Francis Kernan

Francis Kernan

Francis Kernan (*  14. January 1816 in Wayne , Steuben County , New York ; †  7. September 1892 in Utica , New York) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ), of the State of New York in both houses of Congress represented .

Life

Francis Kernan was the son of a general who immigrated from Ireland . After graduating from Georgetown University in 1836, he was inducted into the Utica Bar in July 1840. There he worked in the law firm of Joshua A. Spencer, whose business partner he later became. In 1843 he married Hannah Devereux; both had ten children together.

Public office and political activity

Kernan held numerous offices. He was director of the Utica School Board and General Manager of New York State Hospital. He wrote the comments on the judgments of the Court of Appeal from 1854 to 1857 and was a member of the Governing Body of the State University of New York from 1870 until his death .

Kernan was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1860 to 1862 . In 1862 he was for the district Oneida into the US House of Representatives voted, in which he opposed the Republican Roscoe Conkling prevailed. His mandate ended in 1865 after losing to Conkling in re-election the year before. Together with Conkling and Horatio Seymour , he formed the "Utica Trio" at this time, which mainly determined the politics of New York State.

In 1872 Kernan was a Democratic candidate for governor of New York, but lost to John Adams Dix . He was more successful in January 1875 when he was elected US Senator . This made him the first Catholic Senator from New York; moreover, this ended a period of 24 years in which only the Republicans made the incumbents from this state. Kernan was a member of the Senate until March 4, 1881. In 1876 he nominated Samuel J. Tilden as his party's presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention .

Kernan was counted among the War Democrats , a group within the Democratic Party that supported the policies of Republican President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War . He also had a personal friendship with Lincoln.

Web links

• Francis Kernan in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Biography in the Catholic Encyclopedia