Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/534

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498
KEATING
KEEFER

their edifice, which work he performed under plans that were drawn by himself. The building at the time of its erection surpassed anything of the kind in this country. In 1729 he was one of a com- mittee that was appointed by the assembly to select a site and prepare plans for a state-house (afterward Independence hall), and direct its con- struction. He was the founder of Christ church hospital, having by his will bequeathed a large estate for this purpose. He was the author of " A Letter to a Friend; containing Remarks on a Discourse proposing a Preparation of the Body for the Small-Pox, etc." (Philadelphia. 1751) ; and " The Case of Mr. Thomas " (1760). See Dorr's " History of Christ Church " (1841).


KEATING. William Hypolitns, chemist, b. in Wilmington, Del., 11 Aug., 1799; d. in London, England, about 1844. His ancestors removed from Ireland to France to escape religious per- secution, and were ennobled by Louis XVI. His father, Baron John Keating, was colonel in the French army, and was stationed with his regi- ment in the West Indies at the beginning of the Revolution. Resigning his commission, he came to this country and settled in Wilmington, after which he removed to Philadelphia. The eldest son, John, who died at the age of twenty- five, attained distinction at the Philadelphia bar, served in the state legislature, and married the granddaughter of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (q. v.). William was graduated at the University of Penn- sylvania in 1816, and received his scientific train- ing in polytechnic and mining schools of France and Switzerland. On his return to Philadelphia he was elected to the newly organized chair of chemistry and mineralogy in the University of Pennsylvania, which post he held from 1822 till 1827. He delivered several courses of lectures, and opened a laboratory in the old university building. His efforts for an institution of higher aims in scientific instruction ultimately led to the founding of the Franklin institute in 1824, in which he was professor of chemistry. He was feologist and historiographer of Maj. Stephen [. Long's second expedition in 1823. Subsequent to his scientific studies he had read law, and was {wactising with success when he was sent to Eng- and to negotiate the first mortgage loan of the Reading railroad company. He was the author of a " Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, etc., in 1823 " (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1824; London, 1825). — His nephew, William Valentine, physician, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 4 April, 1823, was graduated at St. Mary's college, Baltimore, in 1840, and, after receiving his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1844, began to practise in Philadelphia, where he has since remained. In 1860 he was elected professor of obstetrics in Jefferson medical college, which chair he resigned, owing to impaired health, and was clinical lecturer there for several years. He was also physician at St. Joseph's hospital and at St. Joseph's orphan asylum, and acting surgeon in the U. S. army. After the battle of Gettysburg he was medical director of the U. S. army hospital on Broad and Cherry streets. Philadelphia, and previously he had been connected with the staff of the Satterlee hospital. He edited Churchill on " Diseases of Children " (Philadelphia, 1856) and Ramsbotham's " Obstetrics " (1856). — His son, John M., physician, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 30 April, 1852, studied at Seton hall college, South Orange, N. J., and was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1873, and subsequently at the Philadelphia polytechnic college. In 1879 he trav- elled with Gen. Grant to India, Burmah, Siam, and China. He is now (1887) medical director of the Pennsylvania mutual life insurance company. In addition to numerous publications in the medical journals, he is the author of " With Gen. Grant in the East" (Philadelphia, 1880); " Mother's Guide for Management and Feeding of Infants " (1881) ; and "Maternity. Infancy, and Childhood" (1887); and is joint author of " Diseases of the Heart in Infancy and Adolescence " (1887).


KEAYNE, Robert, philanthropist, b. in Eng- land in 1595 : d. in Boston, Mass.. 23 March, 1656. He was a merchant tailor by trade, and, possessing considerable estate, aided the Plymouth colony by donations in 1624, and became one of the founders of the Massachusetts colony, settling in Boston in 1635. Having been a member of the " Honorable artillery company" in London, he organized the body bearing the same name in Boston. He was frequently a representative to the state legislature between 1638 and 1649, a liberal donor to Harvard, and left a legacy for the establishment of a free school in Boston, which is now the Latin-grammar school. He was eccentric, and his will, which is reprinted in part in the " New England Histori- cal and Genealogical Register " (vol. vi.), is one of the longest on record in the United States.


KEDNEY, John Steinfort, clergyman, b. in Essex county, N. J., 12 Feb., 1819. He was gradu- ated at Union in 1838, and at the General theo- logical seminary, New York city, in 1841, and entered the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church. He was rector of St. John's, Salem, N. J., of Bethesda, Saratoga Springs, N. Y., of Trinity, Society Hill, S. C, of Trinity, Potsdam, N. Y., of Grace, Camden, S. C, and since 1871 professor of divinity in Seabury divinity-school, Faribault, Minn. He is the author of " Catawba and other Poems" (New York, 1847); "The Beautiful and the Sublime" (1880); and "Hegel's ^Esthetics" (Chicago. 1885). A theological work entitled " Chris- tian Doctrine considered from the Speculative Standpoint " is now (1887) in preparation.


KEEFER, Samuel, civil engineer, b. in Thor-old, Canada, 22 Jan., 1811. His father, George, removed from New Jersey to Canada in 1792 after his property had been confiscated by congress. He was afterward the first president of the Welland canal company. The son was educated as an engineer, was appointed secretary of the board of works for Lower Canada in 1839, from 1841 till 1853 was chief engineer of the Government board of public works, and in 1852 made a survey for the Sault St. Marie canal. In 1853 he resigned his place under government to become resident engineer of the Grand trunk railway, and established the line between Montreal and Kingston. He was appointed government inspector of railways in 1857, and soon afterward deputy commissioner of public works, and held both places till 1864. His report upon the plans for the new parliament buildings at Ottawa was approved of by the governor-general in 1859, and in 1869 he completed the suspension-bridge at Niagara falls, which was at that time the longest single-span bridge in the world. He received a diploma and gold medal for the design and description of this work at the Paris exposition of 1878. In June, 1880, he was appointed a member of a royal commission to inquire into the conduct and prosecution of the Canadian Pacific railway. — His brother, Thomas Coltrain, Canadian engineer, b. in Thorold, 4 Nov., 1821, was educated at Upper Canada college, Toronto, and in 1838 began his career as an engineer. After