When Ezekiel Kemp was born on 28 March 1741, in Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, his father, Josiah Kemp I, was 33 and his mother, Rachel Davis, was 31. He married Rebecca Healy in December 1775, in Winchester, Cheshire, New Hampshire, British Colonial America.
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English, Scottish, Dutch, and North German: status name for a champion, Middle English and Middle Low German kempe. In the Middle Ages a champion was a professional fighter on behalf of others; for example the King's Champion, at the coronation, had the duty of issuing a general challenge to battle to anyone who denied the king's right to the throne. The Middle English word corresponds to Old English cempa and Old Norse kempa ‘warrior’; both these go back to ancient Germanic campo ‘warrior’, which is the source of the Dutch and North German name, corresponding to High German Kampf .
Dutch and North German (North Rhine-Westphalia): from the personal name Kempe, Kampe; see 1 above.
Dutch and Flemish: metonymic occupational name for someone who grew or processed hemp, from Middle Dutch canep ‘hemp’.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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