- William Kemp of early Duxbury, Mass. is of particular interest to the maintainer of this memorial as his only child, dau. Patience, was the first child of the writer's ancestor. Confusion persists regarding Patience's correct paternity, notwithstanding that numerous articles and lengthy essays have appeared in reputable genealogical journals proving Patience's paternity. Recent inquiries to the writer have prompted the following be added to this memorial for genealogical clarity.
William Kemp, called a servant, arrived at Boston June 3, 1635 aboard the ship James. He soon settled at Duxbury in the Plymouth Colony where on Jan. 7, 1638-9 he was granted a portion of land by the Plymouth Court [PCR Court Orders, 1:109]. On Mar. 5, 1638-9 he was nominated to be a freeman of the Plymouth Colony and thereafter elected a freeman on Dec. 3, 1639 [ibid, 1:117, 139]. While he received several additional grants of land during the year 1640, between late 1639 and late 1640 he was involved in numerous direct transactions with fellow residents regarding the purchase, sale or exchange of land [PC Deeds, 1:56, 57]. He was living at Duxbury Nov. 2, 1640 when he, Capt. Miles Standish and Jonathan Brewster arbitrated an agreement settling a dispute between Joseph Greene and Edmond Brough [PC Court Orders, 1:164]. Unfortunately, he died intestate prior to Sept. 23, 1641 when the inventory of his estate was taken [PC Wills, 1:40; MD 55:75]. His extensive inventory indicates he was a tailor by trade, and apparently a very successful one. This was followed on Nov. 2, 1641 with letters of administration granted to his widow Elizabeth, who filed the estate inventory with the Plymouth Court May 5, 1642 [PC Court Orders, 3:27, 37]. Thereafter, on May 7, 1642 the lands of "Mistress" Elizabeth Kemp are mentioned in a deed as adjoining land sold by Robert Hicks to William Brett. Brett sold that land one year later to Elizabeth's father, Rev. Ralph Partridge [PC Deeds, 1:80].
Rev. Ralph Partridge arrived with his family from England Nov. 17, 1636 to be the first pastor of the Duxbury, Mass. church. At an unknown date between Nov. 1636 and Sept. 1641, William Kemp m. Elizabeth Partridge, Rev. Ralph Partridge's youngest daughter. On May 11, 1643 at Duxbury, the widow Elizabeth Kemp m. as her second husband, Rev. Thomas Thacher of Weymouth, Mass., and became the present writer's ancestors.
Due to the lack of substantive vital records prior to 1653 for any town in the Plymouth Colony, coupled with not reading NEHGR 5:387 (detailed abstract of Rev. Ralph Partridge's 1655 will) instead relying on misstatements at NEHGR 13:245 (Patience Thacher m. William Kemp), early genealogists combined Charles H. Pope's less than clear abbreviated will of Rev. Ralph Partridge [Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts (1900), p. 347] to give Elizabeth (Partridge)(Kemp) Thacher a daughter named Patience by 2nd husband Thomas Thacher. Savage in his Dictionary of the First Settlers... (1860) fell into the same error giving Rev. Ralph Partridge's deceased son-in-law William Kemp an imaginary son William ("William Kempe, Duxbury, s. of the first William, md. Patience, dau. of Rev. Thomas Thacher"). Then the assumed death of the imaginary son allowed his imaginary widow Patience to m. Dr. Samuel Seabury as her supposed 2nd husband.
Rev. Ralph Partridge's Sept. 29, 1655 will at Duxbury, Mass. includes a legacy to granddau. Patience Kemp and essentially states:
• I give my daughter, Elizabeth Thacher, all my landed estate in New England,...Excepting one parcel of land at Hicks his necke, which I bought of Mr. Hicks of Plymouth, and another lot of 10 acres which I give to her eldest daughter Patience Kemp...
Pope's brief abstract of Partridge's will does not include the above cited portion of the will, saying only that Partridge left a legacy to "Elizabeth Thatcher, and her children Thomas, Ralph, Peter and Patience."
On Nov. 16, 1660 at Weymouth, Mass., Patience, only child and sole heir of William Kemp, m. Dr. Samuel Seabury. They had numerous children at Duxbury before Patience died there in 1676. Two years before Patience's death, on July 7, 1674 at the Plymouth Colony Court, with modern spelling of words or abbreviations:
• Liberty is granted unto Mr. Samuel Saberry, of Duxburrow, to look out for land to accommodate him in reference to several former grants made by the Court unto Mr. William Kemp, deceased, which the said Mr. Kemp never had, nor any for him, and was disappointed of some parcels of land assigned to him; and thereby he [Samuel Seabury] having an interest therein, as appears by the records of this Court, if, therefore, the said Mr. Saberry, William Kemp's son-in-law, can find any lands as yet undisposed of, he is to have a competent accommodation of lands out of the same. [PC Court Orders, 5:150-51.][*1]
In summary, William Kemp and wife Elizabeth Partridge had a dau. Patience, named for her maternal grandmother. Regardless of whether Patience was b. prior to or after her father's death, upon the marriage of her mother to Rev. Thomas Thacher she became Rev. Thacher's step-dau. and oldest child of Rev. Thacher's household.
[*1] At Dr. Samuel Seabury's death in 1681, the good doctor had not perfected his claim to land of the estate of William Kemp, in right of wife Patience. On July 7, 1682 Samuel's brother-in-law, Rodolphus Thacher of Duxbury (the half brother of Patience Kemp), was appointed guardian to Samuel and Patience's two youngest children - dau. Hannah and son John. [Plym. Court Orders, VI:91.] At the same court, Rodolphus Thacher appeared and: "Att this Court, Mr. Ralph [a.k.a. Rodolphus] Thacher came into the Court, and petitioned the Court to take into their consideration a grant of land made vnto Mr. William Kemp, lying within the towne of Duxburrow, about Namassakesett, with meddow convenient to be layed forth vnto the same, which meddow was neuer yet layd out according to Court order, neither what was done about the laying it out to be found vpon record nor in any writing. This Court doth therefore order the three men appointed by the towne of Duxburrow to lay out the said lands and run the ranges, namely, Ensigne John Tracye, John Soule, and William Paybody, to repaire to the said place, and lay out the said meddow according to that proportion the said meddowes were ordered to be layed forth by the towne of Duxburrow att the first, that soe the vpland of the said William Kemp may be accommodated according to Court order." [ibid, VI:92-3] The appointment of Rodolphus Thacher as guardian to the two named children, and his perfection of the requested land, are key links in documenting that shortly before the death of Patience (Kemp) Seabury, she had a second son named John whose birth does not appear in the Duxbury vital records.
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1617 - 1643 (26 år)
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