Henry Bascom Kelly, of the firm of Kelly & Kelly, bond dealers and lawyers, Topeka, was born at Richmond, Ky., Feb. 28, 1843, and comes of Revolutionary ancestry. He is the son of Rev. Gilby Kelly, who also was a Kentuckian by birth, born June 20, 1812, and who died at the early age of thirty-three, the active years of his career, up to his death, having been spent in the Methodist ministry in Kentucky. Rev. Gilby Kelly was the son of Samuel Kelly, a native Virginian who removed to Kentucky about 1807, and the father of the latter was Thomas Kelly, who served in the Revolutionary war from Virginia. The wife of Rev. Gilby Kelly was Eleanor C. Goddard, a native of Kentucky.

Henry B. Kelly was but four years old when his father died and when five years old accompanied his mother to Des Moines county, Iowa, where he was reared on a farm and received his early education in the public schools near his home. In early manhood he taught school four years in Kansas and Missouri, his first term of school having been taught in Atchison county, Kansas, soon after the close of the Civil war. Meanwhile, on Aug. 16, 1862, he enlisted in the First Iowa cavalry, with which he served as a private until the close of the Civil war. His regiment participated in the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark., Dec. 7, 1862, and took the advance of the cavalry in the move on Little Rock, which resulted in its capture on Sept. 10, 1863. The First Iowa cavalry also joined General Steele on the Red River expedition in the spring of 1864. After the war Mr. Kelly taught school four years, as stated above. He then took up newspaper work and for twenty-one years was engaged in that line of professional work, a few years as editor of the "Chautauqua Journal," of Sedan, Kan., and the remainder of that period as editor of the "Freeman," at McPherson, Kan. In the fall of 1892 he removed to Lawrence, Kan., to avail his children the educational facilities of that city, but in 1896 he took up his residence in Topeka. In the meantime Mr. Kelly had given considerable attention to law and in 1892 was admitted to the bar at McPherson, Kan. In 1899 the firm of Kelly & Kelly was established in Topeka, his son, William G., being his partner. The firm of Kelly & Kelly is one of the best known in Kansas in its line, that of bond brokers, and is also one of the most successful of that character in the state.

Mr. Kelly is a Republican. He served in the state senate eight years, while a resident of McPherson and served three years as a member of the state board of charities. He was the promoter of the first Western States Commercial Congress, which convened at Kansas City in April, 1891. Mr. Kelly is a forceful writer and one of deep thought and has written numerous articles for publication, which have appeared in pamphlet form and in the magazines. He is the author of "Licensed Loot—A Story of Nationalized Greed and Graft," which appeared in pamphlet form and which has been widely read throughout the country. Mr. Kelly has also delivered many public addresses upon various topics. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

On Nov. 17, 1870, Mr. Kelly was married to Mrs. Julia Lee Adkins, nee Harklerodes, a native of Missouri. They have two children: William G. and Emma Leonidas, the wife of Louis S. McClellan, of North Dakota.