BIOGRAPHY S.r.. Durand: "I was named Samuel Relf after my grandfather, Samuel Relf Kemper, who was born in Philadelphia July 8, 1827. He had an older sister, Elizabeth Marius Kemper, born in 1824, and a younger brother, Lewis Ashurst Kemper, born in 1829. At the time of the birth of these children, their father, Reverend Jackson Kemper, wa one of the rectors of the United Episcopal parishes of Christ Church, St. James Church, and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia. In 1831, my grandfather's father accepted a call to St. Paul's Church in Norwalk, Connecticut. Within a year after moving there, his wife Ann (Relf) Kemper died. My grandfather and his younger brother remained with their father in Norwalk, but their older sister went to live in Philadelphia with her grandmother, Mrs. Sarah (Poyntell) Relf. In 1835, when their father became the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal church in North America and went to the middle west, the boys were sent to Dr. Muhlenberg's School at College Point, on Flushing Bay of Long Island Sound. In the next several years they spent part of their vacations and summers in Philadelphia with their grandmother, and part with their father's sisters and their grandfather Colonel Daniel Kemper in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In October of 1844, at a time when Bishop Kemper was in Philadelphia at a general convention of the Episcopal church, he arranged to have my grandfather return with him to Nashotah, Wisconsin, where he had just built a home near Nashotah House Mission. In a letter dated October 23, 1844, Bishop Kemper wrote to my grandfather at school that if he was determined not to continue his education, he should immediately go to Philadelphia to say goodbye to his grandmother, and then to New Brunswick to say goodbye to his grandfather, Colonel Kemper, and his aunts. Then Bishop Kemper would join him, and they would go to New York, and thence to Catskill where they sould spend Sunday. They would proceed to Buffalo and take the steamship [IT::IT]Empire[IT::IT] leaving there on December 7th for Milwaukee. So, at the end of the year 1844, my grandfather at the age of 17 joined his father to live in the west, in Wisconsin. That same December, though, Bishop Kemper had to return to New York to serve on a court of bishops at a trial of Bishop Onderdonk, so my grandfather was alone in Wisconsin over the Christmas season of 1844. He was determined to be a farmer, and his father mentions in a letter to him dated March 13, 1845 that he had bought for him the [IT::IT]Farmer's Dictionary[IT::IT], a large volume lately published at Philadelphia. At this time an accounting by his guardian, Lewis R. Ashurst of Philadelphia, reveals that my grandfather had inherited from his mother an estate then valued at $2,530.31. He became so entranced with the outdoor life in the west that he never did go back east to college. He went on long missionary trips with his father on horseback. He became responsible for purchasing supplies for Nashotah Episcopal Seminary, which required frequent trips by horse and wagon of thirty miles, into Milwaukee. His knowledge of Latin, Greek and mathematics far surpassed that of many of the students at the seminary, so he assisted in the teaching of these subjects. In the summertimes, he went on missionary trips with some of the students, when not on similar trips with his father. Each fall he would go off with friends on long hunting and camping trips. While still in his teens, he developed a farm on land his father gave to him. Just before my grandfather's marriage to Ann Wiseman on December 5, 1850, he built a frame house in Upper Nebahbin Lake, close to the Nashotah Mission. They called this home 'Cedarly,' for it was set in a beautiful grove of cedar trees. My grandfather and his family attended St. John's Chrysostoms Episcopal Church in Delafield, a mile and a half from their home. He was for several years senior warden of this church while pursuing his farming career. This was a 'low' church in contrast to Nashotah Chapel, which had become a 'high' church, under the influence of some of the professors. My grandfather was a slight man and never strong, not weighing more than 140 pounds. In 1859 he injured his back, and his health was poor enough that for some time he was unable to continue in his farming vocation. His doctors recommended a long period of rest, and suggested a sea voyage[!]. His Relf relatives in Philadelphia owned ships, and through them he arranged passage on the [IT::IT]Uronia[IT::IT], a sailing ship bound for Spain from Sandy Hook, in the spring of 1860. He kept a good diary on this trip, which I read many years ago. He landed in Cadiz, and spent some time there before going on to Gibraltar. After a few days there, he took the [IT::IT]Masillia[IT::IT], a steamship, to Southampton, England. He spent a week visiting his wife's uncle William Wiseman and family in Ringwood, and met two other uncles, Joseph and John Wiseman, and their families. He also met Stephen Legge, his wife's grandfather, father of her mother Mary Ann (Legge) Wiseman. Then, he visited London for a few days before returning home. In 1867, my grandfather's trouble with his back became so serious that he spent two months in the fall seeking medical help in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Again in 1868 he went east, this time to Buffalo seeking medical advice, but he never fully recovered from his back injury. Upon the death of his father in 1870, my grandfather went to live with my Aunt Sue and her husband Dr. Selden Sperry, spending the winters in Milwaukee. He did spend the summers at his country home, Cedarly, and later with various daughters and their families in their summer country homes. In 1911, he decided to give up his country home, as well as a good deal of property he owned on Upper Nebahbin Lake. He had this property divided into lots and arranged for his children to draw for them. Unfortunately, my mother drew the poorest lot of all, partly a swamp; not a desirable location on which to build a summer home. All of my mother's married sisters already had summer country homes, and were interested only in selling the lots they drew. An offer was received from a wealthy family for the Cedarly home with all the lots, so my mother was persuaded to sell her lot in this transaction. She was always somewhat regretful about this, because we never did have a country home, instead renting cottages on various lakes west of Milwaukee for a few weeks each summer during my boyhood. Most of the inheritance received by my grandfather upon the death of his grandmother, Sarah (Poyntell) Relf, in 1865, were investments made by her father, William Poyntell, between 1780 and 1811. These properties provided my grandfather with a small income in addition to his business for many years. But due to poor management of the properties in Philadelphia and the deterioration of the dock areas in which they were located, this income dwindled over the years. My grandfather became disillusioned with the services at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral when they became too 'high church,' with masses and confessions - things that his father, Bishop Kemper, would never have tolerated in the Episcopal church. So he left the cathedral, and became a member of St. Paul's Church, a 'low' parish in Milwaukee, for the last twenty years of his life. He died September 5, 1915 at the age of 88. I was 11 years old at the time of his death. I have some recollections of him; when as a small boy, walking home from Sunday school at St. Paul's Church, I often stopped in to see him. I recall that my grandfather frequently asked me about tools he had given to me, and what I was building with them. He had been exceptionally skillful in the use of tools, and was interested that I enjoyed making things with tools, too. I remember him as a gentle, pleasant elderly man, well up in his eighties, who was in rather feeble health the last few years of his life, but maintained a keen interest in his family and friends until the end."

Facts about this person:

Alt. Born July 08, 1827 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Source: Crutcher.FTW Medium: Other Date of Import: Jan 5, 2000

Alt. Died September 05, 1915 Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin

Source: Crutcher.FTW Medium: Other Date of Import: Jan 5, 2000

Record Change June 25, 1999