John T. Kean Biography


	This biography appears on page 1840-1841 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	A photo of John T. Kean faces page 1840.


	JOHN T. KEAN, of Woonsocket, Sanborn county, one of the able and 
prominent members of the bar/ of South Dakota, has been an important 
factor in public affairs, having served as lieutenant governor of the 
state and in other offices of trust and responsibility, and being 
particularly deserving of representation in this history of the 
commonwealth with whose affairs he has been so intimately identified.

	John Taylor Kean is a native of the Badger state, having been 
born in Whitewater, Wisconsin. on the 11th of March, 1857, a son of 
John V. and Phoebe S. (Taylor) Kean, the former of whom was a carpenter 
by trade and vocation, having been one of the pioneers of Wisconsin. 
where he took up his residence in the territorial epoch, having removed 
thither from the state of Pennsylvania. Both he and his wife are now 
deceased, and of their six children two are living at the present time. 
The subject completed his preliminary educational discipline in the 
public schools of Monroe, Wisconsin, and early manifested a strong 
predilection for literary pursuits and public speaking, while his 
ambition to acquire a thorough education led him to put forth every 
effort to secure the funds with which to pursue his professional 
studies. In 1876 he entered the law department of the University of 
Wisconsin, at Madison, where he was graduated as a member of the class 
of 1877, and thereafter he completed a post-graduate course in the 
National Law School in Washington, D. C., this being in 1883. Owing to 
his financial position he was compelled to seek other employment for a 
time before entering upon the practice of law, and thus worked in the 
sawmills and shingle-mills of Wisconsin and at whatever else came to 
hand, ever having a high appreciation of the dignity of honest toil, in 
whatever field of endeavor. In 1880 Judge Kean located at Lake Mills, 
Iowa, where he initiated his independent professional career. From 1882 
to 1884, inclusive, he was employed in the offices of the war 
department in Washington, and in the spring of 1884 he came to South 
Dakota and took up his residence in Woonsocket, where he resumed the 
practice of law, soon gaining distinctive prestige through his ability 
and ambitious effort in his chosen profession. He is well grounded in 
the science of jurisprudence, familiar with the minutiae of the law in 
its various branches and ever showing facility in his recourse to 
precedents, while he is known as a strong advocate and conservative 
counsel, invariably giving careful preparation to every case and having 
exceptional strength as an advocate before a jury. He has a large and 
important practice and is one of the leading members of the bar of the 
state, while he also has extensive and valuable real-estate interests. 
He is an able public speaker, graceful in diction and pleasing in 
address, and he has taken a prominent part in the various political 
campaigns, in which he has proved an able exponent of the principles 
and policies of the Republican party, while he is also frequently 
called upon to deliver public addresses in other lines, his services 
being thus in requisition almost invariably on the occasion of public 
observances of the Fourth of July and Memorial day. In 1890 he was 
elected county judge of Sanborn county, and remained in tenure of this 
office for two years, his rulings being wise and impartial and never 
meeting with reversal in the higher tribunals. He was the candidate of 
his party for the office of lieutenant governor in the election of 1898 
was elected by a gratifying majority and was incumbent of the office 
for the two ensuing years. He was elected chief executive of the 
municipal government of Woonsocket in 1902 and guided its affairs with 
marked discrimination and genuine public spirit. Fraternally he is 
identified with the Masonic order and the Society of the Sons of the 
American Revolution.

	On the 3d of April, 1884, Judge Kean was united in marriage to 
Miss Bessie F. Perry, daughter of Waldo G. Perry, of Vermont, who was 
for many years superintendent of the dead-letter office in the national 
capital, in which city the marriage of the subject was solemnized. Mrs. 
Kean died April 17, 1903, at Palo Alto, California.