Thornton Buckner Kemper
Thornton Buckner Kemper was the second son of "Smiling Johnny" Kemper. He was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, July 1, 1780, and in the year 1784 came to Kentucky with his parents, who, as has already been stated, settled near the Forks of Dicks river in Gerrard County {then Lincoln} county.
When Thornton entered school he was a bright and industrious boy, full of vigor and possessor of a keen sense of being able to keep his eyes open and his mouth closed. He rapidly grasped the problems which confronted his youthful mind in the country school he attended, for it was to such he went, he had no private tutor, for the Kempner's were pioneers, and the poor schooling in those early days taught as they were, first by one teacher and then another, sometimes only by an occasional journeyman, often without a teacher at all was the sort of schooling Thornton Kemper received.
He inherited the sunny disposition of his father to a marked degree, and was ever a willing actor in the harmless pranks which boys are wont to perpetrate, an amusement of which his old age did not rob him.
When his school days were over, there was no throng of spectators present to applaud his virtues, his had not the honer of being a valedictorian. he simply slipped out of his school room quietly, with no handclapping at his addresses, no medals for his attainments.
Thornton, full of energy, was not content to remain on his fathers plantation, but soon set about to acquire one of his own. His thrift and honesty soon meted out to him the success which was his due, and he secured a large tract of land in the vicinity, which grew until it comprised two thousand acres of fertile blue grass. Mr. Kemper had many slaves to look after this plantation. [1]
This neighborhood was a popular settlement with the Kemper family, James Kemper having also settled in the same locality in April 1785. Thornton Kemper's grandfather, Henry Kemper, removed from Virginia in 1800 and settled in this neighborhood also. Almost all of them lived in sight of the ,"Old Forks" church, an interesting relic of those early days.[2] It is situated on the Lancaster and Lexington road, and about a mile and a half from Camp Dick Robinson, which became famous during the Civil War. The grave yard of this old church was the burying ground of the Kemper's, the Burdett's and other families of that community. Adjoining it are the grounds of Old Rice Academy, where nearly all of Thornton Kemper's grandchildren attended school.
In may 1803 when he was in his twenty-third year, Thornton Kemper married Miss Elizabeth Hutchinson, who was nineteen years of age. A loving couple and fond parents, they lived happily together for over half a century, raising a family of eleven children.
They were Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe , James Madison, Harvey, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson, Judith, Mary, Elizabeth and Velinda.
At the time of his marriage Mr. Kemper was a tall, striking man of excellent physique, and, unlike most of the Kemper's, he had bright blue eyes instead of the usual brown ones. A very democratic gentleman, who yet maintained a dignified poise, he commanded the attention and interest of others, and his intellectual brilliancy despite his crude schooling, and keen sense of humor, won him lifelong friends. his habits were excellent. he never used tobacco, one of his favorite expressions being,
" Tobacco is a Nasty Weed - The Devil Sows the Seed. "
However, like all good Kentuckians in those days, he was fond of a good Whisky. he made all of his own liquor and not a little for his neighbors. Whisky, like Peltries, often passed as money in the days when the young nation was struggling for autonomy.
Although he never held himself up as an example of what a churchgoing man should be, Mr. Kempner's life was a daily example of his duty to his neighbor. His trusting and unselfish nature was purely Christian, and brought many to him in time of distress, and he never refused them anything in his power. An instance of his generosity is recalled: One day a neighbor asked Mr. Kemper for a loan of one hundred dollars, and the latter insisted upon giving the borrower two hundred. Whereupon the neighbor proceeded to execute a note for the amount, which caused Mr. Kemper to snort in disgust.
"note! note! what do I want with your note? if you are not good for it, your note is no good either!"
It would hardly pay to follow this policy in the present age, and even then Mr. Kemper suffered occasionally by his trusting methods. In later years when he furnished security on a man's note for a large amount, he was forced to sell off nearly a thousand acres of his lands to cover it when the man failed to make good his indebtedness. [3]
Mr. Kemper was very fond of the out-of-doors, one of his chief amusements being that of hunting. Wild turkey, deer and other game constantly fell before his deadly aim, as he was very accurate with his rifle and considered one of the best shots in his part of the country.
He was very eccentric, - a pioneer pure and simple. He never wore an overcoat or flannels as long as he lived. the neck-scarf or muffler so commonly worn in his day was not to be seen about his neck. He saw no necessity in bundling up in cold weather, and he did not do it. if a Dicks River inhabitant in the early eighteen hundreds looked up the road any winter's day and saw a man coming with a broad brimmed black hat on his head, without gloves upon his hands, and his coat-tails flapping merrily to the breeze, he knew, as all Dick River inhabitants knew, that it was Thornton Kemper. He would prepare to greet him. when within hailing distance we can almost hear him say: "Hello, Uncle Thornton ! [4] Isn't This a Cold Day !" and Mr. Kemper, looking amused, replies something like this: "Good Lord A 'mighty, No! Cold Nothing!" And we might almost see him produce a red bandana handkerchief from the tail of his coat and wipe some imaginary perspiration from his brow. it, might have been a very cold day, too, for in those days the winters were colder, the snow's more frequent and the winds brisker than we experience now, if we are to believe the "oldest inhabitants." but Thornton Kemper paid little attention to the changes in the weather, and he was never sick from it.
On a farm adjoining his, a good lady known as Aunt Sally Rice, [5] and the younger Kemper's always looked forward to a visit to her abode with a great deal of pleasure but with purely selfish motives, cookies, bread and jam, and other equally enjoyable relishes for the youthful stomach awaited them. Of these visits Mr. Kemper would invariably say: "Down the hill and through the valley; Up the hill to see Miss Sally!"
He spoke in rhyme a great deal of the time. His birthday came, as he always said "First day of July - Wet or Dry."
In politics Mr. Kemper was Whig, one of the old-fashioned type. However, in the presidential election of 1876 he voted for Tilden and Hendricks on the Democratic ticket. Garrard County, in which he lived and voted, gave a democratic majority of one vote and as he was the oldest voter in the county, Mr. Kemper claimed the honor of carrying it for the democrats. This was his last presidential vote.
As he had not much longer to live, although he was well preserved and boasted that he would live to see one hundred.
A friend one day asked him: "uncle Thornton, don't you ever think of dying?" "Dying?" he queried. "Tut! Tut! Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. why not some one else?"
His optimism and humor never forsook him in old age. Not long after this he had occasion to visit Louisville. Upon being introduced to a certain well known political leader there, they fell into conversation upon the growth of that city.
"There have been great many changes in Louisville since I was here last," remarked Mr. Kemper. "Yes I presume so" replied the other. "The city is growing rapidly. how long, by the way, has it been since you were here?"
Mr. Kemper looked innocently up to the sky, his eye's twinkling as he responded: "Oh about seventy years."
But these little pleasantries were soon to cease, for his days were fast drawing to a close. His wife had died on the tenth day of February 1857 at the age of 73. Early in 1878 Mr. Kemper began to decline. He scoffed at the idea, and his fortitude was remarkable. But the change was noticeable and the inevitable had to come, and on the first day of November, in peaceful resignation and with a smile on his lips, he passed away.
When he was laid to rest, no roar of cannon echoed over his grave. no monuments are erected to his memory for any great deeds or services he performed for his country. His name will not be found among those who have made history for the nation. But he will be remembered for other deeds and services, for little acts of kindness, for his helpful influence and his stanch friendship.
Thus departed a good and brilliant man, a dignified gentleman, a loyal father, a true friend. may his simple goodness inspire peace, his fortitude and optimism, courage, and his name reverence to the generations to come.
[1] When the news of Abraham Lincoln's emancipation proclamation reached the Dicks River country, Mr. Kemper's slaves left en-mass one night, taking with them all the old family silver, and a great deal of clothing and such other articles as they could manage to carry on the horses. Which they had also appropriated. Mr. Kemper, on learning of there desertion the next morning, sent for several of his sons, who all lived nearby, and they set out in pursuit of the fleeing darkies. They were soon overtaken, and returned willingly enough when their master lectured them on this evidence of their ingratitude for the kindness he had always shown them.
[2] The original church was built of logs and when it reached its last stage of usefulness, it was replaced by a stone structure, which finally gave way to the brick one that now stands.
[3] His grandson, Ethelbert Kemper tells many such anecdotes regarding him.
[4] He was commonly called that by his friends.
[5] Her son, Andrew j. Rice, donated the land on which Old Rice Academy stood, and it was in his honor that the school was named.
When Thornton entered school he was a bright and industrious boy, full of vigor and possessor of a keen sense of being able to keep his eyes open and his mouth closed. He rapidly grasped the problems which confronted his youthful mind in the country school he attended, for it was to such he went, he had no private tutor, for the Kempner's were pioneers, and the poor schooling in those early days taught as they were, first by one teacher and then another, sometimes only by an occasional journeyman, often without a teacher at all was the sort of schooling Thornton Kemper received.
He inherited the sunny disposition of his father to a marked degree, and was ever a willing actor in the harmless pranks which boys are wont to perpetrate, an amusement of which his old age did not rob him.
When his school days were over, there was no throng of spectators present to applaud his virtues, his had not the honer of being a valedictorian. he simply slipped out of his school room quietly, with no handclapping at his addresses, no medals for his attainments.
Thornton, full of energy, was not content to remain on his fathers plantation, but soon set about to acquire one of his own. His thrift and honesty soon meted out to him the success which was his due, and he secured a large tract of land in the vicinity, which grew until it comprised two thousand acres of fertile blue grass. Mr. Kemper had many slaves to look after this plantation. [1]
This neighborhood was a popular settlement with the Kemper family, James Kemper having also settled in the same locality in April 1785. Thornton Kemper's grandfather, Henry Kemper, removed from Virginia in 1800 and settled in this neighborhood also. Almost all of them lived in sight of the ,"Old Forks" church, an interesting relic of those early days.[2] It is situated on the Lancaster and Lexington road, and about a mile and a half from Camp Dick Robinson, which became famous during the Civil War. The grave yard of this old church was the burying ground of the Kemper's, the Burdett's and other families of that community. Adjoining it are the grounds of Old Rice Academy, where nearly all of Thornton Kemper's grandchildren attended school.
In may 1803 when he was in his twenty-third year, Thornton Kemper married Miss Elizabeth Hutchinson, who was nineteen years of age. A loving couple and fond parents, they lived happily together for over half a century, raising a family of eleven children.
They were Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe , James Madison, Harvey, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson, Judith, Mary, Elizabeth and Velinda.
At the time of his marriage Mr. Kemper was a tall, striking man of excellent physique, and, unlike most of the Kemper's, he had bright blue eyes instead of the usual brown ones. A very democratic gentleman, who yet maintained a dignified poise, he commanded the attention and interest of others, and his intellectual brilliancy despite his crude schooling, and keen sense of humor, won him lifelong friends. his habits were excellent. he never used tobacco, one of his favorite expressions being,
" Tobacco is a Nasty Weed - The Devil Sows the Seed. "
However, like all good Kentuckians in those days, he was fond of a good Whisky. he made all of his own liquor and not a little for his neighbors. Whisky, like Peltries, often passed as money in the days when the young nation was struggling for autonomy.
Although he never held himself up as an example of what a churchgoing man should be, Mr. Kempner's life was a daily example of his duty to his neighbor. His trusting and unselfish nature was purely Christian, and brought many to him in time of distress, and he never refused them anything in his power. An instance of his generosity is recalled: One day a neighbor asked Mr. Kemper for a loan of one hundred dollars, and the latter insisted upon giving the borrower two hundred. Whereupon the neighbor proceeded to execute a note for the amount, which caused Mr. Kemper to snort in disgust.
"note! note! what do I want with your note? if you are not good for it, your note is no good either!"
It would hardly pay to follow this policy in the present age, and even then Mr. Kemper suffered occasionally by his trusting methods. In later years when he furnished security on a man's note for a large amount, he was forced to sell off nearly a thousand acres of his lands to cover it when the man failed to make good his indebtedness. [3]
Mr. Kemper was very fond of the out-of-doors, one of his chief amusements being that of hunting. Wild turkey, deer and other game constantly fell before his deadly aim, as he was very accurate with his rifle and considered one of the best shots in his part of the country.
He was very eccentric, - a pioneer pure and simple. He never wore an overcoat or flannels as long as he lived. the neck-scarf or muffler so commonly worn in his day was not to be seen about his neck. He saw no necessity in bundling up in cold weather, and he did not do it. if a Dicks River inhabitant in the early eighteen hundreds looked up the road any winter's day and saw a man coming with a broad brimmed black hat on his head, without gloves upon his hands, and his coat-tails flapping merrily to the breeze, he knew, as all Dick River inhabitants knew, that it was Thornton Kemper. He would prepare to greet him. when within hailing distance we can almost hear him say: "Hello, Uncle Thornton ! [4] Isn't This a Cold Day !" and Mr. Kemper, looking amused, replies something like this: "Good Lord A 'mighty, No! Cold Nothing!" And we might almost see him produce a red bandana handkerchief from the tail of his coat and wipe some imaginary perspiration from his brow. it, might have been a very cold day, too, for in those days the winters were colder, the snow's more frequent and the winds brisker than we experience now, if we are to believe the "oldest inhabitants." but Thornton Kemper paid little attention to the changes in the weather, and he was never sick from it.
On a farm adjoining his, a good lady known as Aunt Sally Rice, [5] and the younger Kemper's always looked forward to a visit to her abode with a great deal of pleasure but with purely selfish motives, cookies, bread and jam, and other equally enjoyable relishes for the youthful stomach awaited them. Of these visits Mr. Kemper would invariably say: "Down the hill and through the valley; Up the hill to see Miss Sally!"
He spoke in rhyme a great deal of the time. His birthday came, as he always said "First day of July - Wet or Dry."
In politics Mr. Kemper was Whig, one of the old-fashioned type. However, in the presidential election of 1876 he voted for Tilden and Hendricks on the Democratic ticket. Garrard County, in which he lived and voted, gave a democratic majority of one vote and as he was the oldest voter in the county, Mr. Kemper claimed the honor of carrying it for the democrats. This was his last presidential vote.
As he had not much longer to live, although he was well preserved and boasted that he would live to see one hundred.
A friend one day asked him: "uncle Thornton, don't you ever think of dying?" "Dying?" he queried. "Tut! Tut! Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. why not some one else?"
His optimism and humor never forsook him in old age. Not long after this he had occasion to visit Louisville. Upon being introduced to a certain well known political leader there, they fell into conversation upon the growth of that city.
"There have been great many changes in Louisville since I was here last," remarked Mr. Kemper. "Yes I presume so" replied the other. "The city is growing rapidly. how long, by the way, has it been since you were here?"
Mr. Kemper looked innocently up to the sky, his eye's twinkling as he responded: "Oh about seventy years."
But these little pleasantries were soon to cease, for his days were fast drawing to a close. His wife had died on the tenth day of February 1857 at the age of 73. Early in 1878 Mr. Kemper began to decline. He scoffed at the idea, and his fortitude was remarkable. But the change was noticeable and the inevitable had to come, and on the first day of November, in peaceful resignation and with a smile on his lips, he passed away.
When he was laid to rest, no roar of cannon echoed over his grave. no monuments are erected to his memory for any great deeds or services he performed for his country. His name will not be found among those who have made history for the nation. But he will be remembered for other deeds and services, for little acts of kindness, for his helpful influence and his stanch friendship.
Thus departed a good and brilliant man, a dignified gentleman, a loyal father, a true friend. may his simple goodness inspire peace, his fortitude and optimism, courage, and his name reverence to the generations to come.
[1] When the news of Abraham Lincoln's emancipation proclamation reached the Dicks River country, Mr. Kemper's slaves left en-mass one night, taking with them all the old family silver, and a great deal of clothing and such other articles as they could manage to carry on the horses. Which they had also appropriated. Mr. Kemper, on learning of there desertion the next morning, sent for several of his sons, who all lived nearby, and they set out in pursuit of the fleeing darkies. They were soon overtaken, and returned willingly enough when their master lectured them on this evidence of their ingratitude for the kindness he had always shown them.
[2] The original church was built of logs and when it reached its last stage of usefulness, it was replaced by a stone structure, which finally gave way to the brick one that now stands.
[3] His grandson, Ethelbert Kemper tells many such anecdotes regarding him.
[4] He was commonly called that by his friends.
[5] Her son, Andrew j. Rice, donated the land on which Old Rice Academy stood, and it was in his honor that the school was named.