 1799)

Cyrenius Kelley (1801 - 1879)

Hannah Kelley Sears (1802 - 1897)

Eunice Kelley Gidley (1804 - 1904)

Isaac Kelley (1806 - 1817)

Hattil Kelley (1808 - 1881)

Burial

Rural Cemetery, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA; Plot: Section: Cedar Avenue, Lot 152; Find A Grave: Memorial #95007480

Notes

Ezra Kelley Watch Oil; original by Dr. Paul Goodwin. Ezra Kelley (1798-1895) was a watch maker from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He is credited with the discovery that oil from the jaw and head of porpoises and blackfish (or pilot whales) was the best known lubricant for the delicate workings of watches and chronometers. In actuality, the lubricating quality of porpoise oil had been known since about 1816. According to Capt. Caleb Cook, writing in the Scientific American in 1880, watchmakers originally used olive oil as a lubricant until they found porpoise oil was better. In 1829, Solomon Cook of Provincetown sent several gallons of blackfish oil to Kelley who, after experimentation, judged the blackfish oil better than that from porpoises. It did not congeal at low temperatures and was safe to use on brass. He began his watch oil business in New Bedford in 1844. For years it was the best known and most trusted whale oil lubricant. His oils came in several grades. While blackfish oil was used for the most delicate machinery, such as watches, sperm oil was advertised as best for sewing machines, firearms, and telegraphs. His advertising for his products was dramatic and often showed the taking of blackfish.

Ezra Kelley's Celebrated Oils: An Advertising Booklet. Mr. Ezra Kelley, of New Bedford, Mass., who, after 60 years study of the subject, has perfected a lubricator that has received first class awards by the judges at the Exhibitions in Philadelphia in 1876, Geneva in 1880, and in Paris in 1889, receiving the only medal awarded to an American exhibitor of oils. This is the best oil obtainable, regardless of cost.

Sources

↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99Q1-3V7?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DS-J4S%3A353350701%2C353461901%2C353475201 : 21 October 2020), Bristol > New Bedford > Deaths 1893-1896 vol 7 > image 115 of 155; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.
↑ https://blog.underoverarch.co.nz/tag/ezra-kelley/
↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8979-CW5Q?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DC-T32%3A353350701%2C353554501%2C353556701 : 22 October 2020), Bristol > Dartmouth > Births, marriages, deaths 1667-1844 > image 190 of 408; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston
↑ "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XHB4-P4?cc=1463156&wc=MJCL-ZNL%3A1043017001 : 22 May 2019), 0961528 (004225847) > image 32 of 641; State Archives, Boston.

Acknowledgements

Profile created by Eunice Pender Wilbur-403; Eunice is the third great grandniece of Ezra. They are both descendants of Jerusha Baker-17864 Kelley.

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Ezra Kelley (1798 - 1895)

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