Ancestors of Dennis W. Kemper and Gayle R. Hasselschwert

Updated January 14, 2001

 Dennis Kemper
bk423@aol.com

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The first that is known of the Kemper family is that they were living in the Nassau-Siegen region of Germany in about 1430 where they were known as Smyt or Smith because of their trade as blacksmiths. The Kemper name was formalized in records in the late 1500's although the family could have been known as Kemper before that time as it is a very ancient name in Germany and the Lowlands. Johann Kemper immigrated to the Germanna Outpost of Virginia from Germany in 1714 along with several other families from in and around Siegen, Germany about 50 miles east of Cologne. The descendants of Johann Kemper in America are descended from or related to nearly all the families of the 1714 group. There is a great deal known of these families through the Germanna Foundation which has some web-sites. My ancestors, Tilman Kemper (Camper) and Dinah Hitt were both grandchildren of Germanna immigrants and Tilman served in the Revolutionary War. My grandfather, Reverend John Erven Kemper, compiled family information from older living relatives during the early 1900's that I discovered in the 1970's connected with the book entitled the "The Kemper Genealogy" written in 1899 by a distant cousin, Willis Kemper.

The Hasselschwert family immigrated to upstate New York from Germany in 1836. The family is recorded living in Leimersheim, Pfalz, Germany as early as the 1600's. The family has been extensively documented in the records of St. Gertrude's Roman Catholic Church in Leimersheim which are available on LDS Microfilm 0488395. They were living in Sheldon, Gennessee Co, New York after their arrival to the United States and were members of St. Cecelia's Catholic Church in Strykersvill, NY. The area where the Heselschwerts were living was divided into Wyoming Co.in 1841. Some of the family, including Gayle's ancestors, John Hasselschwert and Victoria Roemesser,moved on to Defiance, Ohio in 1874.

Family Photos

  • Marshall "Tom" Jennings (1863-1931) (17 KB)
    Tom Jennings, the father of Will, was born in Tennessee and moved by covered wagon to Texas in the 1870's. This photo was probably taken in Clay Co, TX in about 1885.
  • Joseph Granville Kemper (1836-1907) (16 KB)
    Joseph Granville Kemper probably in 1861 at the time of his marriage to Mary Jane Burk in Macedonia, Owen Co, KY
  • Nicholas Nusbaum and Walburga Zerlaut ca. 1910 (39 KB)
    This photo and the information about the family were generously provided by Father Dan Nusbaum.
  • Sarah E. Jennings (1843-1896) (58 KB)
    Sarah Jennings moved her children including son, Tom, from Claiborne Co, TN to Clay Co, TX by covered wagon in the 1870's.
  • Mary Jane Burk-Kemper (1839-1892) (18 KB)
    Mary Jane Burk probably in 1861 at the time of her marriage to Joseph Granville Kemper in Macedonia, Owen Co, KY
  • John Hasselschwert and Victoria Roemesser ca 1880 (46 KB)
    John and Victoria immigrated from Germany to New York with their parents. After they married they moved to Defiance, Ohio.
  • Minnie Mae Rickard-Jennings (1868-1928) (18 KB)
    Minnie Mae Rickard married Tom Jennings in Henrietta, Clay Co, TX in 1887. She was the sister of George Tex Rickard who promoted the first million-dollar boxing gate and built Madison Square Garden.
  • Nimrod Kemper (1789-1865) and Lucy Searcy (61 KB)
    Nimrod Kemper son of the Revolutionary War veteran Tilman Camper and Dianah Hitt with second wife Lucy Searcy, sister of Dorcas Searcy the wife of Tillman Holdsclaw Kemper. Nimrod was Tillman's uncle.
  • John and Grace Kemper family 1913 (118 KB)
    John and Grace Kemper in Oklahoma in 1913 where he was a Methodist minister with children: Ira, Bennet (Charlie), John (Jack), Ruth, and Bill.
  • Robert Wood Rickard (1837-1881) (186 KB)
    Robert Wood Rickard probably taken in Springfield, Illinois in about 1860. Robert saw extensive action during his four-years service in the Union Army during the Civil War. He died of a lung disease he contracted in the south during the War.
  • John Kemper and Grace Fowler Wedding - 1903 (49 KB)
    John Erven Kemper and Grace Esther Fowler wedding in McHue, Independence Co, Arkansas on June 14, 1903. Grace's sister, Addie and a friend of John are in the front seat.
  • Lucretia Jane Ferguson-Rickard (1847-1937) (54 KB)
    Lucretia was born in Missouri and married Robert Rickard in a hotel in Wyandotte City (now Kansas City)Kansas in 1868. Her father George Ferguson was a veteran of the Mexican War.
  • Charles "Charlie" William Fowler (1843-1914) (27 KB)
    Charlie Fowler probably taken in 1863 in Old Jackson, Cape Girardeau, MO at time of his marriage and while he was serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.
  • Stella Constance Miller/Moller (1890-1983) (19 KB)
    Stella in her wedding dress that she made in Seattle, Washington in 1903. She married William L. Jennings.
  • Frances Victoria Hensley-Fowler (1848-1917) (21 KB)
    Frances "Frankie" Hensley taken when she married to Charlie in 1863 when she was only 14 years old. She was a camp follower and followed Charlie during the Civil War.
  • Frederick Christian Jensen Moller (1844-1916) (20 KB)
    Frederick, father of Stella, was born in Denmark and ordained a Lutheran Minister in Minnesota in 1883. The last name was anglecized from Moller (with an umlaut over the o) to Miller. He moved the family to Oregon in 1896 and then to Seattle.
  • Reverend John Erven Kemper (1870-1929) (23 KB)
    Reverend John Erven Kemper probably taken at the time of his wedding in Arkansas in 1903.
  • Gunhild Bjorndal-Miller (1858-1926) (16 KB)
    Gunhild was born in Norway and moved with her family via Canada to Minnesota while young. She married Frederick Miller in Oster, Minnesota in 1874.
  • Grace Esther Fowler-Kemper (1886-1982) (25 KB)
    Grace Fowler probably taken at the time of her marriage in Arkansas in 1903 at the age of 16.
  • Lewis Burr Rickard (1806-1895) (39 KB)
    Lewis in Springfield, Illinois in about 1865. He was the father of Robert Wood Rickard.
  • William Louis Jennings (1890-1973) (29 KB)
    William Jennings taken in about 1925 in Seattle, Washington.
  • Catherine Wood-Rickard (1808-1866) (44 KB)
    Catherine was the wife of Lewis Burr Rickard and they married in Clark Co, Ohio in 1832 after travelling with her family from Virginia. She died in Springfield, Illinois and Lewis returned to Clark Co and married her sister, Susan P.A.C. Wood.
 

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