Cassius W. Kelly, consulting city engineer of New Haven, has reached a high professional position by individual merit and determination. He was born in Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1848. His grandfather, William Kelly, came from Londonderry, Ireland, when a young man, made his way to Pennsylvania and took up a farm at Titusville known as Kelly Hill. Previous to that time he had engaged in teaching. His son, John Kelly, was born in Pennsylvania and became a harnessmaker, following that pursuit in early life, while later he engaged in the oil business. His death occurred in Titusville when he had reached the age of eighty-two years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Sigler and was a daughter of Cornelius Sigler, of a Pennsylvania Dutch family, has also passed away.

     Cassius W. Kelly acquired his education in the public schools of Pleasantville and began preparation for college in Erie Academy. He afterward entered Yale, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1870. For one year he taught in the Russell Military School in New Haven and then pursued a course in engineering as a graduate student in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale, where he completed his course in 1872, winning the Bachelor of Philosophy degree. In June of that year he entered the office of the city engineer and in January, 1893, became city engineer, which position he continued to fill for about twenty years, or until the close of 1912, when he was made consulting engineer and is now acting in that capacity.

     Mr. Kelly was obliged to work his way through college. He entered Yale in 1869 and after one year dropped out and taught school for a year and then resumed his studies with the class of 1870. During his junior year he secured leave of absence and taught for three or four months and during his senior year he, with his friend, Walter Logan, conducted the College Book Store. Obstacles and difficulties, however, have never been allowed to bar his path and persistent energy has enabled him to work his way upward, while the utilization of his native talents has brought him to the front in his chosen profession.

     In New Haven on the 2d of October, 1876, Mr. Kelly was united in marriage to Miss Frances E. Hart, a daughter of William Hart, of this city, and they have become parents of four children, of whom two are living, Miriam F. and Elsie W., the latter the wife of Grey W. Curtiss, of New Haven.

     In his political views Mr. Kelly is a republican where national questions and issued are involved, but at local elections casts an independent ballot. He belongs to the Dwight Place Congregational church, in the work of which he takes an active and helpful interest, serving now as deacon of the church and as clerk. He holds membership in the Connecticut Society of Engineers and in the American Society of Civil Engineers.