George Keats of Kentucky: A Life

by Lawrence M. Crutcher, John E. Kleber (Foreword by)

Overview

John Keats's biographers have rarely been fair to George Keats (1797–1841)—pushing him to the background as the younger brother, painting him as a prodigal son, or labeling him as the "business brother." Some have even condemned him as a heartless villain who took more than his fair share of an inheritance and abandoned the ailing poet to pursue his own interests. In this authoritative biography, author Lawrence M. Crutcher demonstrates that George Keats deserves better. Crutcher traces his subject from Regency London to the American frontier, correcting the misconceptions surrounding the Keats brothers' relationship and revealing the details of George's remarkable life in Louisville, Kentucky.

Brilliantly illustrated with more than ninety color photographs, this engaging book reveals how George Keats embraced new business opportunities to become an important member of the developing urban community. In addition, George Keats of Kentucky offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into nineteenth-century life, commerce, and entrepreneurship in Louisville and the Bluegrass.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813136882
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	11/30/2012
Series:	Topics in Kentucky History
Pages:	392
Sales rank:	863,821
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Lawrence Crutcher is the great-great-great-grandson of George Keats and the author of The Keats Family.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Preface xiii

The Pivotal Year: 1827-1828 1

Abandoned: 1804-1814 5

Family Origins: 1773-1804 9

Clarke's Schoolboys: 1803-1810 17

Youths about London: 1811-1818 27

Separation and Emigration: 1818 47

Henderson and Audubon: 1818-1819 69

Louisville: 1819 79

A Dismal Return: 1820 93

Getting Established: 1820-1826 103

Who Failed the Poet? 1820-1821 113

Settling Affairs: 1821-1828 123

The Legacy Deferred: 1821-1848 143

Prosperity: 1828-1841 155

Ruin and Death: 1841 173

Aftermath: 1842- 183

Appendix A The George Keats Circle of Friends and Acquaintances 191

Appendix B Pertinent Documents 243

Chronology: Events in the Life of George Keats 253

Notes 265

Bibliography 305

Illustration Credits 317

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

Crutcher has a lot going for him when it comes to writing a bio of “the other” Keats brother—he’s an exhaustive researcher, he’s already written a history of the clan (The Keats Family), and, for what it’s worth, he’s the great-great-great-grandson of his subject—but his investigation mostly turns up legal and quotidian minutiae. Nonetheless, his work is occasionally illuminating, and he provides a valuable chronology of George’s life (1797-1841). After their patriarch’s death and the ensuing chaos of executing his Dickensian estate, the Keats siblings struggled financially; George set off in 1818 to make his fortune, eventually settling and rising to prominence in Louisville, Kentucky. But what begins as a focused portrait of what some have called the “business brother” is inevitably overwhelmed by John’s affairs—after all, one of George’s goals was to make enough money to support the poet as he penned what would become canonical works of English Romanticism. Though thankfully devoid of turgid academese, this is still a work that will appeal primarily to specialized scholars. 91 color photos, 2 maps. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Anyone interested in English Romantic literature, antebellum Kentucky or pre-Civil War Louisville will fin dthis book an entertaining and rewarding read.

Bowling Green Daily News

"As George Keats completed the arc from being born an Englishman to American citizen, his status upgraded from orphan and working class poor in London, to cultured, leading citizen in Louisville, Kentucky. An investor in properties, board member of fourteen organizations, Keats was respected. Lawrence Crutcher, a descendant of Keats, has written a history so detailed, that investments and debts are described by their significance to the society – whether English or American. As the reader walks with Keats down Main Street in 1819, a busy, interesting Louisville emerges; by mid-1820's it is a city of culture, the basis of the lively city today.

Nana Lampton

Lawrence Crutcher writes this intriguing account of the lesser-known Keats brother, who was an influential figure in his own right. Highly recommended for those interersted in the poet John Keats and Kentucky history.

Kentucky Libraries

'George Keats deserves better' begins this remarkable biography by his great-great-great grandson Lawrence Crutcher. Long treated as just the brother (and a somewhat self-serving one) of the adored poet, George Keats emerges in the pages of George Keats of Kentucky not only with a brisk defense from this descendant, who refutes the received story of financial gullibility and malfeasance, but also as a compelling historical figure in his own right: an illuminating focus for the challenges of establishing a life—ultimately a prosperous life—in frontier America. Crutcher writes with engaging clarity, insight, and surefooted reference to an extraordinary archive of information, including materials and striking images published here for the first time. This is exciting, important work, no less than for putting the life of John Keats in a fresh perspective than for making a wonderfully detailed contribution to the field of nineteenth-century American studies—among the cast of characters Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, James Freeman Clarke, and John James Audubon. The copious illustrations alone are worth the price of admission but those who dive into the text will find themselves swept up by Crutcher's fascinating adventure in historical and biographical narrative.

Susan J. Wolfson

Brilliantly illustrated with more than ninety color photographs, this engaging book reveals how George Keats embraced new business opportunities to become an important member of the developing urban community.

Broadway World

Now we have a study about George, a book surely detined to be the definitive of his biographies.

Nbol-19

Crutcher has written a definitive biography of George Keats. He paints a vivid picture of early nineteenth century Louisville life and trans-Atlantic travel that will satisfy many readers. It will prove most useful to Keats scholars, Louisville historians, and family genealogists seeking biographies of ancestors associated with George.

Ohio Valley History

George Keats of Kentucky: A Life, stands as a valuable contribution to history and literaturre alike.

Louisville Courier-Journal

Delivers a rich, fully drawn picture of the brother of John Keats. Until now, no biographer has delved into George Keats's life so completely.

Carol Kyros Walker

The book sets the record straight provifding an in-depth and positive look at brother, husband, entrepreneur and an influential Kentuckian.

Hampstead & Highgate Express

An interesting account of an Englishman coming to America in the early 19th century and making a life for himself and his family in Kentucky – his acclimation, acculturation, successes, and failures.

James Holmberg

Drawing upon fragmentary Keats family correspondence, legal records, personal memoirs and sketches by members of the Keats's English circle, and other archival sources in England, Crutcher untangles the complex Keats family inheritance, explains animosities among generations of the family, illumines the ineptness of those who managed the family estate, and refutes charges by some in the Keats circle that George deliberately cheated John out of his inheritance. In the process, he demonstrates that the brothers maintained a warm relationship until the poet's death, even after George moved to the United States and settled in Louisville.

Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

But perhaps the greatest achievement of this biography—and in all probability its mission—is to establish George Keats as a remarkable figure quite apart from his connection to one of ENgland's greatest poets.

Washington Times

Winner of the inaugural Samuel W. Thomas Louisville History Book Award

From the Publisher