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{{short description|American politician}}{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}

factoids

s| imagesize = | jr/sr = United States Senator| state = New Jersey| term_start = March 4, 1899| term_end = March 3, 1911| predecessor = James Smith, Jr.| successor = James Edgar Martine| state1 = New JerseyNJ3rd}}| term_start1 = March 4, 1883| term_end1 = March 3, 1885| predecessor1 = Miles Ross| successor1 = Robert Stockton Green| term_start2 = March 4, 1887| term_end2 = March 3, 1889| predecessor2 = Robert Stockton Green| successor2 = Jacob Augustus Geissenhainer18524}}| birth_place = Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.1914412|4}}| death_place = Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.Republican Party (United States)>Republican| profession = Politician| alma_mater = Yale CollegeColumbia Law SchoolJohn Kean (colonel)>John KeanLucinetta Halsted| spouse = Thomas Kean (grandnephew)John Kean (South Carolina politician)>John Kean (great-grandfather)Hamilton Fish Kean (brother)Robert Kean (nephew)Emlen Roosevelt (brother-in-law)| signature = Signature of John Kean (1852–1914).png}}John Kean (December 4, 1852 – November 4, 1914) was an American attorney, banker and Republican Party politician from Elizabeth, New Jersey. He represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate from 1899 to 1911 and served two separate terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1883 to 1885, and from 1887 to 1889. A member of the Kean family of politicians, his great-grandfather, John Kean, had been a delegate to the Continental Congress for South Carolina, his brother was U.S. Senator Hamilton Fish Kean, his nephew was U.S. Representative Robert Kean and his great-nephew was Governor Thomas Kean.WEB, KEAN, John - Biographical Information,weblink bioguide.congress.gov, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 3 April 2018,

Early life and education

Kean was born on December 4, 1852, at Liberty Hall at present-day Kean University, then called "Ursino", near Elizabeth, New Jersey. Kean was the son of Lucinetta "Lucy" (née Halsted) and Col. John Kean. He was related to several prominent American politicians including his great-grandfather John Kean, and great-uncle Hamilton Fish. His younger brother was Hamilton Fish Kean.WEB, KEAN, Hamilton Fish - Biographical Information,weblink bioguide.congress.gov, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 2 April 2018, His maternal grandfather was Caleb O. Halsted, president of the Bank of the Manhattan Company.BOOK, Wheeler, William Ogden, Halsey, Edmund Drake, Descendants of Rebecca Ogden, 1729-1806, and Caleb Halsted, 1721-1784, 1896, Walsh & Griffen, printers,weblink 15 June 2023, en, He studied in private schools and attended Yale College. He graduated from Columbia Law School in New York City in 1875. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1877, but did not engage in extensive practice.

Career

He worked in banking and manufacturing before entering politics. He was elected as a Republican to represent New Jersey's 3rd congressional district in the 48th United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1885. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1884.He was later elected to the 50th United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1887, to March 3, 1889, when he was again an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1888. He was named Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee in 1891,"John Kean Elected Chairman". The New York Times, September 12, 1891. Accessed March 31, 2008 resigning the following year to run as the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey. He lost the 1892 gubernatorial race to Democrat George Theodore Werts. He was a member of the committee to revise the judiciary system of New Jersey.(File:JohnKeanNJ.jpg|thumb|Kean {{circa|1905–1914}} as United States Senator.)He was elected to the United States Senate in 1899 and reelected in 1905, serving in the Senate from March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1911. He was chairman of the Committee on the Geological Survey (Fifty-seventh United States Congress) and Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Fifty-eighth United States Congress through Sixty-first United States Congress).After politics, he re-engaged in banking in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Personal life

He died at "Ursino" on November 4, 1914, after developing Bright's disease.NEWS, EX-SENATOR KEAN OF NEW JERSEY DEAD; Passed Away Last Night at Liberty Hall, Ursino, the House in Which He Was Born. PROMINENT AS A BANKER Defeated for Governor on Republican Ticket He Was Later Elected to United States Senate.,weblink 3 April 2018, The New York Times, 5 November 1914, Kean, who was one of nine children, did not marry, in fact, only two of his siblings, brother Hamilton Fish Kean, who married Katharine Taylor Winthrop, and sister Christine Griffin Kean, who married Emlen Roosevelt, married. He was interred in Evergreen Cemetery, in Hillside, New Jersey.

Legacy

Keansburg, New Jersey is named in honor of John Kean. In 1884, Kean played a key part in helping the town, at the time called Granville, to obtain its first post office. During that year, the name Keansburg was adopted.A History of Keansburg {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904154123weblink |date=September 4, 2007 }}, Keansburg Historical Society. Accessed August 29, 2007. "The Granville section of Middletown & Raritan had its name changed to Keansburg in 1884, with the creation of a post office, obtained through the efforts of Congressman John Kean."

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

{{Commons category}}{{CongBio|K000028}}

• {{Find a Grave|12930|John Kean}}
• Biography from John Kean at the Political Graveyard

{{US House succession box| state= New Jersey| district= 3| before= Miles Ross| after= Robert Stockton Green| years= March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885}}{{US House succession box| state= New Jersey| district= 3| before= Robert Stockton Green| after= Jacob Augustus Geissenhainer| years= March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889}}{{U.S. Senator box| state=New Jersey| class=1| before=James Smith, Jr. | years=March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1911William Joyce Sewell>Sewell, John F. Dryden, Frank O. Briggs>Briggs| after=James Edgar Martine}}{{USSenNJ}}{{Chairmen of the New Jersey Republican State Committee}}{{Authority control}}