Kelsay was born to Alexander Kelsay and his wife Jane Kelley in the state of KentuckyinWayne County on October 23, 1819.[1] At the age of ten the family and John relocated to Missouri. There his mother educated John and then later he would begin the study of law in 1842.[1] In July 1845 he passed the bar and was allowed to practice law.[1] In 1846 he married for the first time to Matha C. Monroe.[1]
In 1853, John Kelsay and his wife moved to Oregon Territory over the Oregon Trail.[1] There the family settled in Corvallis, Oregon where Kelsay set up a law practice. Shortly after arriving, he organized one regiment of troops to serve battling the Rogue River tribe in southwestern Oregon and earned the title of colonel.[1]
Kelsay was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives and served in 1844 as a delegate from Morgan County.[2] Then in Oregon in 1857 he represented Benton County at the Oregon Constitutional Convention as Oregon prepared for statehood.[3] At the convention John was selected as chairman of the military committee.[1] In 1868 Kelsay won the election for a seat on the Oregon Supreme Court.[4] His two-year term ended in 1870 and he left the bench.[4] However, in both 1870 and 1872 he was nominated as a Republican for the court.[5] In Oregon he was one of the early leaders of the Republican Party.[5]
Before his time on the high court Kelsay married a second time in 1864.[1] With his second wife Cornelia Corintner he fathered two children.[1] Later served as mayor of Corvallis.[5] John Kelsay died on January 19, 1899, in Oregon.[1]
