Nicholas Thomas Kane (September 12, 1846 – September 14, 1887) was an American Civil War veteran, businessman, and politician who served for six months as a U.S. representative from New York before dying during his first year in office in 1887.
Life and career Nicholas T. Kane was born in County Waterford in Ireland (then a part of the U.K.) on September 12, 1846.U.S. Government Printing Office, Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961, 1961, page 1143 His family moved to the United States in 1848 and settled near Albany, New York, and Kane attended the local schools.George Baker Anderson, Landmarks of Rensselaer County, New York, 1897, pages 295-296
Civil War He enlisted in the Union Army in 1863, joining the 20th New York Cavalry.Pittston Gazette, Death of Congressman-Elect Kane , September 15, 1887, retrieved via West Pittston Library Collection, July 2, 2014 He attained the rank of Corporal twice, and each time was reduced to Private.New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900, entry for Nicholas Kane, retrieved July 2, 2014U.S. Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, entry for Nicholas Kane, retrieved July 2, 2014 Kane served until the end of the war in 1865, and afterwards remained active in the Grand Army of the Republic.Grand Army of the Republic, Department of New York, Abstract of General Orders and Proceedings of the Annual Encampment, Volume 22, 1888, page 127Grand Army of the Republic, Journal of the National Encampment, Volume 21, 1886, page 20
Business career After the war, Kane worked in woolen mills in New York and Rhode Island, as did several of his brothers and other relatives. He became wealthy as the owner and operator of several successful mills in New York.Wade's Fibre and Fabric, Labor Matters at Cohoes, N.Y., Volume 4, January 22, 1887, page 371A.J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, pages 140-141Mary D. French, Andrew St. J. Mace, Sand Lake Historical Society, Sand Lake Revisited, 2007, page 18Fibre and Fabric, Syracuse, N.Y., December 3, 1892
Political career and death in office A Democrat, Kane was Watervliet's Town Supervisor and represented Watervliet on the Albany County Board of Supervisors from 1883 to 1885. He was president of the county board in 1885.Albany County Board of Supervisors, Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Albany, 1922, pages 793-794History of the city of Watervliet, N.Y., 1630 to 1910, 1910, pages 107-108
In 1886 Kane was elected to the 50th United States Congress. He served from March 4, 1887, until his death from tuberculosis in Albany on September 14, 1887, before the Congressional session started.Albany Times, Funeral of N. T. Kane, September 16, 1887Rome (N.Y.) Daily Sentinel, Congressman-elect Kane is Dying, September 4, 1887Marion (Ohio) Star, Congressman Kane Dead, September 15, 1887 (At the time, elections were held in November, terms began the following March 4, and the Congressional session began in the following December.)
He was interred in St. Agnes Cemetery, Colonie, New York.Thomas E. Spencer, Where They're Buried, 1998, page 243
See also List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1790–1899)
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