Читать книгу History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 3 - Группа авторов - Страница 75

In the learned professions naught availeth but individual merit. Strong mentality, close application, comprehensive and accurate knowledge and ability to apply the principles of law to the points in litigation, are the essential qualifications of the successful attorney and counselor at law. The possession of these attributes has made Cornelius E. Kene one of the leading practitioners of Westchester county and New York city.

Born in the city of Brooklyn in the year 1852, he is a son of John R. and Ellen Jane (Newnan) Kene. During his early childhood his parents removed to Westchester county, locating in Tuckahoe, town of East Chester, where he pursued his education in the public schools until 1867. He afterward studied in a private preparatory school in New York city, and subsequently continued his education in Baltimore and in Ilchester, Maryland, entering the law department of Columbia College in 1871. In May, 1873, he was graduated in that institution, and in December of the same year was admitted to the bar. He continued his studies for four years with the very prominent law firm of Close & Robertson, of White Plains, Westchester county, and spent the winters of 1876 and 1877 in the state legislature with Senator Robertson, as clerk of the senate judiciary committee, at Albany, and as assistant to Hon. Montgomery H. Throop, who was engaged in the work of preparing the laws of New York, being chairman of the commission on the revision of the statutes creating the code of civil procedure. All this tended to give Mr. Kene a very broad and thorough understanding of jurisprudence, and thus with an exceptionally thorough preparation he entered upon private practice. In 1877 he became a member of the firm of Banks, Keogh & Kene, with offices in New Rochelle and Portchester, New York. Since January 1879, he has practiced alone, and has an extensive and distinctively representative clientage. He was recognized as one of the leading members of the Westchester bar when in 1885 he opened an office in New York city. There he soon came into prominence, for his marked ability won recognition in the favorable opinions of the court in many litigated interests which he had in charge. He has been counsel in a large number of important suits involving large amounts arid most intricate legal questions. In Westchester county he has been elected police justice, civil justice and corporation counsel of New Rochelle, where he retains his residence. He has in an eminent degree that rare ability of saying in a convincing way the right thing at the right time. With a knowledge of the fundamental principles of law, he combines a familiarity with statutory law which makes him a formidable adversary in legal combat and has gained him marked distinction.

In June, 1887, Mr. Kene was united in marriage to Miss Emma C. Ehrhart, of New York city, and they have two children, — Cornelius E. and Juhan. Theirs is a beautiful home, located on Mayflower avenue, in Huguenot Park, on an elevated site which commands a fine view of the surrounding country from Long Island Sound to the Palisades. The Kene household is the center of a cultured society circle. Mr. Kene is a man of studious habits and scholarly tastes. He speaks several modern languages, has a broad acquaintance with the classics and is the author of poetical and prose productions. Master of the art of rhetoric, at once entertaining, logical and convincing, he is popular with his audiences and has delivered a number of interesting addresses.