1851 Kelley trades with the Winnebago and is named justice of the peace and notary public for Benton County. In September, the baby girl dies. Kelley writes a letter to a territorial newspaper about potato planting, the superiority of New England frame barns, and the upcoming local elections. 1852 Kelley helps found the Benton County Agricultural Society, the first such county society in Minnesota, and Kelley is named the corresponding secretary. He marries a local school teacher, Temperance Baldwin Lane, who also came here from Boston.
None ever marries.
A livestock advertisement appears in the St. Anthony Express in April. 1855 to 1856 Kelley was involved in farming, planting experimental crops and participating in regional and national seed exchanges. Much of what we know of Kelley's farming operation in the 1850s comes from these weekly columns. 1855 Kelley's farm was described by a traveling correspondent. Kelley also becomes a sales agent for the Wm.