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- . Michael, Philip & Francis Kearny's property was confiscated in Monmouth County in the State of New Jersey, for joining the Army of the King of Great Britain, as returned to the Auditors Office, previous to the first day of May 1787. Signed, Arnold Dunham Auditor of Acct. NJ. 1 June, 1787.
NJ Case. 36374. Defendant Francis Kearney, State of NJ VS Francis Kearney, 1787.
. Francis Kearny was a captain in the corps of Col. Beverley Robinson in NY. In 1782 he was a major in Allen's Corps of Penn. Royalist. He rose to a lieutenancy-colonelcy & married in Ireland, whither he went after the war.
. FRANCIS KEARNY (Lieut.-Colonel)
He was born at Perth Amboy in New Jersey, circa 1752, & was in England from 1773 to 1777. Upon his return to America in March he joined the British forces &, on October 14 following, he was commissioned Captain in the Pennsylvania Loyalists, being promoted Major on November 15, 1780. Meanwhile, on May 9, 1778, he was appointed by General Sir William Howe a Deputy Judge Advocate at a court martial at Cooper's Ferry, New Jersey, the original commission of which is in W. O. 42 :Ki.
For four years he was on duty with his Regiment, the Pennsylvania Loyalists, in West Florida, under Major-General John Campbell, with much honor & reputation to himself, & was beloved by his General & highly esteemed by every officer. During the siege of Pensacola (from March 12 to May 8, 1781), he was in command of his Regiment, & according to his own narrative, the Spaniards had approached to within 500 yards of the British works, when a sortie was ordered & Kearny led the first division & at noon forced the enemy lines, routing them & destroying 7 pieces of ordnance. Afterwards he was in charge of the defense of the advanced redoubt, which, unfortunately, was blown up by a shell penetrating the magazine, killing & wounding 50 men, of whom he was one. In consequence, a capitulation immediately took place. With the papers of Major John Vandyke (q. v.) is a copy of the "Newport Mercury" for July 21, 1781, containing an account of the heroic siege of Pensacola, defended for 57 days by a small force against overwhelming odds. His narrative now proceeds to give an account of a part of Major Kearny's subsequent career. As an exile he made Ireland his residence & was again forming a comfortable establishment, when, in 1793, he was notified of his unsought-for appointment of a Corps then raising in Nova Scotia (the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment) & did not hesitate to give up a lucrative civil appointment. On his arrival in Nova Scotia he unexpectedly found that he had been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel. His letter laments his condition as one who had abandoned his home only to be retired on half-pay as Major, not, as he had expected, as Lieutenant-Colonel, & "conceives that the sacrifices he has made, his unimpeached loyalty & adherence to His Majesty, & His Government for those 46 years past give him some claim to a remuneration; had he employed that period" [during his absence in Nova Scotia] "in planting potatoes he might have been precluded the necessity of thus setting forth so mortifying a case." (W. O. 42 :Ki).
Francis Kearny was appointed Major of the Loyal Nova Scotia Regiment in 1793, & in 1801 he was Lieutenant-Colonel with Samuel Vetch Bayard. He was married on May 28, 1789, to Anne Herbert, spinster, in the Parish Church of Kinsale, Ireland, & died on March 26, 1828, at Armagh in Ireland, at the age of 76, leaving a widow & 6 children.
His son, James W. Kearney, is mentioned at Armagh in 1828. (W. O. 42:Ki).
Major Kearny was allowed £2,056 from his claim of £3,694. (A. O. 12 :ic»9). His property had been confiscated in Middlesex county, N. J., in 1778.
This Loyalist was the son of Philip Kearny, eminent counselor-at-law and noted Loyalist, who died at Perth Amboy,
New Jersey, July 25, 1775, and in his WILL of April 25, 1770, left property to his second wife, Isabella (daughter of Robert
Lettice Hooper, q. v.), and to his sons, Philip, Francis, Ravaud and Michael (q. v.). (A. O. 12:14, ff. 328-535; A. O. 12:100, f. 267; A. O. 13:109; Ind.: 5604-6; "Am. MSS. in Roy. Inst.," I :i39; Jones's "St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy,"
P- 349)-
Ref: Loyalist of NJ in the Revolution.
Research & transcriptions by PJ Ahlberg. Thank you. - - - - - - [1]
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Est 1745 - Aft 1782 (> 38 years)