[Francis King] induced John Keating and his associates to purchase 300,000 acres from William Brigham in what are now Potter and McKean Counties, Pennsylvania.[…][John] Keating was born in 1760 – one of four brothers who served with distinction in the French military. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1792 with letters of recommendation to Washington and the French consul at Philadelphia. Here he met Talon and de Noailles who were interested in establishing an asylum for Marie Antoinette, the Dauphin, and other French nobles who might escape from France. They formed the Asylum Company. Keating became the chief agent and when this company failed, Keating became associated with the Ceres venture. Although he employed Francis King and others as his agents, Keating never gave up the management of his extended interests. He was associated with George Vaux and Thomas Stewadson in an enterprise to build a turnpike from Jersey Shore to Coudersport, Pa. He died in Philadelphia on May 19, 1856. Clarke, T. W., Emigrés in the wilderness, 55, 81-83, N. Y., Macmillan, 1941; Murray, Elsie, Azilum: a French refuge colony of 1793, Athens, Pa., Tioga Point Museum, 1940.
Source: Proceedings, American Philosophical Society (vol. 100, no. 6), 17 December, 1956, pp. 595, 610-611. Available via books.google.com.