22.1 5xgreatgrandparents Richard Kemp & Elizabeth Cawood (1740s-1812/3) and children

There is a baptism at FamilySearch in Trotton for (I believe) my 4xgreat grandmother Mary Kemp, daughter of Richard Kemp, Labourer, on 26^th January 1777. Research in the parish registers suggests that her parents were Richard Kemp and Elizabeth, formerly Cawood, and that her brother James Kemp’s widow Jemima was living near her and her husband John Hill in the 1851 census at Elsted in Sussex.

Mary Kemp appears to be one of seven children baptised as children of Richard Kemp and his wife Elizabeth in Trotton between 1772 and 1789. They appear to have married at Trotton in 1771, after banns:

The extract from the parish register at FamilySearch says:

Richard Kemp of Elsted and Elizabeth Cawood of this parish October 16 1771 by Banns.

Richard Kemp, then, was settled in the parish of Elsted at the time of his marriage. There are no obvious baptisms for a Richard Kemp/Kamp in Elsted 20-30 years prior to the marriage, but there is one in Trotton for Richard Kemp son of Edmund, Labourer, on 2 August 1741. This would mean he was about 30 when he married.

Searches at Ancestry, FamilySearch and FindMyPast have not found any Kemps in Elsted before the late 1700s, although there are several clusters of records at Trotton, Midhurst and Harting. This may be because they moved settlement, or that the records are missing. Either way, it is not possible to prove the connection with Edmund Kemp at present.

Richard Kemp died and was buried at Trotton on 6 January 1812. Elizabeth was buried there on 8 September 1813, aged 79.  

I have not found a baptism for Elizabeth Cawood (with variations in spelling including Caywood, Carwood, Keywood) for Trotton or elsewhere in Sussex, so her line is another brick wall.

The children of Richard Kemp, Labourer and his wife Elizabeth Cawood

As it is not possible to go back any further with this part of the Kemp line, let’s look to see if we can find anything further about the couple’s seven children.

1. Elizabeth Kemp (1772->1797?)

Elizabeth was baptised at Trotton on 3 May 1772, seven months after her parents’ wedding the previous October. Nothing more is heard of her until she baptises her own – illegitimate - daughter, Mary Kemp, at Trotton on 16 October 1796. She would have been about 24 years old. Sadly the child did not live long, as there is a burial record at Trotton for ‘Mary daughter of Elizabeth Kemp’ on 15 September 1797. I have not found any obvious burial or marriage records for Elizabeth after 1797. An Elizabeth Kemp was witness at James Kemp’s marriage in Elsted in 1807; this may have been James’ sister Elizabeth, still unmarried, or his mother Elizabeth who was still alive in 1807.

2. Susanna Kemp (1774-1789)

On 24 April 1774, Susanna Kemp was baptised at Trotton, daughter of Richard. She was buried, daughter of Richard Kemp, at Trotton on 7 December 1789, aged 15.

3. Mary Kemp (1776-1860)

My 4xgreat grandmother’s story has already been told elsewhere. She would have been about 13 when her older sister Susanna died, and 20 when sister Elizabeth had her illegitimate daughter.

4. James Kemp (1780-1861)

The image of the parish register of Trotton for 25 June 1780 at FamilySearch shows that James and William Kemp were twin sons of Richard Kemp.

He married Jane Glew in Elsted on 30 June 1807. From the Imagefrom FamilySearch, both were single and both ‘of this Parish’. The witnesses were William Agling/Ayling and Elizabeth Kemp – perhaps his mother or older sister.

Jane was baptised in 1784 with the surname Glue. The couple had four sons, the first – James – born in November 1807, five months after their marriage. John was born in 1809 and William in 1812. Their last son, George, was born on 28 May 1814 and was buried five days later, on 2 June 1814, with his mother. She was 29 years old.

The widowed James remarried a year later, on 28 May 1815, to spinster Jemima Wright Shepherd. The name of their second witness is illegible, the first was John Wallder.

The parish register shows that they married after banns at Elsted church. 

Parish records show that they had at least nine children: Daniel (1815-1816); Rose-Esther (1818-1848); George (1820); Cornelius (1823-1911); Alfred (1825-1908); Hercules (1828-1911); Dorcas (1830-1897); Lucy (1833-1837); Emma (1835-1836) and Daniel (1838-1883).

Their daughter Dorcas married William Doel in London in 1852, having worked as a servant in the capital for a while. William is initially described as a plasterer on the censuses, but as they move around the country it becomes clear that he is a ‘designer and modeller in clay and wax’, and his work particularly for the Ewenny company near Bridgend in South Wales is now highly prized as part of the arts and crafts movement of the 1880s-1890s.

James died before the 1841 census was taken, in January 1841. His young widow was left with six of her children still at home by then, living at Elsted next door to her sister, my 4xgreat grandmother Mary Hill, nee Kemp. In 1843, she married Thomas Tullett, a railroad labourer, and moved with him and her youngest son Daniel Kemp to Hampshire. She died, aged 80, in 1877.

5. William Kemp (1780-1827)

William was James’ twin. He married Mary Palmer in Trotton in 1816 ‘with consent of parents’. He would have been about 36 by then but perhaps his bride was under 21. I have not found an obvious baptism record for her. He was buried, aged 46, at Trotton (abode Elsted) in on 16 January 1827.

6. John Kemp (1783-?)

John was baptised at Trotton on 2 February 1783. He married Mary Page in 1816 in Hampshire, and is found in the 1851 census living with her in Terwick, Sussex, where he is working as an Agricultural Labourer. I haven’t found them in the 1841 or any other censuses, and no other obvious records.

7. Thomas Kemp (1786-1870)

Thomas was baptised at Trotton on 12 April 1786. He married Mary Harras at Trotton on 23 May 1807. They appear in the 1841-1861 censuses, where he is variously described as an Ag.Lab or Pauper Ag. Lab, in Rogate. They had two known sons. Thomas died on 28 June 1870 aged 84. Another family tree at Ancestry has an image of a cottage said to be in occupation by Thomas Kemp and his family at the time of the 1843 tithe map (below).

 

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view