The Emigrants.
The period extending from 1702 to about 1772 marks an era in the early German emigration, nearly fifty thosand leaving their native country for freer soil. The unparalleled ravages of the armies of Louix xiv under Turenne were only a beginning of the bloody persecutions. [1]
Shortly after reaching Amsterdam, John, the eldest of the two fleeing Kempers, set sail for Virginia with his friend Count von Graffenreich and several other colonists. They arrived in the new country in the spring of 1714, and constituted the settlement of Germanna, founded by Governor Alexander Spottswood, in that part of Virginia which was in 1720 named after himself Spotsylvania. However, not content with the rigid laws laid down by the governor, who was a hard master, they moved northward in 1717 and founded a new settlement which they named Germantown. John Kempler of this settlement is the ancestor of the Virginia Kempers.
John Henry Kemper [2] who fled with his brother to Holland, emigrated to America from Rotterdam in 1738, and arrived in Philadelphia on September 25 of that year. He is the ancestor of the Pennsylvania Kempers. He was partialy educated at Heidelburg University, and married the daughter of Pastor Ernst of Monheim.
The third of the old colonel's sons, John Jacob Kemper born in 1706 followed from Rotterdam three years after his brother John Henry, and arrived in Philadelphia on September 23, 1741. he is the ancestor of the New York Kempers.
The twelve colonists who formed the Germantown settlement besides John Kemper were John Fishback and his brother Harmon, Jacob Holtzclaw, John Hoffman, Harmon Utterback, Tillman Weaver, John Martin, Jacob Coons, Peter Hitt, and two others named Wayman and Hardback.
The history of these German settlements of the early eighteenth century has been told by Wayland and Schurict, as well as other writers, and is too well known to need any discussion in this small book, but their condition can be summed up in the following extract from Hugh Jones " Present State of Virginia," published in the year 1724: " the Germans from Palatinate, with allowance of rich lands, thrive very well and live happily, and entertain generously."
In 1716 John Kemper married Alice Utterback, daughter of Harmon Utterback, one of the twelve colonists who came to Virginia with him. Mr. Kemper was a man of considerable intelligence, his handwriting is that of a man of character. He invented the first shovel plow, and accumulated a large amount of property. The exact date of his death is not known, but was some time between the years 1754 and 1759. [3]
[1]- See Waylands and Schuricts "German Element in Virginia" for details.,
[2]- His grandson, Johann Melachoir Kemper, was minister of state and professor of jurisprudence in Leyden University. he wrote a history of the Netherlands.
Another scion of this branch was Petrus Kemper,the famous professor of anatomy at Amsterdam. His lectures and plates made in 1768 are a perfect refutation of the Darwinian theories. Some of the descendants of these two distinguished men still reside in Holland. {from an artical on the Kemper family in the Criterion, Cincinnati, May 1888}.
[3]- It has been a source of regret to more than one historian that the destruction of the records of Prince William County render it impossible to gather many details of old Virginia families in that locality, as is the case here.
Shortly after reaching Amsterdam, John, the eldest of the two fleeing Kempers, set sail for Virginia with his friend Count von Graffenreich and several other colonists. They arrived in the new country in the spring of 1714, and constituted the settlement of Germanna, founded by Governor Alexander Spottswood, in that part of Virginia which was in 1720 named after himself Spotsylvania. However, not content with the rigid laws laid down by the governor, who was a hard master, they moved northward in 1717 and founded a new settlement which they named Germantown. John Kempler of this settlement is the ancestor of the Virginia Kempers.
John Henry Kemper [2] who fled with his brother to Holland, emigrated to America from Rotterdam in 1738, and arrived in Philadelphia on September 25 of that year. He is the ancestor of the Pennsylvania Kempers. He was partialy educated at Heidelburg University, and married the daughter of Pastor Ernst of Monheim.
The third of the old colonel's sons, John Jacob Kemper born in 1706 followed from Rotterdam three years after his brother John Henry, and arrived in Philadelphia on September 23, 1741. he is the ancestor of the New York Kempers.
The twelve colonists who formed the Germantown settlement besides John Kemper were John Fishback and his brother Harmon, Jacob Holtzclaw, John Hoffman, Harmon Utterback, Tillman Weaver, John Martin, Jacob Coons, Peter Hitt, and two others named Wayman and Hardback.
The history of these German settlements of the early eighteenth century has been told by Wayland and Schurict, as well as other writers, and is too well known to need any discussion in this small book, but their condition can be summed up in the following extract from Hugh Jones " Present State of Virginia," published in the year 1724: " the Germans from Palatinate, with allowance of rich lands, thrive very well and live happily, and entertain generously."
In 1716 John Kemper married Alice Utterback, daughter of Harmon Utterback, one of the twelve colonists who came to Virginia with him. Mr. Kemper was a man of considerable intelligence, his handwriting is that of a man of character. He invented the first shovel plow, and accumulated a large amount of property. The exact date of his death is not known, but was some time between the years 1754 and 1759. [3]
[1]- See Waylands and Schuricts "German Element in Virginia" for details.,
[2]- His grandson, Johann Melachoir Kemper, was minister of state and professor of jurisprudence in Leyden University. he wrote a history of the Netherlands.
Another scion of this branch was Petrus Kemper,the famous professor of anatomy at Amsterdam. His lectures and plates made in 1768 are a perfect refutation of the Darwinian theories. Some of the descendants of these two distinguished men still reside in Holland. {from an artical on the Kemper family in the Criterion, Cincinnati, May 1888}.
[3]- It has been a source of regret to more than one historian that the destruction of the records of Prince William County render it impossible to gather many details of old Virginia families in that locality, as is the case here.