When John William Kelley was born on 9 November 1872, in Wicomico, Gloucester, Virginia, United States, his father, James William Kelley IV, was 25 and his mother, Felicia Elizabeth Spriggs, was 20. He married Mary Gertrude Hurst on 14 September 1897. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 6 daughters. He lived in Wicomico, Northumberland, Virginia, United States for about 10 years and Wicomico Magisterial District, Northumberland, Virginia, United States in 1940. He died on 30 January 1958, in Northumberland, Virginia, United States, at the age of 85, and was buried in Rehoboth United Methodist Church, Northumberland, Virginia, United States.