This website is an information portal into the history of the KEANs and LOVETTs of Britain, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The KEAN surname is Gaelic in origin (Ceann), meaning the head, the top, a chief, a commander. This KEAN family can be traced back to West Teignmouth, Exeter, England in the early 1600s. They eventually migrated to New England (Salem and Boston, Massechussets, USA) in the late 1600s and finally to Newfoundland by the early 1700s.

This website displays a comprehensive history of the Kean Family beginning with William Kean, born around 1633 to the present day (to the best of my knowledge).

First found in Buckingham, England LOVETTs were seated from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Daniel LOVETT who settled in Salem, Massechussetts in 1630 but more importantly Elizabeth (nee unknown) LEVET who migrated from England to Halifax, Nova Scotia in the late 1880s with her three children, Ellen Stace LEVETT, George William LEVETT and Mary Ann LEVETT. It is believed the father, Charles H. LEVET was mortally wounded in the First Boer War of 1881. The spelling eventually evolved to today's version: LOVETT.

There are two marriages that bring the KEAN and LOVETT clans together. Algernon Philip LOVETT and his brother George Patrick LOVETT married Marion Lillian KEAN and her sister Catherine Marie KEAN (respectively).

Enjoy this unique and sometimes profound family history as it describes some of the more notable characters; Doctor Geroge Heath, Head Vicar of St. Georges Chapel and buried in Windsor Castle, Captain William Kean, ship builder and owner and his nephew Captain Abram Kean, OBE; the world's most famous sealing captain.

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