Memorable Manitobans: Thomas Fraser Gelley (1860-1939)

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Thomas Fraser Gelley
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Accountant, MLA (1886-1888), MLA (1888-1892).

Born at St. Levis, Quebec on 28 December 1860, a son of Joseph E. Gelley, he was educated at the Levis Commercial College. He settled in Manitoba in 1882 where he engaged in farming at St. Norbert. He also served as a Justice of the Peace. He later worked in Winnipeg as an accountant. He was acclaimed to the Manitoba Legislature, representing the Cartier constituency, at the 1886 general election and was re-elected in 1888. He was appointed as a clerk in the Winnipeg office of the Department of Immigration and Colonziation in 1899, serving 32 years until his retirement in 1931.

He was married first, in 1883, to Elizabeth Ann Gallie (1863-1920) with whom he had ten children: Adrienne Gelley, Charles Gelley, Wilhelmena Gelley, George Maurice Gelley (1889-1969), Lucille Gelley, Blanche Gelley, Yvonne Gelley, Thomas Fraser Gelley, Estelle Gelley, and Marguerite Gelley. His second marriage, to Frances Patrica Dowling, occurred on 5 May 1925, and they had four children: Frances Cecelia Gelley, Louise Gelley, Denise Gelley, and Gerard Gelley.

He died at his home in Ste. Anne des Chenes on 11 March 1939 and was buried in the Ste. Anne Cemetery.

Sources:

A Political Manual of the Province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories by J. P. Robertson, Winnipeg: Call Printing Company, 1887.

John Alexander Gemmill (editor), The Canadian Parliamentary Companion, 1887. Canadiana.org.

“Thomas Gelly dies suddenly,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 March 1939, page 4.

This page is based on information provided by Sally G. Schultz and Frances Cecelia Doylend, granddaughters of Thomas Gelley, and Barbara Louise Gelley, one of his great-granddaughters.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 5 October 2018

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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