Background
Richard C. Kerens was born on November 12, 1842 in Kilberry, County Meath, Ireland, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gugerty) Kerens. His parents emigrated to the United States when he was an infant and settled in Iowa.
Richard C. Kerens was born on November 12, 1842 in Kilberry, County Meath, Ireland, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gugerty) Kerens. His parents emigrated to the United States when he was an infant and settled in Iowa.
Kerens received an ordinary public-school education in the United States.
At the age of nineteen Kerens entered the United States army as chief mule driver for the Army of the Potomac. In 1863 he was placed in charge of transportation for the Army of the Frontier in Arkansas and Indian Territory. At the close of the war he settled at the frontier Indian trading post, Fort Smith, and became the proprietor of a livery stable. He soon took a contract for carrying the Southern overland mail by pony express.
In 1874 he moved to San Diego, California, where he continued to prosper with his mail business. But while he was in California a foregleam of the immense possibilities in railroad construction came to him, and he moved to St. Louis in 1876 in order to be better situated for taking part in the activities he pictured in that field of work. In time he became closely connected with railroad developments. He also became a heavy stockholder and a leading director in several of the same railway systems.
In spite of the fact that Kerens was neither an able writer nor a forceful speaker, he held a position of outstanding influence in Missouri politics for almost forty years. There were two chief reasons for his power. In the first place, he generously donated large sums of money to the Republican campaign funds; and, secondly, he displayed superior ability in the direction and control of many faithful political lieutenants. He was Republican national committeeman for three consecutive terms (1884 - 1900) and was the leader in dispensing federal patronage in Missouri during that period. Three times he was given the complimentary vote of the Republican minority in the state legislature for United States senator. But when his party had its inning in 1905 with the selection of Major William Warner as a compromise candidate, because of the deadlock over Thomas K. Niedringhaus, the caucus nominee, and Kerens, the latter was bitterly disappointed at being denied the election.
In 1891 he had been appointed by President Harrison one of the three members from the United States on the Continental Railway Commission. He served ten years on this board and assisted in completing a railway survey through fifteen South American republics. For his faithfulness and liberal financial contributions to the party Harrison offered him the ambassadorship to Italy, and later McKinley urged him to take his choice of diplomatic posts excepting only London, Paris, and Berlin. All these he declined, but President Taft finally obtained his acceptance of the post at Vienna in 1909. Like many another man whose ambassadorship has come as a reward for political services, Kerens had no training and possessed no special qualifications for such a position. Except for the social activities of the post, in which his wife ably aided him, his four years in Austria-Hungary were marked by an ordinary colorless routine.
Kerens was a devout and influential Catholic.
Richard C. Kerens was a member of the Republican Party.
On June 2, 1867, Kerens was married to Frances Jane Jones.