Background
John McLeod Keating was born on June 12, 1830 in Kings County, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parentage.
(Excerpt from A History of the Yellow Fever: The Yellow Fe...)
Excerpt from A History of the Yellow Fever: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, in Memphis, Tenn.; Embracing a Complete List of the Dead, the Names of the Doctors and Nurses Employed, Names of All Who Contributed Money or Means, and the Names and History of the Howards, Together With Other Data All the known and well authenticated sources of information have been freely availed of, and it is believed that nothing has been omitted that could increase the value of the book as a history of the yellow fever and complete record of the epidemic of 1878, from the occurrence of the first to the date Of the last known case. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Excerpt from The Military Annals of Tennessee, Confederat...)
Excerpt from The Military Annals of Tennessee, Confederate: Embracing a Review of Military Operations, With Regimental Histories and Memorial Rolls, Compiled From Original and Official Sources IN a circular addressed to the people of Tennessee, and dated Nashville, January 31, 188 Ex-(iov. James D. Porter, Judge William F. Cooper, and Hon. Jordan Stokes announced in the following words a scheme of Tennessee History. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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John McLeod Keating was born on June 12, 1830 in Kings County, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parentage.
Keating was educated in Scotland until his ninth year. He completed his school education in Dublin at thirteen and was apprenticed to the printer's trade.
At eighteen Keating was foreman of the printing office of the Dublin World and a prominent member of the Young Ireland Club. Following the revolution of that body in 1848, he emigrated to America, settled in New York, and again became foreman in a newspaper plant. He went to New Orleans in 1854, whence, after a short experience in the printing business, he moved to Baton Rouge and later to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was made foreman of the composing room of what is now the Methodist Publishing House. From Nashville he went back to Baton Rouge and became superintendent of state printing, later returning to Nashville to become managing editor of the Daily News. In 1859 he settled in Memphis, and was there employed as commercial and city editor of the Daily Morning Bulletin.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he was for a short time a private secretary on the staff of General Leonidas Polk. After the capture of Memphis and until the end of the war he served as city editor of the Memphis Daily Argus, which was then the only Democratic newspaper in that place. In 1865 he established the Memphis Daily Commercial, and a year later combined it with the Argus, publishing the two as the Commercial and Argus until 1867. A close personal friend of President Andrew Johnson, he spent the winter of 1867-1868 in Washington as one of the President's political counselors. Later he was nominated as postmaster of Memphis by President Johnson, but the Senate rejected the nomination.
He returned to Memphis in 1868 to purchase a half interest in the Memphis Appeal, which he edited for twenty-one years. As an editor he was active in attacking Carpet-baggers, and in securing the enfranchisement of former Confederate soldiers, the education of the emancipated Negroes, and the adoption of the present constitution of Tennessee.
He escaped the yellow-fever epidemics which the city suffered from time to time and continued to publish the Appeal regularly, even though the force of the paper was sometimes reduced to himself and one other man. During the epidemic of 1878 he acted as editorial writer, business manager, reportorial force, and compositor, and, in addition, served as a member of the executive committee that practically governed the city. His vivid daily accounts of the epidemic in the Appeal have been compared to Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year, in their portrayal of grotesque horrors. His History of the Yellow Fever, published in 1879, was followed by a campaign to do away with the unsanitary conditions around Memphis, a campaign in which he played a conspicuous part.
In 1889 he became editor of the Commercial, continuing as editor until 1891 when he left Memphis for Washington, D. C. Keating was the author of The Southern Question (1889); Dirt, Disease and Degradation (1890); History of the City of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee (3 vols. , 1888) and other books. Once he left newspaper work, but although he found dealing in cotton, groceries, and insurance profitable, he soon returned to the newspaper office.
John McLeod Keating created the first serious history of Memphis and was well-known for his great work about the epidemic in 1879, the "History of the Yellow Fever. " He was also the founder of the "Memphis Daily Commercial". He took important part in enterprises to tunnel or bridge the Mississippi at Memphis, to construct railroad lines out from that city, and to erect elevators there.
(Excerpt from The Military Annals of Tennessee, Confederat...)
(Excerpt from A History of the Yellow Fever: The Yellow Fe...)
Keating began to study for the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1859 and was prepared to take orders in 1862, but without antagonism toward the Church he gave up his idea of becoming a clergyman when he felt he could not accept the Church's creed.
Keating was a staunch Democrat and advocated the political equality of women.
Keating was opposed to slavery and did much to soften the feelings of bitterness created in the hearts of the Southern people by the Civil War.
Keating held offices and memberships in a multitude of organizations included the Memphis Typographical Union, the Memphis Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and children, the Mozart Society and the Mendelssohn Society.
Keating was married in 1856 in Nashville to Josephine Esselman Smith. They had two children.
