Allen Kelley. Clockmaker, watchmaker, silversmith, and jeweler working in Sandwich, Provincetown, Nantucket, and New Bedford, MA.

Allen Kelley was born in Yarmouth, South Dennis, Massachusetts, on November 14th, 1791. His parents were Hattil Kelley (1764-1800) and Mercy Allen (1769-1791). Allen, a Quaker, served his apprenticeship under the Quaker clockmaker Joshua Wilder of Hingham. This Quaker influence likely shaped his work ethic and attention to detail. His apprenticeship began in 1806, and by 1813, Kelley was recorded as being on his own and working as a clockmaker in Sandwich, Massachusetts. From here, he moved to several other locations in the Southeastern Massachusetts region. In 1819, he was listed as living in Provincetown in 1819, Nantucket in 1825, New Bedford in 1834, and back to Sandwich in 1852. He died there on October 13th, 1876, and is buried in the Quaker Meeting House Cemetery in East Sandwich. Allen was 84 years old. Allen Kelley is listed as a clockmaker, watchmaker, silversmith, and jeweler. Tall clocks and Massachusetts Shelf clocks are known.

Allen Kelley, a man of many roles, married five times and fathered ten children. His personal life was as rich as his professional one. He married Mercy Freeman in 1814, Rebecca Kelley after 1818, Betsey Holway Kelley (1897-1866) in 1848, and Mary S. Wing Hall (1832-1922) in 1867. One son, Zeno Kelley, joined him in business as Kelley & Son in New Bedford in 1846-51, a testament to the strong family ties that ran through his life. In 1852, Allen returned to Sandwich, where he reported in a letter that his shop could produce a timepiece a day, a testament to his dedication to his craft. A timepiece is also known as a banjo clock. One of these five workmen was undoubtedly his cousin Ezra Kelley, a further testament to the strong family bonds that shaped his life and work.