Biography of John A. Kane - Mercer Co. WV


The History of West Virginia, Old and New 
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, 
pg. 564 


JOHN A. KANE came from Baltimore, Maryland, to Blue- 
field, Mercer County, West Virginia, in the year 1910, and 
here established the commercial printing business which is 
conducted under the title of the Kane Printing Company. 
This is a modern printing plant of the best order, estab- 
lished in a building erected specially for the purpose and 
in a remarkably attractive location, the building command- 
ing a fine view of the valley, the Baptist College grounds 
and the city in general. With the best of mechanical equip- 
ment and accessories and with a corps of skilled employes 
this company is able to give the highest grade of service to 
its patrons, the work of the plant being confined to com- 
mercial printing and the trade of the concern being of most 
substantial order.
Mr. Kane was born in New York City, on the 27th day 
of March, 1871, a son of John C. and Ellen Mary (Casserly) 
Kane, both natives of the State of New York. The father 
died in 1895, at the age of fifty-five years, his wife having 
passed away a few years previously. John C. Kane was 
manager for the firm of Hotchis, Field & Company, manu- 
facturers of steam boilers, in Mew York at the time of his 
death, and he was survived by three sons and two daugh- 
ters.
John A. Kane profited by the advantages afforded in the 
public schools of Brooklyn, New York, and at the age of 
seventeen years he entered upon a practical apprenticeship 
to the printing trade in the office of the old .New York Re- 
corder. Later he found employment in the office of the 
New York World, and he had the distinction of becoming 
one of the first skilled linotype operators in the United 
States. In 1905 Mr. Kane found employment in the office 
of the Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colorado, later he 
worked on the San Antomo Express, San Antonio, Texas, 
and still later he worked in the State Printing Office of 
Texas, at Austin. His further experience included service 
with the Kansas City Star, the Oklahoma Daily News, and 
the Jacobs Advertising Agency in the City of Clinton, 
South Carolina. He thereafter established an independent 
commercial printing office in the City of Baltimore, where 
he remained until 1910, when he came to Bluefield, West 
Virginia, and founded the printing business of which he 
continued the executive head until his death, March 9, 1922. 
Mr. Kane was a valued and appreciative member of the 
Bluefield Chamber of Commerce and the local Kiwanis 
Club. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and in 
politics was a leader in the local councils of the democratic 
party, as a representative of which he was manager of the 
party campaign in Mercer County in 1920. He was an ac- 
tive member of the Presbyterian Church, of which his widow 
is also a member.
At Colorado Springs, in the year 1906, Mr. Kane married 
Miss Irene Mott Darland, daughter of C. C. Darland, and 
the two children of this union are Carroll John and Ellen 
Mary.


Submitted by Valerie F. Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net> 

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