Philip Geane was born in Brunswick, Virginia in about 1759. He became a resident of Chatham County, North Carolina, by 1771, where he married Mourning Seymore in about 1774. In 1781 Geane became a private in the Caswell County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia. He died in battle at the Lindley's Mill on September 13, 1781. His son William unsuccessfully applied for a pension on Philip's behalf.