DONALD M. KELLEY, M. D. The scope of a physician's influence is almost unlimited, and it is not unusual to find a long established and successful doctor one of a community's leaders in a. business and civic way. Such is the position which Doctor Kelley has enjoyed atBrookston for many years. He began practice there nearly thirty-five years ago. with hardly enough money to pay a month 's office rent. He has handled a large practice with special ability and conscientious care, so that he is one of the oldest and most highly esteemed medical men of White County. and at the same time has been one of the progressive factors in the community at Brookston, owns large tracts of farming land and has identified himself with every movement for the upbuilding of that locality.
Of Scotch-Irish descent, Doctor Kelley was born in Tompkins County, New York, March 12, 1855, a son of Dennis and Sarah Kelley.His father is still living in his eighty-seventh year in Tompkins County, New York. The grandfather was John Kelley, an ancestor whose service in the Revolutionary army has conferred distinction upon all his descendants. For his help in winning independence for the American colonies he was given a grant of 160 acres of land near Locke, New York, but on investigation never located the warrant since the land seemed practically worthless.
Doctor Kelley was well educated during his youth, attending the common schools of his native state and a preparatory school at North Lansing, New York, and finally entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, where he was graduated M. D. in 1881. In September of the same year he moved to Brookston, Indiana, and has lived in that one community ever since. When he arrived he had a ten dollar bill in his pocket and it required a great deal of determination and self-confidence in order to| pass through the initial stages of gaining a practice. Since then he has become one of the very successful men, and at the present time owns over 1,000 acres of land, practically all of it in Prairie Township. He has also one of the finest homes in Brookston. Doctor Kelley was one of the founders of the Brookston Canning Factory.
Since 1886 he has been a member of Anchor Lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Brookston Anchor Castle Hall, No. 289, is a member of Lafayette Lodge, No. 123, F. & A. M., and has afliliations with the Scottish Rite Consistory at Indianapolis, and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine in that city. He is a member of the White County Medical Society, and stands very high in medical circles. In politics he is a republican, but has never sought any political honors.
In October, 1886, Doctor Kelley married Miss Mina Allen, daughter of John and Nancy Allen, who were early settlers in White County. She died in April, 1891, and in February, 1896, he married Harriet D. Finch. Doctor and Mrs. Kelley have one son, Herbert, a member of the eighth grade of the public school.
From: A STANDARD HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY, PUB 1915 LEWIS PUBLISHING CO