HISTORY OF KELLY’S CROSS by Desi Nantes

In attempting to delve into the history of Kelly’s Cross, one is at once confronted with the fact that this settlement was called by the first settlers “Treagh”. They named it Treagh in memory of their beloved

homeland amid the green hills of Monaghan, in the goodly Diocese of Clogher.

The name Kelly’s Cross is of recent origin, around the year 1900, and was derived from the fact there was a Kelly family at the end of each road which intersected at the corner. At the end of the Maplewood Road was Tom Kelly; John Kelly on the Lot 30 Road; Ned Kelly on the Melville Road and Patrick Kelly on the Upper Road.’

Township 29, in which St. Joseph’s Church is located, was, at the time of the opening of the Parish, the property of Viscount Melville. Upon that portion of the estate which extends along the shore between DeSable River and Crapaud, was settled about 1769 by the families of Timothy Burn, Thomas Murphy and Cornelius Harrington. But the first Catholic settler in Kelly’s Cross was John Creamer from County Longford, Ireland, who emigrated in 1839. The remainder of the original settlers in Kelly‘s Cross included: Henry Woods from Donagh, Felix McGuigan from Donagh, Owen McDonald from Tyhland, Mrs. Mary Kelly from Don- agh, John Haughey from Donagh, Robert Craig from Donagh, Peter Mc- Nally from Donagh, John Monaghan from Donagh, Thomas Hagan from ’l‘yrone, Patrick McMurrough from Donagh, William McKenna from Eryle T reagh, Francis Malone from County Monaghan.

John Creamer was a successful farmer, and soon after his arrival built himself a commodious house, so that, four years later, when a number of other emigrants arrived in the District, he was in a position to acco~ modate and shelter them beneath his hospitable roof until such time as their own dwellings were habitable.

Mr. Creamer was entrusted by Lord Melville’s agent to lay off and portion the farms taken up by these new settlers. These farms comprised one hundred acres of land, and were granted for three years at three pence per acre; three years at six pence; three years at nine pence, and nine hundred and ninety-nine years at one shilling an acre. According to the early census of 1861, it appears that all of the leases were for the nine hundred and ninety-nine years.

It is not too difficult to understand that when Mr. Creamer arrived, there were no roads to boast of; but soon after his arrive] the surveyors began the difficult task of laying out a road, a cart road, from Charlotte- town as far west as MeAlden’s farm. Soon, also, cross roads were laid out between Charlottetown and Victoria, and what was called the Anderson road to Bedeque and the south shore of DeSable.

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