Thursday, January 28, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday - Kemp Bible typescript 1

On Treasure Chest Thursday, I'm posting images of artifacts or documents that inform my family history.

There apparently was a Kemp family Bible in the possession of a descendant of Abram Kemp (1795- after 1881) of Norfolk County, Ontario. A transcript of the Bible was typed at some unknown time and a copy of the transcript was donated to the Orange County (CA) Genealogical Society and placed in the Huntington Beach (CA) Public Library in Orange County, California, where I found it in the stacks in the early 1990s. The two pages found are:



The provenance of the Bible is described as:

The Bible was printed by A.J. Holman Co of Philadelphia in 1877. Daisy Rader was given the Bible by John Evans Kemp, who was born in Canada and whose death is the last entry in the book. It is now in the possession of the Orange County California Genealogical Society.

The first page of the typescript notes:

Holy matrimony was celebrated between Peter Evans Kemp of Prince Edward and Catherine C. Ryder of Co.Norfolk on 6th April 1875 at Delhi by Rev. J. Van Loon. Witnesses were Gideon W. Ryder and Emeline Powel.

BIRTHS
Sarah Elizabeth 17 Sept 1877
Mary Waity 10 Dec 1880
John Evans 27 April 1883
Peter Gideon 10 July 1885

MARRIAGES
Gideon P. Kemp married to Florence Bragg on November 20, 1921
Sarah E. Kemp married to Oliver C. Baker June 1922

DEATHS
Mary W. Kemp 26 Nov ---- 6 y 11 m 14 d
Catherine F. Kemp 30 Apr 1919 74 y 4 m 6 d
Peter E. Kemp 10 Apr 1922 84 y 4 week 16 d
Florence Kemp 20 Oct 1922 32 y
Sarah Elizabeth Kemp 28 March 1945 66 y
John Evans Kemp 14 Oct 1956 73 y

The second page of the typescript notes:

The second portion of the Bible record was written in the same hand as the first marriage record but were placed on other blank pages in the book.

The second page includes these notes:

Abraham Kemp was married to Sarah Fletcher on 16th April 1818.

"BIRTHS
Ab'm Kemp 4 Nov 1795 (4 Dec 1795)
Sarah Kemp 7 July 1802 (about 1807)
Waty C. Kemp 23 Sept 1821 (23 Dec 1820)
Mary Ann Kemp 20 July 1824 (20 Feb 1823)
Stephen G. Kemp 7 Feb 1826
W.H. Kemp 4 March 1829
Ab'm J. Kemp 22 May 1831
John L. Kemp 28 Apr 1834 (about 1835)
Peter E. Kemp 28 Feb 1837
Andrew Kemp 6 Nov 1840 (6 Nov 1839)
Sarah J. Kemp 2 June 1843 (about 1841)
Chas. W. Kemp 14 Sept 184-
Wesley Kemp 16 Nov 1847 (16 Feb 1849)

MARRIAGE
Peter Evans Kemp was married to Isabella Eagles 22 Feb 1865

BIRTHS
P.E. Kemp 28 Feb 1837
Isabella Eagles 10 July 1839
Janet Isabella 22 July 1866
Andrew Evans 9 Sept 1872

DEATHS
Isabella Kemp 14 Mar 1873
Andrew Evans Kemp 29 Aug 1873

The information on the first page was probably entered by members of the Peter Evans Kemp, and probably at or near the time of the event noted. The information about the family of Abram and Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp was entered after 1877, but was probably based on memories of Peter Evans Kemp (1837-1922), a son of Abram and Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp. The information in parentheses ( ) is handwritten by someone after the Bible page transcripts were typed.

This Bible is the only record found to date that provides the name of the wife of Abraham James Kemp (1795-after 1881) - Sarah Fletcher, her birth date and the marriage date as 16 April 1818. Abraham James and Sarah (Fletcher) Kemp are my third-great-grandparents.

This is not the only Bible record extant in this typescript format - I have one for the descendants of my second great-grandparents, James Abram and Mary Jane (Sovereen) Kemp that was found in the family papers given me by my mother.

How should this information be treated? The typescript itself provides direct evidence of names, births, marriages and death dates, it is a mix of primary and secondary information (since some events occurred before the Bible was published), and is a derivative source document (since it is a typescript of a family Bible which may or may not be extant at this time). In many cases, the names and dates provided are the only available record found to date. I have included the typed information in my genealogy software database and sourced the family Bible typescript.

1 comment:

Sanjay Maharaj said...

I am interested to know where it says "at Delhi" referring to the holy matrimony, which place is it reffering to?