John Edward Kelley (March 27, 1853 – August 5, 1941) was a newspaperman and a politician from South Dakota who served one term in the United States House of Representatives.

[1] He attended the public schools, and as a young man he worked at lumber camps in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

[1][2] He operated a successful farm and timber business, and from 1894 to 1897 was owner and publisher of the Flandreau Herald newspaper.

He joined the Populist Party in 1890,[1] and ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 1892 and 1894.

From 1915 to 1918 he served as Register of the United States Land Office in Pierre, South Dakota.