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Biography of Nathaniel L. Kemp 1774-1858
The first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, from
September 5th to October 26th, 1774. The Congress sat in
Carpenters Hall. They affirmed the right of the colonies to
life, liberty and property. Fifty-six delegates attended, half
of whom were lawyers. The British were shocked by the
destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor and other colonial
protests which occurred in early 1774. The British parliament
gave its speedy assent to a series of acts that became known
as the "Coercive Acts"; or in the colonies as the "Intolerable
Acts". These acts included the closing of the port of Boston,
until such time as the East India tea company received
compensation for the tea dumped into the harbor. The Royal
governor took control over the Massachusetts's government and
would appoint all officials. Sheriffs would become royal
appointees, as would juries. In addition, the British took the
right to quarter soldiers anywhere in the colonies. Such was
the beginning of a new country, at the time of the birth of
our Nathan L. Kemp on February 3, 1774. Family lore and some
old written correspondence between family members from the
last century and the beginning of this century give his birth
place as Rutherford or Rockingham County, North Carolina.
In our years of research of Nathan it is our logical deduction
that he was from Rutherford County, North Carolina, although
no absolute proof has been found to verify this claim.
Rutherford County came into existence in 1779 during the
American Revolution. Prior to 1779, Rutherford County was
formerly part of Tryon County, North Carolina. In 1771
Governor Tryon called out 5 militiamen of Tryon County to help
put down the Regulator movement, a protest against corrupt
county officials and excessive taxes, centered in counties to
the northeast of Tryon. Although the colony was officially at
peace with the Indians from 1763 to 1776, the Tryon County
frontier was the target of occasional raids, usually by
Cherokees but sometimes by Shawnees and other faraway tribes.
The county sent two representatives to the First Provincial
Congress in 1774. On August 14, 1775 the Committee drafted an
"Association" to be signed by the people of the county. These
resolutions deplored the fighting that had already begun in
Massachusetts and declared that the time had come "to take up
arms and risk our lives and fortunes, in maintaining the
freedom of our country". Cherokee war parties, encouraged by
British agents, attacked several Tryon County settlements in
July 1776. Neighbor joined neighbor, Tories joined Whig in
fighting off the raiders and marching with General Griffith
Rutherford to devastate the Cherokee towns across the Blue
Ridge. Crippled by this destruction, the Cherokees never again
posed a major threat to the country, but small raids
continued, and the militia had to patrol the frontier and man
the forts almost constantly.
A story passed down through generations of our family states
that as a boy Nathan lived on a farm that his father owned or
managed on or near where the "Battle of Cowpens" was fought in
1781. The following paragraph lays claim to his birth being in
Rutherford County, North Carolina:
The term "cowpen" was associated in colonial times with an
open-range stock raising operation bearing many similarities
to the Western cattle ranch of today. The cowpen was an
institution that originated in the low country of South
Carolina, and which was less common in the piedmont than in
parts of the state (SC) much further south. The cowpens from
which the battle site takes its name is sometimes referred to
as "Hannah's Cowpens or as Saunders's Cowpens. This "cowpens"
site was a place of considerable notoriety fro a trading path
with the Cherokees which passed by it. Modern researchers have
been unable to locate records connecting the site to its
original owner, although it was customary for "cowpen" owners
to hold title to the ground on which their buildings and
cattle enclosures were erected. An 1803 state grant to Daniel
McClary is the earliest record of the site. If you review the
site and the closest Kemp or Camp family living near there a
Thomas Camp settled in Island Ford, Rutherford County, North
Carolina, which is about two miles north of the South Carolina
state line or just over two miles from the site of the "Battle
of Cowpens". However, no proof has been located that can link
Thomas Camp to Nathan L. Kemp.
In an affidavit sworn in McNairy County, Tennessee Court in
1857. Nathan states that in 1793 he enlisted to fight the
Cherokee Indians and mustered out of Oconee Station, South
Carolina. By, 1797 he can be found in Franklin County, Georgia
where he is listed on tax lists from 1800 to 1809. All
children from Nathan's first marriage to Nancy Walters/Waters
state in future census records that their birth place was the
state of Georgia.
A list of taxable property in Madison County, Mississippi
Territory dated July 19, 1810 places Nathan as either owning
land or living in Madison County, Mississippi Territory in
1810. This later became Madison County, Alabama. Madison
County was created by Mississippi Territory Governor Robert
Williams on December 13, 1808. Additional land was added until
the county achieved its current form in 1824. The first white
settlers entered the area in 1804. The area was previously
inhabited by Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians. The county seat
was established at Huntsville.
In the same affidavit mentioned above, Nathan states that in
April of 1813, he enlisted in the Creek War from Madison
County for six months. On November 4, 1813 Nathan married
Margary Brashears in Madison County. The license/bond spells
his name as Nathan Camp. This is the one and only document
which spells his name in that manner. All children born to
Nathan and Margary give their birth places as the state of
Alabama, except for their youngest son, James.
Sometime between 1828 and 1829, Nathan moved his second wife
Margary and their children to McNairy County, Tennessee.
Nathan's older sons and daughters from his first marriage also
followed their father into McNairy County, all by the year
1830. The 1830 census of McNairy County listed Nathan, as well
as, his older sons. Nathan can be found on the 1830, 1840 and
1850 census of McNairy County, Tennessee. In early fall of
1857 Nathan's youngest son, James decided to move himself and
his wife to Hot Spring County, Arkansas. James was living at
that time at home with his father and mother and his new wife,
Matilda. For whatever reason, at the age of 83, Nathan decided
to make the move to Arkansas. The following is a story of that
move:
Nathan was about 83 years old when he moved to Hot Spring
County, Arkansas. Upon arriving in Hot Spring County, all
stopped for a luncheon a few miles distant from the Kemp
settlement (Nathan's son John was already there). Nathan
remarked upon the natural beauty of a hill near a small brook
and said that he would choose such a spot for a burial place.
Possibly he had a premonition of impending death. So, soon
after his arrival he died and his wife and others recalling
his comment about the beautiful hillock, took him to it, only
a few miles distant, and he was the first one to be buried in
what is today called the Old Antioch Cemetery. It is located
near Bismarck, Arkansas. |
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