Kemp Family Association

Kemps In Print ... or about to be

Listed below are books written about the Kemps, as well as KFA publications. If you know of additional Kemp titles which you feel should be included, please e-mail me the name of the book and author (publisher/date would help).

• The latest issue of The Kemp Files, the offical newsletter of KFA, is currently hot off the press (Volume 2 Number 4). Some of the articles featured in this issue include an article on William Kemp of Anson County, NC and Matthias Camp in Westmoreland County, PA. If you would like to contribute an article or query, you can mail them directly to the above address or e-mail to KempAssn@worldnet.att.net.

• The Kemp Chronicles, the history of John Conrad Kemp of Frederick Co., MD and Mathias Kaempffer of Berks Co., PA. Due to binding problems, book is now in 2 books. This will not be a change in price for those who have ordered at the pre-publication price of $65.00. The books are priced as follows: The Kemp Chronicles Book 1 Johan Matthias Kaempffer of PA $35.00; The Kemp Chronicles Book 2 Johann Conrad Kaempf of MD $53.00. If both books are purchased at the same time, the price is $75.00. This includes S&H. Mail checks made out to Dee's Genealogical Research & Publishing addressed to 121 Kings Chapel Dr., Troy, OH 45373-1049. There are some books left for sale. This book is still in the process of being bound, hopefully to be finished the last week in December. Prices will again increase on December 31 due to postage increases. E-mail Debra Kemp Sotzing

• Jamie Kay Kemp Taylor (210 Avenue M, Abernathy, Texas 79311) has the following publications for sale to members only:
  
  • Iredell & Wilkes Co., NC ... Patriarch John Kemp believed to be son of Isaac Kemp of Craven Co. ... $6
  • Southern GA Kemps ... Patriarch Joshua Kemp of Montgomery Co. ... $6
  • Gloucester Co. VA Kemps ... starts in Norfolk, ENG in 1567 ... $7
  • Frederick Co. MD & Berks Co. PA ... Kemps (Kaemff) of Un. Bretheren Church ... $6
  • Nathan Kemp (1774- ) ... McNairy Co. TN; his lineage & children ... $6
  • Kemp Roots Vol. Vlll, Iss. 2 ... Kemps of New England & Middle Colonies ... $7
  • Kemp Roots Vol lX, Iss. 1 ... Ancestral heads of the South ... $7
  • Kemp Handbook of OH ... Includes descendants of Frederick Co. MD in Montgomery Co., Seneca Co., Belmont Co. & possibily Butler Co. OH (German heritage); descendants of Berks Co. PA in Butler Co. OH; Henri Kemp of Belgium in Seneca Co.; John W. Kemp, Rev. Soldier in Seneca Co. from Queen Annes Co. MD; Champaign Co. (possibly Quakers); John, George, Stephen, & Joseph Kemp (Allen, Ross, Richland, Stark Cos., etc. (believed to be Quakers & from Frederick Co., VA) ... $6
  • New England & Middle Colonies ... Includes story on Jack Kemp (VP Candidate 1996) & His Lineage, Lineage Charts of Subscribers, Sons of the Am. Rev. Records (MA), PA Families from Germany, PA 1780 Tax Lists, 1880 Soundex of NH, & 1880 Soundex of NY (not complete) ... $7
  • Kemp-Camp Handbook of IN ... Those who migrated west to IN from NC, MD, VA, KY, PN, OH, NY, NJ, and immigrated from England and Germany. Included are the Reuben Kemp Family from NJ, PN, & KY; Iredell Co., NC Kemps; Frederick Co., MD Kemps; Quakers from Talbot Co., MD & NC; Queen Annes Co. Kemps; Dearborn & Ohio Counties; Frontiersmen in IN, Goodloe Kemp & Sons Thomas & William ... $8
• The History of the Kemp Families of Great Britain and her Colonies" by F. Hitchen-Kemp
• A booklet written by Marie Rybolt in 1971 titled "A History of the Descendants of Murphy Kemp"
• Kay Taylor has a copy of the Camp-Kemp Family History by Mann for those who have an interest.
• Bob Young is doing a complete rewrite of New England Kemps, which will cover six generations of descendents for William, Edward and Samuel Kemp. Bob would like to share data with anyone with lines back to any of the three Kemps in 1650's Massachusetts.
• Bob Young has a database of the Kemp's in the Confederate Army, which contains name, home state, company, regiment, and rank for over 400 Kemps. Printed copy $3.50; diskette $4.50; send check or money order to Bob Young, KFA, P.O.Box 544, Sandy Hook, CT 06482.

What's In A Name ...

Jim Mannan found in the book A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges (Oxford University Press 1988) p 292:

• Kemp English: occupational name for a champion at jousting or wrestling, Middle English kempe [a weakened sense of Old English cempa warrior, champion, from camp battle, Latin campus plain, field (of battle);cf. Campion]
• Variations : Kempe.
• Cognates: German: Kampf, Kempf; Kompf (Bavaria); Kempner (also Jewish, presumably an adoption of the German surname). Low German: Kempe. Dutch: Kemper.
• Diminutives: German: Kampfl, Kempfle.
• Patronyms: English: Kempson. Dutch: Kempers. Finnish: Kemppainen. (Patronyms are names developed from proper names.)
• Kempa Polish: topographical name for someone who lived on a small island or by an isolated clump of trees and tufts of grass.
• Variations: Kepa; Kempski, Kepski.
• Cognates: Jewish (E. Ashkenazic): Kempe (from kempe, the Yiddish reflexitive of the Polish vocabulary word); Kempinski.
• Diminutive: Polish: Kepka
• Habitation names: Polish: Kempinski; Kepinski, Kepczynski.

KEMP(E) - In Old English, the term "Kemp" designated a soldier engaged in single combat. The name Kemp is derived from the Saxon word "To Kemp" or combat, which in Norfolk [County, England] is retained to this day; a foot-ball match being called a camping or kemping; and thus in saxon a Kamper signifies a combatant, a champion, a man-at-arms. In some parts of Scotland, the striving of reapers in the harvest-fields is still called Kemping."

Is this correct or accurate? I don't know. I've also heard stories that a Kempe accompanied William the Conqueror, and therefore the name is of Norman origin.

KEMP. This English name (Middle-English, kempe, athlete) recurs in Irish records from the fourteenth century till the present day but has never been closely identified with any particular locality. It is now fairly numerous in Dublin and Belfast. See CAMPBELL....

CAMPBELL. Mac Cathmhaoil (battle chief). An Irish sept in Tyrone; in Donegal it is usually of Scottish galloglass origin, viz Mac Ailin a branch of the clan Campbell (whole name is from cambeal, crooked mouth). Many Campbells are more recent Scottish immigrants....The name has been abbreviated to Camp and even Kemp in Co. Cavan.

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KFA Member Homepages

A Few Helpful Genealogical Resources

The Attic is where you will find lots of genealogy links and information.

GenWeb Project:

• WorldGenweb - Same as U.S.GenWeb, but involves countries around the Globe.
• U.S.GenWeb - In March and April, 1996, a group of genealogists organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project. The idea was to provide a single entry point for all counties, where collected databases would be stored. This project has now expanded to include the entire U.S., as well as another database started to include countries around the world called World GenWeb.
• U.S.GenWeb Archives - WorldGenWeb Archives - Volunteers have been copying court house documents and putting them on the Web.
• USGenWeb Archive Census Project - volunteers are transcribing census records to put on the Web.
• USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project - volunteers are walking cemeteries and recording their info on the Web.

Gendex is a searchable surname database

Written by KFA member Tom Kemp, the International Vital Records Handbook Genealogical Publishing, 1001 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202 [1-800-296-6687] : 1994. 417pages; explains how to obtain copies of birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates from all 50 states and every country in the world. It is particularly handy as it includes copies of the actual forms needed to apply for those documents. All you need to do is photocopy the form, fill it in and mail it out. You can find a copy of this book in almost every public library and LDS Family History Center.

There are numerous Newsgroups (Lists) that are available for those with e-mail. Newsgroups are primarily developed so that members can exchange, discuss, or post a query relating to that particular newsgroup, be it surname or area related. Listed below are just a few of those available.

• Roots-L ... best known list; to subscribe send e-mail to roots-l-request@rootsweb.com (that's a small L, not a one) - in body say subscribe, nothing else.
• State, Area, or Surname Newsgroups ... Newsgroup List
• GENCMP-L ... genealogy computer group; to subscribe send e-mail to listserv@mail.eWorld.com - in body say subscribe GENCMP-L firstname lastname, nothing else.
• Not a newsgroup, but a newsletter ... Dick Eastman's newsletter is published weekly and contains all the latest news in the genealogy world. For those without Internet connections, there is no charge to receive it by e-mail. To subscribe, send an e-mail to: subscribe@rootscomputing.com

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The Kemp Family Association Homepage
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Linda-Jeanne Dolby © 1995
A New England Kemp in Texas
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