William Henry Kelsey (October 2, 1812 – April 20, 1879) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from New York. Born in

Smyrna, New York Smyrna is a town in Chenango County, New York, United States. The population was 1,280 at the 2010 census. Smyrna is named after a coastal city in ancient Greece, nowadays modern Izmir in Turkey. The town contains a village also named Smyrna. ...

, Kelsey attended the common schools. He studied law and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1843 and commenced practice in

Geneseo, New York Geneseo is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Livingston County, New York, Livingston County in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, United States. It is at the south end of the five-county Rochester metropol ...

. He was the Surrogate of Livingston County 1840–1844 and served as district attorney of Livingston County 1850–1853. Kelsey was elected as an

Opposition Party Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress and reelected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859). He served as chairman of the Committee on Engraving (Thirty-fourth Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1858 to the Thirty-sixth Congress. He resumed the practice of his profession. Kelsey was elected as a

to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1867 – March 3, 1871). He voluntarily retired from political life and resumed the practice of law in

, where he died on April 20, 1879. He was interred in Temple Hill Cemetery. His brother was Edwin B. Kelsey, who was a lawyer, businessman, and Wisconsin state legislator.'Proceedings of the State Bar Association of Wisconsin,' vol. 1, Wisconsin State Bar Association: 1905, Biographical Sketch of Edwin Bolivar Kelsey, pg. 211-212 Another brother, Charles S. Kelsey, was also a Wisconsin legislator whose son,

Otto Kelsey Otto Goodell Kelsey (November 11, 1852 – August 20, 1934) was an American lawyer and politician. Early life He was born on November 11, 1852, in Rochester, Monroe County, New York. He was the son of Wisconsin State Senator Charles S. Kelsey ( ...

, was a New York legislator.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelsey, William Henry 1812 births 1879 deaths People from Chenango County, New York Opposition Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) People from Geneseo, New York New York (state) state court judges New York (state) lawyers 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers