John Kintzing Kane

John Kintzing Kane (May 16, 1795 – February 21, 1858) was an American lawyer who served as the 21st Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1845 to 1846 and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1846 to 1858.

Education and career Born on May 16, 1795, in Albany, New York, Kane graduated from Yale University in 1814 and read law in 1817. and served as president of the organization. His service terminated on February 21, 1858, due to his death in Philadelphia.

Family

Kane was descended from John O'Kane, a Latin scholar who emigrated from Ireland to America in 1750. Kane was the son of Elisha Kane and Alida (née Van Rensselaer), daughter of Brigadier General Robert Van Rensselaer and Cornelia Rutsen. When his mother Alida died in 1799, Elisha married Elizabeth Kintzing, and it was she who raised John and his siblings. Together, they had seven children, including one that died in infancy.

Two sons became notable as adults: Elisha Kent Kane (1820–1857), who was a United States naval officer, physician and explorer. He was a member of two Arctic expeditions that tried to rescue the explorer Sir John Franklin and his team. Thomas Leiper Kane (1822–1883), who was an attorney, abolitionist and military officer, who was influential in the western migration of the Latter-day Saints movement and served as a Union colonel and general of volunteers in the American Civil War.