John Keese was born in about 1735. A resident of Surry and later Wilkes County, North Carolina, he served as a captain of the Wilkes County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia from 1779 to 1782. In 1779 William Guest, a soldier in his regiment, married Anna Allen at the Keese home. He later moved to Pickens District, South Carolina, where he died in 1806.