John Innes Kane Explained

Birth Date:29 July 1850
Death Place:Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Resting Place:Green-Wood Cemetery
Relations:Woodbury Kane (brother)
S. Nicholson Kane (brother)
Sybil Kent Kane (sister)
DeLancey Astor Kane (brother)

John Innes Kane (July 29, 1850 – February 1, 1913) was an American explorer, scientist and philanthropist who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age.

Early life

Kane was born in 1850, one of eight children born to Oliver DeLancey Kane (1816–1874) and Louisa Dorothea (née Langdon) Kane (1821–1894).[1] His siblings included Walter Langdon, DeLancey Astor Kane,[2] Woodbury Kane,[3] S. Nicholson Kane, Louisa Langdon Kane,[4] Emily Astor Kane (who married Augustus Jay and was the mother of Peter Augustus Jay), and Sybil Kent Kane.[5] [6] The family lived at "Beach Cliffe", designed by Detlef Lienau, which was one of the earliest Newport cottages "to attain a sort of Beaux-Arts purity."[7]

Kane was a grandson of Walter Langdon and Dorothea (née Astor) Langdon and a great-grandson of John Jacob Astor. He was a cousin of Lt. Col. John Jacob Astor IV.[2] His paternal lineage descended from John O'Kane who emigrated to the country in 1752 from County Londonderry and Antrim, Ireland. During the American Revolutionary War, O'Kane (who dropped the "'O" once in America[8]) was living at Sharyvogne, his estate in Dutchess County, which was confiscated after the War due to his Loyalist ties. His eldest son, John Jr., stayed and became one of the most prominent merchants in New York.[2]

Interests and clubs

Kane inherited from his mother's family,[9] so he never took an active part in business, "but had always taken a keen interest in scientific matters, in particular those dealing with discovery and exploration. He was also fond of art and travel." In 1912, the Kanes traveled to Egypt with J. Pierpont Morgan. Kane belonged to the Union Club, the Knickerbocker Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Metropolitan, the Whist Club, St. Elmo, the South Side Sportsmen's Club, and the Automobile Club of America.

The Kanes attended Alva Vanderbilt's famous March 1883 masquerade ball christening the Vanderbilt's new Petit Chateau on Fifth Avenue. In 1892, several members of Kane's family, but not Kane and his wife, were included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[10] [11] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom (who was the first cousin of his father-in-law).[12] [13]

Kane sat on the Advisory Board of the Cooper Union museum during its first decade, up to near his death in 1913. His wife bequeathed a number of European decorative arts from the Renaissance through the eighteenth centuries to the museum.[14]

Personal life

On December 12, 1878, Kane was married to Annie Cottenet Schermerhorn (1857–1926), a daughter of William Colford Schermerhorn of 29 West 23rd Street. Through her mother, she was a first cousin of Rawlins Lowndes Cottenet.[15] At their wedding, Annie wore an ivory and gold satin gown with pearls by Charles Frederick Worth of the Parisian based House of Worth.[16] The couple did not have any children.[17]

Kane died of pneumonia on February 2, 1913, at his residence in New York City.[18] He was buried in a memorial tomb, also designed by McKim, Mead & White, at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.[19] His widow died in July 1926,[20] and left $4,000,00 to New York City charities, including $1,000,000 to the Home for Incurables and $1,000,000 to Columbia University (of which her father had been elected chairman of the Board of Trustees[21]).[22] For many years after her death, her estate continued contributing to various charitable causes in New York.[23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]

Residences

After years of renting houses in Lenox, Massachusetts,[17] they acquired a summer estate on a bluff overlooking Frenchman Bay located at 45 Hancock Street in Bar Harbor, Maine.[30] There, Kane had a Tudor Revival Cottage built between 1903 and 1904, designed by local architect Fred L. Savage, that was known both as Breakwater and Atlantique (although today it is known as the John Innes Kane Cottage). The interior of the house, however, featured Colonial and Georgian Revival eighteenth-century styling. His widow left the home to Kane's nephew, U.S. diplomat Peter Augustus Jay and his wife, the former Susan Alexander McCook, who left it to her daughter, Susan Mary Alsop.[31]

Kane hired the prominent New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White to design his New York City residence. His home, located at 1 West 49th Street (or 610 Fifth Avenue), "attracted immediate attention, when completed in 1909, because of its attractive simplicity. It was built in the style of the Italian Renaissance, and its furnishings were brought from all parts of Europe."[18] The home was across the street from 608 Fifth Avenue, the home of Ogden Goelet and his wife, Mary Wilson Goelet. In August 1921, a fire in the library and dining room of the home destroyed family portraits and other heirlooms of the Kane and Schermerhorn families. Reportedly, fireproof construction planned by Stanford White saved the rest of the home from destruction.[32]

References

Notes

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Lamb . Martha Joanna . History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise and Progress ... by Martha J. Lamb . 1921 . Valentine's Manual . 754 . 14 March 2020 . en.
  2. News: COL. DE LANCEY KANE DIES OF PNEUMONIA; Noted Horseman and Astor's Great-Grandson Initiated Coaching in America. LONG A SOCIAL LEADER Graduate of West Point Who Inherited $10,000,000 Served in the Cavalry in Our Army. . 2 March 2018. The New York Times. 5 April 1915.
  3. News: Capt Woodbury Kane dies of sudden heart attack. 6 December 1905. The New York Times. 11. 13 June 2009 .
  4. News: LOUISE L. KANE DIES AFTER BRIEF ILLNESS; Granddaughter of the First John Jacob Astor Was a Benefactor of Artists. DID QUIET PHILANTHROPY Gave Much Time to Welfare Work, Aiding Bellevue Particularly -Family Socially Prominent.. 2 March 2018. The New York Times. 2 June 1927.
  5. News: MRS. AUGUSTUS JAY DIES IN 79TH YEAR; Widow of Diplomat Whose Ancestor, John Jay, Was First Chief Justice of U. S. LONG A SOCIETY LEADER Descended From Gov. Langdon of New Hampshire, Revolutionary Soldier, and John Jacob Astor.. 2 March 2018. The New York Times. 15 December 1932.
  6. Book: The Successful American, Vol 1, Part 1. 1899. Press Biographical Company. 156. 2 March 2018. en.
  7. Book: Yarnall. James L.. Newport Through Its Architecture: A History of Styles from Postmedieval to Postmodern. 2005. UPNE. 9781584654919. 123. 2 March 2018. en.
  8. News: DELANCEY ISELIN KANE; Great-Grandson of the First John Jacob Astor Dies, 62. The New York Times. 1 August 1940.
  9. Book: American Millionaires: The Tribune's List of Persons Reputed to Worth a Million Or More. Lines of Business in which the Fortunes Were Made. 1892. Tribune Association. 71. 2 March 2018. en.
  10. News: McAllister. Ward. THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE.. 26 March 2017. The New York Times. 16 February 1892. en.
  11. Book: Patterson. Jerry E.. The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. 2000. Random House. 9780847822089. 218. 2 March 2018. en.
  12. Book: Keister. Lisa A.. Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. 2005. Cambridge University Press. 9780521536677. 36. registration. 20 October 2017. en.
  13. Book: Birmingham. Stephen. Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address. 2015. Open Road Media. 9781504026314. 18. 2 March 2018. en.
  14. Web site: Mrs. John Innes Kane . Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum . 14 March 2020 . Smithsonian Institution.
  15. News: MRS. SCHERMERHORN DIES.; Former Leader of Society Expires in Her Twenty-third Street Home. . 19 April 2019 . . February 15, 1907.
  16. News: The House of Worth, or the birth of Haute Couture . 14 March 2020 . Paris Diary by Laure . 6 November 2017.
  17. Book: Gilder . Cornelia Brooke . Edith Wharton's Lenox . 2017 . . 978-1-62585-788-0 . 164 . 14 March 2020 . en.
  18. News: JOHN INNES KANE DEAD AT 60. Member of Old New York Family Was Interested In Exploration. . 11 October 2018 . . February 2, 1913.
  19. News: Richman . Jeff . Only the Finest: Memorials by McKim, Mead & White at Green-Wood Green-Wood . 14 March 2020 . . April 17, 2018.
  20. News: MRS. ANNIE C. KANE, OF OLD FAMILY, DIES Was Born a Schermerhorn and Wed a Descendant of John Jacob Astor. . 14 March 2020 . . 25 July 1926.
  21. News: W. C. SCHERMERHORN DEAD Head of the Board of Trustees—In His Eighty-second Year . 19 April 2019 . . January 5, 1903.
  22. News: WILL OF MRS. KANE LEAVES $4,000,000 TO CITY CHARITIES -- $1,000,000 Each Goes to Home for Incurables and Columbia University . 19 April 2019 . . September 9, 1926 . 5 . en.
  23. News: $50,000 GIVEN TO SEMINARY.; Fund From Annie C. Kane Estate Goes to Episcopal Endowment. . 14 March 2020 . . 26 December 1927.
  24. News: FUNDS ARE SET UP FOR THE NEEDIEST; Friends of City's Destitute Are Thus Able to Continue Their Gifts After Death. SEVERAL LARGE TRUSTS J.B. Wilbur and Annie C. Kane Left $100,000 Each, A.I. Siesel $107,515. . 14 March 2020 . . 4 December 1933.
  25. News: MANY TRUST FUNDS AID NEEDIEST GASES; Set Up by Friends of the City's Destitute Who Did Not Want Help to Stop When They Died. LARGE SUMS ARE INCLUDED $107,515 Left by A.I Siesel and $100,000 Each by J.B. Wilbur and Annie C. Kane. MANY TRUST FUNDS AID NEEDIEST GASES . 14 March 2020 . . 2 December 1934.
  26. News: 95 GIFTS ARE SENT IN DAY TO NEEDIEST; Among Them Is $5,000 From Charles Hayden and $3,989 From Annie C. Kane Fund. DONORS EAGER TO HELP Many Voice Regret That They Cannot Do More to Ease Distress and Privation. . 14 March 2020 . . 3 December 1935.
  27. News: 32 CONTRIBUTORS GIVE $702 FOR THE NEEDIEST; Largest Gift, $386, Is From the Annie C. Kane Fund . 14 March 2020 . . 9 January 1942.
  28. News: $809 GIVEN TO NEEDIEST; $618 Sent by Annie C. Kane Fund Tops the Day's Gifts . 14 March 2020 . . 19 January 1952.
  29. News: GIFTS TO NEEDIEST STRESS JOY IN AID; Long-Time Donors Express Happiness at Being Able to Help Less Fortunate DAY'S TOTAL IS $10,254 Donation of $4,094 Comes From Annie C. Kane Fund --Groups Also Assist Late Publisher Honored Work for Neediest Praised CASE 5 Dying Father CASE 34 Adrift CASE 78 Facing Blindness . 14 March 2020 . . 11 December 1956.
  30. Web site: [{{NRHP url|id=92000275}} NRHP nomination for John Innes Kane Cottage]. National Park Service. 2015-03-06.
  31. News: The Down East Dilettante . Down East Tear Down . 14 March 2020 . The Down East Dilettante . 16 June 2010.
  32. News: HEIRLOOM TREASURE LOST IN 5TH AV. FIRE; Library of Mrs. John I. Kane Damaged in $100,000 Blaze at 49th Street Corner. FLAMES HELD TO ONE FLOOR House Designed by Stanford White So Compact Water Did Not Even Seep Through Floors. . 14 March 2020 . . 24 August 1921.

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