John S. Kean    

JOHN S. KEAN, dairyman and farmer, P.O. Evansburg, was born in Sadsbury Township, this county, November 12, 1834, eldest son of Conrad and Susannah (Broadt) Kean; the latter a daughter of Henry Broadt, an early pioneer of Crawford County, who settled on a large tract of land where Harmonsburg now stands. There he built a cabin, which was burned and its contents carried away by the Indians (who were still quite numerous) while he was on a trip for supplies. He then returned to Bedford County, Penn. where his family lived, but after a short time came back to his settlement, bringing with him some of his old neighbors, and succeeded in making a permanent settlement which was left undisturbed by the red man. Conrad Kean (or Keen as he spelled it) was born in Erie City, September 15, 1806. His father, Henry Kean, was a native of Gottingen, Prussia, and there learned the trade of a cabinet-maker. About the time he finished his apprenticeship he was engaged doing some work for a Mr. Antra, a man of wealth and distinction; became acquainted with Mr. Antra’s beautiful and accomplished daughter, Henrietta Catharine, who had a short time before graduated from the University of Gottingen. This acquaintance ripened into a deep and confiding love for each other. As soon as the father found out the state of affairs, he quickly banished the young man from his premises. The young folks met, however, and planned an elopement, which they soon carried out. Disguised as peasants, they secured passage on an English ship about to sail for America, and when three days out of port were married by the ship’s chaplain. They settled in Erie, where their two children were born: Frederick and Conrad. About the year 1809 Henry Kean died, leaving his wife and children in poverty and in a strange land. The widow subsequently married John Gehr, a Captain in the war of 1812-14 (she being at the time of this event but twenty-two and he forty-two years of age; they both lived to be over eighty years old. The fruits of this union were six children — five girls and one boy — only two now living: Israel, residing in Johnson County, Neb., and Sally Hickernell, who lives near Saegertown, this county. Conrad Kean was parent of seven children, viz.: Harriet, born May 5, 1831; Sarah, born August 22, 1832; John S. (our subject), Mariah, born December 22, 1836; Nancy Ann, born December 22, 1838, died about 1862; Delilah, born May 11, 1841, and Daniel, born August 1, 1843. John S. Kean was married to Mira C. Congdon, August 19, 1857, by whom he has had three children: Ida May, born April 27, 1858, married John L. Shipman, April 26, 1875 (have one daughter — Mabel); Inez Viella, born October 9, 1859, resides at home with her parents; and Harlan W., born November 16, 1861, died August 5, 1865. Mr. Kean, when but a year and a half old, was brought to his present farm by his parents; it was then covered with woods and a board shanty was their only shelter. His father died when he was thirteen years old, and though he had but limited opportunities for obtaining an education, learning only to read and spell at school, he has by close application and self-culture stored up a large amount of useful information. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since 1856. In politics is a strong Republican. Our subject has been elected to all the township offices; served two terms as Justice of the Peace, one by election and one by appointment by Gov. H. M. Hoyt; served one term at Pittsburgh and one at Erie as juror in the United State Courts for the Western District of Pennsylvania; is a member of the Executive Committee of Crawford County Agricultural Society. During the late war he was drafted, October 16, 1862, for nine months, served his time in the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, was discharged July 26, 1863, re-enlisted on August 30, same year, in Company A, Two Hundred and Eleventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and at the close of the war was honorably discharged, June 6, 1865. He became a member of Linesville Lodge, I.O.O.F., No. 395, remaining a member until September 12, 1881, when he withdrew for the purpose of assisting in the formation of a lodge at Evansburg, instituted November 23, 1881. He was elected N.G. of the new lodge and was its first Representative at the annual session of the Grand Lodge held in Harrisburg, Penn., May, 1882. He was one of the charter members of the Alpharetta Lodge of the Daughters of Rebekah, at Evansburg. He was a charter member of A.O.U.W., No. 99, Linesville, Penn., instituted June 30, 1876, representing it at the semi-annual session of Grand Lodge, at Philadelphia, in July of that year, and at the annual session, January, 1877, at Pittsburgh. He remained a member of that lodge until March 28, 1881, when he withdrew by card and united with Conneaut Lake Lodge, No. 105, where he still retains his membership. He became a member by initiation, of Meadville Council, No. 78, Royal Arcanum, December 26, 1878, and is still a member of the same. He also became a member of the Equitable Aid Union, No. 352, March 17, 1882. Mr. Kean was for years a leading member of P. of H., but on account of being so far from place of meeting has discontinued his membership. He is owner of a farm of 150 acres and is now devoting his time to its cultivation and improvement. Our subject reads six English and two German papers.

History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania: containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885, 987-989.. View image of this page of the book on line at ancestry.com.  Free access  More Crawford County History Books  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com

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