John J. Kiernan: The Pioneer of Wall Street

Kiernan found success as a politician, authoring bills to improve New York Harbor and expanding ferry service. However, as he focused more on politics he saw the success of his news agency decline. In 1882, Dow and Jones left Kiernan’s agency and launched their own financial sheet, Customer’s Afternoon Letter. The venture was instantly successful, and eventually the newsletter became The Wall Street Journal.

In an attempt to revive his business, Kiernan brought in William P. Sullivan as a partner, but the relationship quickly turned sour. After a series of scornful notes about Kiernan’s financial dealings were circulated by Sullivan throughout their company and published by the local papers, the partners settled in court in 1888. Sullivan bought the company for only a few thousand dollars, leaving Kiernan stripped of the agency that had made him rich.

Over his remaining years, Kiernan struggled to regain political clout. Though he had the support of many leading political figures and was nominated for surveyor of the Port of New York, he was unable to attain a measure of his past success. He was last prominent as a pro-Cleveland Democrat, speaking publicly about the possibility of reform within the Irish community. In an 1884 New York Times article citing the near unanimous support of Grover Cleveland’s presidential nomination, Kiernan is quoted as saying, “I have visited every prominent man in the banking and commercial business down town to-day, and I have not found one who is not ready to sustain Mr. Cleveland…As far as I can see, the people who have promised to Blaine [the Republican opponent] the so-called Irish vote, if there be such an entity, have promised to deliver goods which they cannot even handle. I do hear of a great Irish reform taking place in New York. If that movement takes the shape of ignoring the ballot boxes of an organization [Tammany Hall] that has shamed the Irish name for many a year, then I hope the talk about that reform is as true as I could wish it to be.” Cleveland narrowly won New York by just over a thousand votes.

On November 29, 1893, Kiernan died of pneumonia and heart failure at age 48 in his Brooklyn home. His second wife and children survived him. Kiernan’s service was held in St. Stephen’s church, which was packed to the doors, and his remains were interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn.

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