Ancestors of Mandy Willard

Thomas KEMP (1814-1859)

and Eliza KITCHENHAM (1814-1909)

Thomas Kemp and Eliza Kitchenham married on 23 January 1836 in Ticehurst, Sussex.  The witnesses to the marriage were Jesse Kitchenham and Susannah (probably Walker who was soon to be Eliza's sister-in-law). (They were not my direct ancestors.  Eliza was the niece of my 4x Great Grandmother Ann Kitchenham.)

Thomas Kemp was baptised on 6 March 1814 in Burwash, Sussex.  He was the son of John Kemp (1788-?) and Elizabeth Hannah Balcomb (c1794-1872).  He died on 5 February 1859 in Wadhurst.

Eliza Kitchenham was born on 15 November and baptised on 18 December 1814 in Wadhurst, Sussex.  She was the daughter of Jesse Kitchenham (1787-1875) and Elizabeth Worsop (c1794-1877).  Her father was a labourer of Wadhurst when she was baptised.  Eliza died on 30 March 1909 and was buried in the grounds of the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in Biddenden, Kent.

When the 1841 census was recorded the family were living at Flattenden in Wadhurst and Thomas was an agricultural labourer.  Also with the family at that time was 9 year old servant Ellen Kitchenham (she was Eliza's younger sister).  The family were still at Flattenden when the 1851 census was recorded and Thomas was still an agricultural labourer.

As a widow, Eliza Kemp and her children moved a mile to the Miner's Arm Inn to become housekeeper to widower Frederick Till and his 9 children.  Eliza then married Frederick on 5 November 1860 at the Shover's Green Baptist Chapel in Wadhurst.  The witnesses to the marriage were Jesse Kitchenham and Susannah Kitchenham.

Frederick Till was born about 1815 in Wadhurst.  He died on 28 May 1872.  He first married Mary Richardson on by banns on 23 November 1836 in Wadhurst.  They were both then of Wadhurst.

In 1861 Frederick was a blacksmith and the landlord of the Miners Arms Inn in Wadhurst.  Also with him on census night was his wife Eliza and her 2 children, and 5 children of his own by his previous marriage.  By 1871 the family were living at Apps Farm in Wadhurst and Frederick was a farmer of 10 1/2 acres.  Eliza's parents were then living in a cottage 3 households away on the census enumerator's route.

Thomas Kemp and Eliza Kitchenham had 9 known children:

1. George Kemp was born 24 February 1836 in Wadhurst and baptised on 22 May 1836 in Burwash, Sussex.  In 1841 he was a 5 year old at home.  When the 1851 census was recorded he was a 15 year old agricultural labourer living in the parental home.

   George married Helen Weeks on 29 May 1859 in Wadhurst.  The witnesses to the marriage were George Weeks and Ruth Baldock.

   Ellen Weeks was born on 8 December 1840 in Wadhurst and was the daughter of William Weeks (1804-1879) and Ann Piper (1805-1841).  She died aged 24 years and was buried on 17 August 1865 in Wadhurst.

   George and Ellen had 3 known children:

   1. Miriam Kemp was born about 1859.  In 1881 she may have been employed as a cook domestic in the household of William Brackett at Belmont Lodge, London Road, Tonbridge, Kent.

      Miriam married Elias Hook on 10 August 1881 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

      Elias was born about 1858 in Wadhurst and was the son of Elias Hook (1827-1887) and Sarah Ann.

      Elias and Miriam had 9 known children.

   2. Emily Kemp was born in January 1861 in Ticehurst.

      Emily married James Brett on 12 April 1886 in Wadhurst.

      James was born about 1864 in Ipswich, Suffolk and was the son of Thomas Brett.

   3. Thomas Kemp was born on 8 April 1862 in Wadhurst.  He died on 15 October 1930 in Flint, Genesee, Michigan, USA.  In 1881 he was an agricultural labourer and was living with his father and step mother.  By 1901 he was a chimney sweep living in Hastings along with his family.

      Thomas married Hannah Elizabeth Hook in 1885.

      Hannah Elizabeth was born on 17 March 1858 in Sedlescombe, Sussex, and was the daughter of George Hook (1825-?) and Hannah Moon (1830-?).  Hannah died on 4 July 1929 in Flint.

      Thomas and Hannah couple had 8 known children:

      1. George Henry Thomas Kemp was born on 26 February 1886 in Hastings.

      2. Frank Alexander Kemp was born on 19 August 1888 in Hastings.

      3. Herbert Harold Kemp was born on 12 April 1891 in Hastings.

      4. Arthur Johnston Kemp was born in the second quarter of 1893 in Hastings.

      5. Percy Leslie Kemp was born on 29 September 1896 in Hastings.

      6. Thomas Howard Kemp was born on 31 July 1898 in Hastings.

      7. Ernest Edward Kemp was born on 18 January 1902 in Hastings.

      8. Charles Kemp died in childhood.

   George Kemp was a widower and the landlord of the Miners Arms Inn when the 1871 census was recorded.  He married Margaret Julia Hide on 13 October 1872 at St. Nicholas in Brighton, Sussex.

   The 1881 census records that George was the licensed beer house keeper of the Miners Arms in Wadhurst and was living with wife Margaret, his son Thomas Kemp aged 19, her son John Hide aged 15, who were both agricultural labourers, and their 7 year old daughter Margaret Kemp who was a scholar.

   Margaret was baptised on 8 October 1843 in Rottingdean, Sussex and was the daughter of Richard Hide and Sophia.  (Richard Hyde married Ann Sophia Searle on 19 September 1822 in Rottingdean.)

   In 1901 George and Margaret were living alone in Wadhurst and he was a beer retailer.

   George and Margaret had 1 known daughter:

   1. Margaret Emma Kemp was born in the fourth quarter of 1873 in Wadhurst.

      Margaret married Albert Kelly in the fourth quarter of 1874 in the Hastings registration district.

      Albert was born about 1874 in Worcester and he was a carpet planner, as per the 1901 census.

2. Frances Kemp was baptised on 29 April 1838 in Wadhurst.  She was 3 years old at the time of the 1841 census.  In 1851 she was a 12 year old House Servant living in Back Street, Wadhurst, in the home of Thomas Newington, his wife Lucy and their family.

   Frances married William Colbran on 1 September 1861 in Ticehurst.

   William was baptised on 10 August 1828 in Hooe, Sussex and was the son of George Colbran alias Child and Maria.  When William was born his father was a shoemaker.  His parents may have married as George Child and Maria Stonestreet on 19 June 1826 at the parish church of All Saints in Hastings, Sussex.

   William and France had 7 known children.

3. Mary Ann Kemp was born about 1840 in Wadhurst and baptised there on 7 January 1844.  When the 1841 census was recorded she was 7 months old.  She was a 10 year old scholar at the time of the 1851 census.

   Mary Ann married George Corke.

   George was born about 1836 in Mayfield, Sussex and was the son of David Cork and Hannah Weeks, who had married on 30 October 1824 in Mayfield.

   When the 1881 census was recorded George was a gardener and he and his family were living at The Olives Lodge in Wadhurst.

   The couple had the following known children:

   1. Emma Corke was born about 1866 in Robertsbridge, Sussex.  She was a 15 year old scholar at the time of the 1881 census.  She may have married in the fourth quarter of 1886 in the Ticehurst district.

   2. Thomas Corke was born about 1868 in Wadhurst.  He was a 13 year old scholar in 1881.

   3. Mary Corke was born about 1870 in Wadhurst.  She was an 11 year old scholar in 1881.

   4. Edward Corke was born in the second quarter of 1873 in Wadhurst.  He was a 7 year old scholar in 1881.

   5. Lilly Corke was born in the third quarter of 1874 in Wadhurst.  She was a 6 year old scholar in 1881.

   6. Elizabeth Corke was born in 1876 in the third quarter of Wadhurst.  She was 4 years old in 1881.

   7. Charles Corke was born about 1879 in Wadhurst.  He was 2 years old in 1881.

   8. Fanny Corke was born in 1880 in Wadhurst.  She was 8 months old when the 1881 census was recorded.

4. Sarah Kemp was born in 1843 in Wadhurst and baptised there on 7 January 1844.  In 1851 she was 8 years old.

5. Emily Kemp was baptised on 21 December 1845 in Wadhurst.  She was 5 years old when the 1851 census was recorded.

   Emily married Edward Hoad in the third quarter of 1867 in the Tonbridge registration district.

   Edward was born about 1835.

   When the 1871 census was recorded the couple's 11 year old niece Miriam Kemp was living with them (presumably the daughter of Emily's brother George).  Edward and Emily were witnesses to the marriage of her brother John in 1873.

6. James Kemp was baptised on 18 February 1848 in Wadhurst.  At the time of the 1851 census he was 2 years old.  In 1871 he was a 23 year old farm labourer living at home with his mother and step father.  He suffered with fits and died on 15 June 1885.

7. John Kemp was born on 22 June 1850 at Flattenden in Wadhurst.  He was baptised at the parish church in Wadhurst on 13 April 1856.  He died on 22 October 1932 and was buried in the gounds of the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in Biddenden.

   When the 1851 census was recorded he was 9 months old.  In 1861 he was a 10 year old living at the Miners Arms in Wadhurst with his mother and step father.  When he left school he went to work mainly at Scragg Oak Farm in Wadhurst, and when he was about 17 years old he went to live and work at Buttons Farm the then home of Jacob Wells.  He left there after about a year and went to work in Willingdon, Sussex.  By the time he was 19 he was back working at Scragg Oak Farm.  When the 1871 census was recorded he was living with his mother and steph father at Apps Farm in Wadhurst and he was then a 21 year old farm labourer.  He was baptised at the age of 22 at the Shovers Green Chapel by the Pastor, Mr. Jones.

   John became a Baptist Minister at Bounds Cross in Biddenden, Kent in 1880.  He wrote a Memoir published after his death: “Memoir of John Kemp first Pastor of “Ebenezer” Strict Baptist Chapel, Bounds Cross, Biddenden, Kent.  LONDON: C.J. Farncombe, 1933.  John mentioned that his Grandfather attended Chapel and held prayer meetings in his house, from at least about the late 1860's - but which Grandfather?  Could it have been Jesse Kitchenham?

    

   

   Many thanks to David Porter who took the above photographs on 4 August 2007.  Please click on the pictures for larger images.

    

   John married twice, firstly to Mary Baldock on the morning of Sunday 9 November 1873 at Shovers Green Baptist Chapel.  After they married they lived in her parents house, and following his father-in-law's death they moved into a small cottage close to the railway within the grounds of Scragg Oak Farm.  Shortly after in July 1877 they moved again, to work for Isacc Hoadley at Cottenden, Ticehurst.  When the 1881 census was recorded John and Mary were living in Biddenden, along with their son and Mary's widowed mother Harriet Baldock, who was a 79 year old Annuitant and had been born in Mountfield, Sussex.

   Mary was born on 28 February 1837 in Wadhurst and was the daughter of Edward Baldock (c1797-1877) and Harriet Philcox (c1802-1886).  She died aged 62 years on 26 December 1899 in Biddenden.

   John and Mary had 1 known son:

   1. John Kemp was born 17 February 1876 in Wadhurst.  He died on 18 January 1970.  He was a Baptist Minister at Luton.  John was a 5 year old scholar at the time of the 1881 census.

      John married Ada Jarvis in the first quarter of 1899 at the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in Biddenden.  (The photograph has come from the Baptist Historical Society website.  Please click on the photo to visit their website.)

      John and Ada had the following known children:

      1. Dorothy Kemp

      2. Benjamin J. Kemp was born on 12 May 1913 (ref. 1) in Luton.

   John Kemp, senior, next married Malvina Day on 9 April 1901.

8. Elizabeth Kemp was baptised on 26 June 1853 in Wadhurst.  She was 8 years old when the 1861 census was recorded and living with her mother and stepfather.

9. Miriam Kemp was baptised on 13 April 1856 in Wadhurst.  She died aged 3 years on 8/11 July 1859.

1871 census - Apps Farm, Wadhurst, Sussex (RG10/1048, folio 108, page 1)

Frederick Till, Head, Married, 56, Farmer of 10 1/2 Acres, born Sussex, Wadhurst

Eliza Till, Wife, Married, 56, born Sussex, Wadhurst

Jabez Till, Son, Unmarried, 26, Farm Labourer, born Sussex, Wadhurst

Simeon Till, Son, Unmarried, 24, Blacksmith, born, Sussex, Wadhurst

Hephzibah Till, Daughter, Unmarried, 15, born Sussex, Wadhurst

James Kemp, Son in Law, Unmarried, 23, Farm Labourer, born Sussex, Wadhurst

John Kemp, Son in Law, Unmarried, 21, Farm Labourer, born Sussex, Wadhurst

Ref. 1 - Violet Boorman's diary

KEMP          KITCHENHAM