John F. Kinney (1847 - 1854)
Served on the Iowa
Supreme Court from June 12, 1847, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy
occasioned by the retirement of Chief Justice Mason and the advancement of
Justice Williams to that position, until he resigned February 15, 1854.
Born in New Haven, Oswego
County, New York, April 2, 1816. In 1837 he was admitted to the bar at
Marysville, Ohio, and practiced law at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, until he moved to Lee
County, Iowa, in 1844.
He was Secretary of the
Council of the Seventh and Eighth Iowa Territorial General Assemblies. Justice
Kinney was a brother-in-law of Jonathan C. Hall, who succeeded him on the
court. After his retirement from the court he was appointed by President Pierce
as Chief Justice of the Utah Territorial Supreme Court. At the expiration of
his term he resumed private, practice, but in 1860 President Buchanan repainted
him as Chief Justice of Utah Territory.
He wrote the notable
decision of the Iowa Supreme Court in the case of the Half-Breed Tract litigation
from Lee County. (See 2 Green 15.)
Justice Kinney died in
San Diego, California, August 16, 1902.
