Keenan, James - Hon.

HON. JAMES KEENAN

was born in the ancient village of Youngstown. He struggled in early life with many adversities. These, however, only served to make him self-reliant, and to bring into greater activity traits of character which were in after-life of no inconsiderable importance to his success. When war was declared by the United States against Mexico he was among the first to offer his services, and on 1st of December, 1846, volunteered as a private in Capt. Herron’s company, the "Duquesne Grays," of Pittsburgh, First Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. In 1847 he returned from Mexico, laboring under a severe chronic disease which he had contracted by exposure on the field. He, however, rapidly recovered, and soon after received the appointment of a lieutenant in the Eleventh United States Army Infantry, and opened a recruiting-office in Greensburg. Again, in the spring of 1848, he started with his command for Mexico, and remained in the service until the close of the war, when his commission expired. His gallantry in the service, and his bold and daring adventures at the head of his command, brought him prominently into notice, and after his return from Mexico he was, in the fall of 1849, elected register and recorder for Westmoreland County. At the expiration of his term he was again re-elected to the same office, in 1852, for another period of three years. During the period that Gen. Keenan was register and recorder he introduced various improvements in the manner of keeping the books and papers of the office, which were followed by his successors, and which have proved highly beneficial to the public. On the 2d of February, 1852, while he held the office of register and recorder, he was appointed by Governor Bigler adjutant-general of Pennsylvania. In June of the same year President Pierce tendered him the position of consul to Hong Kong. This latter appointment was held under consideration for some time, which he, however, finally concluded to accept, and in the fall of 1853 resigned the offices of register and recorder and adjutant-general, and sailed in October, 1853, for Hong Kong, China. During the first year of Mr. Buchanan’s administration, Gen. Keenan paid a visit to his friends in this country, and while here was married to Miss Elizabeth Barclay, an estimable lady of Greensburg, with whom he immediately left the United States for his consulate in Hong Kong, which position he occupied until the 22d of January, 1862, when he with his family sailed in the ship "Surprise" for the United States, and arrived in New York on the 16th of the next May, very ill, having been confined to his berth in the ship for six weeks previous to the end of the voyage. On the day after his arrival he was removed with much difficulty to Blanchard’s Hotel, on Fourth Avenue, where he remained until Thursday evening, the 22d. Although he seemed to revive somewhat for the first forty-eight hours after landing, yet the best medical skill and kindest attention was unavailing against the deep-seated disease, which had got such a firm hold on him, and he afterwards commenced sinking, which continued until it terminated in death.

His mortal remains, under the care of James C. Clarke, his brother-in-law, were brought to Greensburg on the next Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon interred in the cemetery at Greensburg in the presence of the largest concourse of citizens that Perhaps ever assembled in this place on such an occasion.

Gen. Keenan was a young man, but he possessed endowments, both mental and physical, which entitled him to a very high position in the estimation of his fellow-citizens. From his first entry into public life until his final end, his career had been upward and onward, and although he had not reached the zenith of life, yet no young man in Western Pennsylvania had a more brilliant career before him.

A warm personal friend, who published this sketch of his life, had this further to say, which is not an overdrawn characterization:

"From a long and intimate acquaintance with the deceased of the most unreserved character, first formed in 1846, the writer of this notice can say, without exaggeration, that Gen. Keenan was possessed of many of the noblest qualities that endow human nature. He was generous, brave, intrepid, and courageous, yet gentle, kind, and humane; his knowledge of human character was very accurate, and his confidence was consequently seldom misplaced; his manners were courteous, easy, and graceful, not assumed for the occasion, but natural, the generous overflowing of a happy disposition and beneficent heart. He was not surprised or disconcerted by sudden danger, but only roused to cool and intrepid action. He had many of the qualities of a great commander, and if events had drawn him into that channel he would doubtless have greatly distinguished himself.

"Without the aid of either friends or fortune, except those whom he endeared to him by the excellence of his own character, he rose rapidly, step by step, without a single reverse or defeat, to a position of great public importance, and if God had spared his life many predicted for him a still more brilliant career. The excellence of his person, the counterpart of his mortal organization, was in perfect harmony with his mental structure. Nature is seldom so lavish of her gifts. An intimate friend may say that, within the limits of his knowledge, he never used these glorious gifts, ready passports to a confiding heart, to ensnare innocent and unsuspecting innocence. Being an elder brother, many of the responsibilities both of a father and a brother were cast upon him in early life. With what unceasing fidelity and tenderness he provided for his widowed mother, and with what wise counsels he guided the steps of his young and inexperienced brothers, their bleeding hearts will now recount. May we not trust and hope that these noble traits of character, preserved in the midst of so many temptations, were evidences that the hand of God was upon him, and that the glory of His power and the munificence of His grace will be magnified throughout all eternity by grateful homage of his ransomed spirit, perpetually rendered for undeserved mercy.

He died on Thursday evening, May 22, 1862, aged thirty-eight years, eight months, and six days.