Friday, April 25, 2008

Yep, I'm related to Jack Kemp!

I like to do searches and find relationships to famous, notable or even infamous people. So when Thomas MacEntee asked me, in a comment on my post "The Elusive John Kemp (1723-1793)," if I was related to Jack Kemp, the football player, congressman and VP candidate in 1996, I was curious. Thomas' comment said:

"I am curious to know if your John Kemp is an ancestor of former congressman Jack Kemp of Buffalo, NY. It would make sense given the proximity to Ontaria, Canada."

I've been away from home with little time to "mess around"in genealogy family trees for about a month, but I finally found an hour the other day. Jack's Wikipedia article is here; it provides the names of his parents, Paul and Frances (Pope) Kemp. A Rootsweb WorldConnect database titled "Four Family Tree" submitted by "apleclare"on 9 April 2008 provides the only family tree record for Paul Kemp who married Frances Pope, but it doesn't list their children.

However, this database provides many generations down the Kemp line into New England (but not the Pope line). From the data in this database, which appears to be fairly well done (but not well documented), it appears that Jack Kemp and I share several colonial ancestors, including:

1) Thomas Chase (1654-1733) and Rebecca Follansbee (1660-????)

2) Joseph Keyes (1667-1757) and Joanna Cleveland (1670-1758)

For the Keyes link, Jack's line from Joseph and Joanna (Cleveland) Keyes is:

1. Joseph Keyes (1667-1757) and Joanna Cleveland (1670-1758)
2. Joanna Keyes (1695-1787) and Thomas Kidder (1690-1729)
3. Joseph Kidder (1725-????) and Rebecca Chamberlain (1728-????)
4. Sibyl Kidder (1756-????) and Aaron Chamberlain (1749-1797)
5. Rebecca Chamberlain (1784-1867) and John Kemp (1786-1853)
6. John Edwin Kemp (1818-1896) and Caroline Sigourney (1818-1867)
7. Oscar Paddock Kemp (1857-1906) and Elva French (1860-1950)
8. Paul Robert Kemp (1897-1977) and Frances Pope (1901-1960)
9. Jack Kemp (1935-living)


My line from Joseph and Joanna (Cleveland) Keyes is:

1. Joseph Keyes (1667-1757) and Joanna Cleveland (1670-1758)
2. Joseph Keyes (1698-1744) and Elizabeth Fletcher (1698-1775)
3. Jonathan Keyes (1722-1781) and Elizabeth Fletcher (1720-1761)
4. Elizabeth Keyes (1759-1793) and Zachariah Hildreth (1754-1828)
5. Zachariah Hildreth (1783-1857) and Hannah Sawtell (1789-1857)
6. Edward Hildreth (1831-1899) and Sophia Newton (1834-1923)
7. Hattie Hildreth (1857-1920) and Frank Seaver (1852-1922)
8. Frederick Seaver (1876-1942) and Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)
9. Frederick Seaver (1911-1983) and Betty Carringer (1919-2002)
10. Randy Seaver (1943-living)

So from this comparison, I am a 7th cousin once removed (Joseph and Joanna are my 7th great-grandparents, and they are Jack's 6th great-grandparents).

We are also 7th cousins once removed based on our common ancestry of Thomas and Rebecca (Follansbee) Chase.

I'm not surprised by this - I'm related to almost anyone who had early colonial ancestors in eastern Massachusetts.

1 comment:

Thomas MacEntee said...

Good going Randy! Growing up in upstate New York, Jack Kemp was a well-known name. And to be honest, I don't think the surname Kemp is that common.

You and I probably have some Massachusetts Bay Colony ancestors in common. Right now I am working on my Everett and Haws/Hawes lines.