On September 5, 1864, John Kean enlisted in the Union Army in Louisville, KY.¹ He was 22 years old, born in 1842 in Jefferson County.² His enslaver, Louisa R. Glass, gave him permission to join the Union.³ He was a soldier in Company A of the 5^th U.S. Colored Calvary Regiment and quickly rose to the rank of sergeant.⁴ 

While Kean was enslaved when he enlisted, his mother, Mahala Simmons, and sister, Matilda Dell, were both free by that time.⁵ One of the paths to freedom that enslaved people could take was to engage in work “on the side,” which gave them the ability to earn enough money to buy their freedom. In Mahala’s case, she was a washwoman, but we don’t know for sure if doing this work on the side is how she became free.⁶ All that can be determined from records was that she married a barber named Henry Simmons By 1860.⁷ Mahala also lived in the same dwelling as her daughter, Matilda Dell, along with Matilda’s family unit that included husband, Lewis Dell, and two children. ⁸ 

In 1865, John Kean’s regiment was involved in many campaigns, including the Battle of Fair Oaks from October 27-28, the Occupation of Raleigh from April 9-14, and the “Surrender of Johnston and his army.”⁹ Although Kean was present for most of his tour, his soldier records show that he was absent from January to March of 1865 because of illness and spent that time convalescing at Camp Nelson.¹⁰ Kean remained a sergeant until he mustered out in Helena, Arkansas in March of 1866.¹¹ 

By 1870, Kean was married to his wife Fannie and working as a porter in a store in Louisville.¹² He was still a porter in 1873, living with Fannie and their firstborn son George.¹³ According to the 1880 records, Kean was working as a railroad porter.¹⁴ During this time, Kean’s profession allowed him to afford the expansion of his family to include four children—George, Alberta, Willis, and John.¹⁵ He was also able to reconnect and share a dwelling on Oldham street with his mother and her husband and his sister Matilda and her family.¹⁶ 

No census data is available for 1890, but John Kean is listed in the Louisville city directory as still being a porter but now working at the L&N building.¹⁷ Records indicate Kean was still living at the home he shared with his family on Oldham Street ¹⁸ when Mahala passed in 1891.¹⁹ 

By 1900, John Kean was working as a sexton for an unknown church.²⁰ A sexton is “a church officer or employee who cares for the church property and performs related minor duties (such as ringing the bell for services and digging graves).”²¹ He still resided in the home he had occupied for the past 20 years.²² He lived with his wife and their children Willis, Ione, and Lenora, along with a grandchild. ²³ 

It was not too long after that, in 1904 when John Kean began receiving Invalid pension payments.²⁴ It is not clear what debilitation occurred that initiated those pension payments, but by 1920 Kean was listed as an unemployed boarder in Louisville.²⁵ When John Kean died in April 1921 his profession was listed as a laborer.²⁶ His state death records indicated he died at “age 78”, which was an unusually long life for a Civil War veteran.²⁷