John F. Kinney

John Fitch Kinney ( born April 2, 1816 in New Haven, Oswego County, New York, † August 16 1902 in Salt Lake City, Utah ) was an American politician. Between 1863 and 1865 he represented the Utah Territory as a delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years and career

After primary school, John Kinney studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1837. Then he began in Marysville to work in his new profession. In 1839, he moved to Mount Vernon, also in Ohio, and in 1844 in the Lee County, Iowa. From 1845 to 1846 he was secretary of the territorial government of the Iowa Territory. Thereafter he served until 1847 as a prosecutor in Lee County. Between 1847 and 1854 he was a judge at the Supreme Court of its territory.

Political career

John Kinney was a member of the Democratic Party. In 1854 he was appointed by President Franklin Pierce to the presiding judge ( Chief Justice ) of the Supreme Court in the Utah Territory. This office he held until 1857. Between 1857 and 1860 he worked as a lawyer in Nebraska City. In June 1860 he was appointed by President James Buchanan back to the Chief Justice in the Utah Territory. This office he held until March 1863. At that time he was also involved to the processes of deposition of Territorial Governor Stephen S. Harding.

In the congressional elections of 1862 Kinney was elected in the U.S. House of Representatives to the delegates of the Utah Territory, where he became the successor of John Milton Bernhisel on March 4, 1863. Since 1864 he not applied for a re-election, he resigned on March 3, 1865 again from the Congress.

Further CV

After his political activity in Washington John Kinney moved back to Nebraska City, where he again worked as a lawyer. In 1867 he was commissioned by President Andrew Johnson with a diplomatic trip to the Sioux. Between 1884 and 1889, Kinney was commissioner of the Federal Government for dealing with the Yankton Sioux Indians. In 1889, John Kinney moved to San Diego in California. He was chairman of the Democratic Party in 1896 year. In the presidential election of that year he brought his district, San Diego County, on the side of the Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, but the nationwide William McKinley defeated. John Kinney was married twice and spent his last years back in Salt Lake City. The city of Beatrice was named after a daughter by him.