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History > Famous Keiths > 18th Century

18TH CENTURY KEITHS
(listed chronologically)

GEORGE KEITH (c.1638-1716), Scottish preacher

Joining the Quakers c.1663, he was closely associated with Robert Barclay, George Fox, and other influential Friends. Shortly after his arrival in America (1684) he became the leader of a separate faction known as Christian Quakers, for which he was denounced by William Penn in 1692. Keith returned to England where, in 1700, he was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church. He was again in America (1702-4), preaching and baptizing. His journeys in the colonies are recorded in his Journal of Travels from New Hampshire to Caratuck (1706).

Source: Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2005.

SIR WILLIAM KEITH (1680-1749), Governor of Pennsylvania and Delaware

Of the Keiths of Ludquhairn, he was appointed surveyor-general of customs for the southern colonies in 1714. He was governor of Pennsylvania and Delaware before returning to London in 1728 where in 1730 he assisted in the notable treaty with Cherokee Indians then in London. He helped make England aware of the danger of French encirclement of the colonies. He proposed a stamp tax on the colonies by act of Parliament to maintain a standing army on the frontier.

ROBERT KEITH (1681-1756), Bishop

From Aberdeen's Marischal College, Keith became a leading light in the Episcopal Church as coadjutant Bishop of Edinburgh (1721-33), Bishop of Fife (1733-43) and primus as Bishop of Orkney and Caithness. He was also a historian, compiling a Cataolgue of Scottish Bishops, 1755, and writing a History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland, 1734. The latter deals mainly with the reign of Queen Mary and, though in narrative form, was the product of extensive archival research.

JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD KEITH (1696-1758), Field Marshal

Scottish field marshal of Prussia; brother of George Keith, 10th earl marischal [marshal] of Scotland. He participated in the Jacobite uprising of 1715 and in the abortive invasion of 1719 with his brother. Escaping to the Continent, he first entered the Spanish service and then went to Russia, where he gained honor in both civil and military offices. Later he went to Prussia and became close friends with Frederick the Great, who made him a field marshal (1747). Keith entered the circle of Europe's leading intellectuals and rendered great service to Prussia in the early part of the Seven Years War. He was killed in the Battle of Hochkirch.

Sources: Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2005.