John E. Kelley was born near Portage, Wisconsin on March 27, 1853.[1] He attended the public schools, and as a young man he worked at lumber camps in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Kelley moved to Colman in the Dakota Territory in 1878.[1][2] He operated a successful farm and timber business, and from 1894 to 1897 was owner and publisher of the Flandreau Herald newspaper.
He joined the Populist Party in 1890,[1] and ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 1892 and 1894. In 1896 he was elected to Seat A, one of South Dakota's two at-large U.S. House seats, and he served in the 55th United States Congress, March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1899. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1898, and returned to his farming and business interests.
He later moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and become editor of the Co-operators Herald. He died in Minneapolis on August 5, 1941, and was buried at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis.