John Keating (soldier, land developer)

Baron John Keating
John Keating, undated, from the biography by his great-grandson
Born	(1760-09-20)20 September 1760 Ireland
Died	19 May 1856(1856-05-19) (aged 95) Philadelphia
Nationality	Irish, French, American
Occupation	Soldier, land developer
Known for	land development

John Keating was born in Ireland in 1760, and raised in France. He joined the French Army, resigning in face of the Haitian and French revolutions to settle in Philadelphia. He spent the rest of his long life as a land agent and manager for the settlement of inland Pennsylvania, known for competence, honesty, and care for the settlers.

John Keating was born in 1760 to Valentine Keating, a Catholic Irish gentleman educated in France. In 1766, having overcome trumped-up charges of treason, and still facing the severe disadvantages of the penal laws against Catholics, the family moved to France and settled in Poitiers. In recognition of his noble ancestry, Valentine was granted letters patent of nobility by Louis XV. John, with his twin brother William, was educated at the English College, Douai. After graduating, he and William were both granted a commission in Walsh's regiment, in which their elder brother Thomas was already serving.

The regiment sailed in 1780 for the Caribbean, taking the British garrison of Sint Eustatius by surprise. In 1783 the Antilles War ended and the regiment returned to France. In 1788 it was sent to Mauritius; John and William set out on the frigate Penelope, which was wrecked on the Cape of Good Hope with the loss of thirty-six men. The brothers arrived safely in Mauritius and spent a year there, where William resigned from the army to marry. In 1789 the regiment sailed for France; it was forced to make land in Martinique, where it learned of the French Revolution and took the tricolore cockade. They were then garrisoned in Brittany, subject to "the dictates and caprices of demagogues". By commission dated 27 November 1791, John was granted the Cross of St. Louis, and shortly afterwards he sailed with the regiment for Saint-Domingue, then in the throes of the Haitian Revolution. An attempted coup against the revolutionary Commissioners failed when the soldiery sided with the Commissioners and forced the other officers to embark for France. John was required by the 92nd Regiment and the Commissioner Sonthonax to take temporary command of the regiment. In despair at the prospects for Saint-Domingue, he obtained permission to leave, and on Christmas Eve 1792 arrived in Philadelphia with $280 and two letters of introduction, one from Sonthonax to De la Forest, French consul in Philadelphia, and one from the Vicomte de Rochambeau to General George Washington.