Another of the numerous successful jurists whose ancestry is Irish. He
was the son of John and Mary McKenna, his father being from Ireland
and his mother from England. He was born at Philadelphia, August 10,
1843, and was educated in the public schools and at St. Joseph college
until 1855, when the family removed to Benicia, California, where he
entered St. Augustine college and took up the study of law. Directly
afterward he graduated and was admitted to the bar. In 1865 he was
elected district attorney of Solano county. He served in this capacity
for two terms. In 1873 he was elected to the legislature, and one year
later the republicans nominated him for congress, but he was defeated,
and not only on this occasion but again in 1878. In 1884, however, he
was elected, and a year later entered congress, where he remained, by
re-election, until 1891. As a member of the ways and means committee
he had a great deal to do with important tariff legislation. In 1892
President Harrison appointed him circuit judge. In 1897 he entered
McKinley’s cabinet as attorney-general, but in December of the same
year was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of the United States to
succeed Justice Field. He was married in San Francisco, 1869, to Amanda
Borneman.