US Congressman. He was born one of six children in Portage, Wisconsin, to William Thomas O'Kelley and his wife Catharine "Kitty" O' Neill Kelley on March 27, 1853. He was educated locally and attended the common public schools, and later worked at lumber camps in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He then relocated to Colman, Moody County, South Dakota Territory (now South Dakota) in 1878, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He also operated a successful farm business and timber business, and later was the founder, owner, and publisher of the Flandreau Herald Newspaper in Flandreau, South Dakota from 1894 to 1897. He then entered politics and was elected as a member of the Democratic Party to serve a term in the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing the 16th District from 1890 to 1891. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was an unsuccessful Populist Party candidate for election to the Fifty-Third Congress and Fifty-Fourth Congress in 1892 and 1896. He was then elected to Seat A in Congress as a Populist Party candidates. He then served Minnesota as an at-large delegate while representing the Fifty-Fifth Congress in the House of Representatives from March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1899. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1898. After his term in Congress expired, he was succeeded in office by Representative Charles Henry Burke on March 4, 1899. After leaving Congress, he continued with his farming pursuits and business pursuits in Colman for a few years. He later returned to politics as a member of the Democratic Party and served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention which was held at the Fifth Regiment Armory in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1912. He then served as Register of the United States Land Office in Pierre, South Dakota, from 1915 to 1918, before relocating to Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he became editor of the Co-Operators Herald Journal Magazine. He continued with his farming, business, and newspaper pursuits until his death. He passed away in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 5, 1941, at the age of 88, and was buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis. He was married twice, first to Sarah Janette "Nettie" Allen in Troy, Winona County, Minnesota, on September 29, 1874, and the couple had four children together. They divorced in about 1891 or 1892, and he was given custody of the four children. His former wife Sarah passed away in Colman Township, Moody County, on May 1, 1901, at the age of 53, and she was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Colman. He married for a second time to Martha Maud Bodine in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on April 16, 1896, and the couple had eleven children together. She survived her husband and passed away in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on September 24, 1951, at the age of 77, and she was buried with him in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis.