BIOGRAPHY S.R. Durand: "I have more than 125 letters written by my great-grandmother, Ann (Relf) Kemper, to her husband; and I have a few written to her mother between 1821 and 1832. I also have about 125 letters that Rev. Jackson Kemper wrote to his wife when he was away from home on missionary trips and at Episcopal church meetings. Many times, particularly in mid-summers between 1821 and 1831 when they lived in Philadelphia, she spent some time at his parents' home in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Some of these times she spent elsewhere, in the country, when he thought it too hot and unhealthy for her and their children to remain in the city. From these endearing daily letters to each other, it is apparent that she was very dependent upon him and deeply devoted to him, and he to her. His pet name for her was "my Annest." Even though her life was a short one, these letters have enabled me to write a long account of the life of this lovely ancestress, only part of which I am including in this biographical sketch. My great-grandmother was not quite 18 years old when she was married on October 9, 1821, by Bishop White to the then Reverend Jackson Kemper, one of the three rectors of the three united Episcopal churches in Philadelphia (Christ Church, St. Peter's Church, and St. James' Church). She had been born December 16, 1803, the third child of Samuel and Sarah (Poyntell) Relf [#733-34]. She went to Mrs. Hazeley's Academy in Philadelphia, starting her schooling at the age of 6. She loved poetry, and I have several sweet poems that she wrote during her lifetime. In several notes exchanged between Ann Relf and Jackson Kemper prior to their marriage, I find that he loaned her books, which she was eager to read. Some of these books were of a historical nature, and others were of a religious nature. Apparently, being fourteen years younger, she was eager to improve her knowledge of subjects she knew he was interested in. In reading Ann's letters to her husband written two months after their marriage, when she was visiting his family in New Brunswick, she writes of how affectionately she was being treated by his parents and his two sisters, Jane and Elisa. Her husband at this time had gone on to New York for a church meeting. She wrote that the family had been greatly amused because she found in their home a miniature of him, and insisted on keeping it to look at frequently each day while she was there. Nearly a year later, in July of 1822 Rev. Kemper was again in New York. In a sweet letter to him, she wrote that she planned to learn to play more sacred music on the piano, so that she could play and sing for him in evenings when he was fatigued. She wrote of her plans to paint, too. In another letter, dated 22 July 1822, she composed a lovely poem expressing her love for him. In July and August of that year, she was in New Brunswick while a fever epidemic was raging in Philadelphia. Rev. Jackson Kemper wrote his wife of having to conduct several funerals daily, mostly of little children. She wrote of worrying about their small house, and if she had left enough candles for him in his study; she also wrote each day of her progress in reading Smith's botany and Gregory's church history. In February of 1823, her father Samuel Relf died. I have a fine letter he wrote to his daughter just before her marriage, telling her how important it would be that she be a devoted and understanding wife when married to a clergyman, who would have constant demands on his time. In June of 1823, Rev. Jackson Kemper took his wife to Easton, Pennsylvania, to visit his half-sister Mary; this sister had married Samuel Sitgreaves in 1797, while he was in the United States Congress. Jackson and Ann (Relf) Kemper's first child, Elizabeth Marius, was born February 16, 1824. In June and July of that year, many letters were exchanged between them while he was on frequent visits to New York. There he attended board meetings at the General Theological Seminary and meetings of the Mission Society, which he headed for many years. Her letters told of caring for their little home and their child during the day. Also, these letters related how difficult she found it to return to her mother's home in the afternoons, because her grandmother (Ann (King) Poyntell) made such a fuss over the baby, and insisted on bathing her with brandy twice a day during hot weather. In September, October, and November of 1824, Rev. Kemper was on a missionary trip with Bishop White in western Pennsylvania, and there were many interesting letters to her from him about his experiences. These letters reveal a beautiful picture of their devotion to each other, and I can understand why they saved each other's letters. In April of 1825, Ann wrote several letters to her husband while she was visiting the Cox family in the country at Holmesburg, near Philadelphia. John Cox's wife was a sister of Jerusha Lyman, Jackson Kemper's first wife, and a very close friend of Ann Kemper's. In June and July of that year, the letters from Jackson Kemper to his wife were written from as far west as Pittsburgh and Wheeling, while he was on another missionary trip with Bishop White. Part of that time while he was gone she was visiting with his family in New Brunswick, and she wrote of creating quite a sensation there by wearing lace ruffles around her neck, a new fashion in Philadelphia. Later that year, she was visiting family friends in New York with her mother, and Jackson Kemper wrote to her sometimes twice a day; this in spite of a very busy schedule of calling at the orphanage, the hospital, and on parishioners, as well as attending committee meetings of the churches, conducting services, and preaching several times a week. Some of their letters tell of young married friends or children of friends dying at early ages. In 1826, Ann Kemper spent a good part of the summer in New Brunswick because of an epidemic in Philadelphia, and because their daughter "Lill," as they called her, was somewhat sickly. She wrote her husband of various relatives visiting Colonel and Mrs. Kemper, such as members of the Sitgreaves and Morton families. She mentioned in one letter having met the Reverend Abraham Beach [#578 in this database], my father's great-grandfather, who was retired from Trinity Church in New York and living on his home on the Raritan River near New Brunswick. Her husband wrote her of the serious financial difficulties of the three united churches, and how they had lowered his salary from $1600 to $1000 per year, and how in spite of this her hoped that they could live economically so as to continue to pay off some debts. Ann and her daughter also visited the family of Samuel Cox at their home in Bustleton, and while there her husband wrote her that her grandmother Anne (Wilcocks) Poyntell [#738] had suffered a paralytic stroke, but was recovering quickly. In September and October, she addressed letters to him to Springville, Wilkes-Barre and Easton, Pennsylvania, while he was on his annual missionary trip. She wrote of being able to sleep well at home; always before she had gone to her mother's overnight or her brother Charles had come to be in the chouse with her when he was away. She told news of politics in the diocese regarding the coming election of a new assistant bishop; she also reported going one morning to the Franklin Institute exhibition, and in the afternoon to a meeting of the Educational Society at Christ Church. On October 9, 1826, she wrote of being quite gloomy on their wedding anniversary due to his absence, and lamented their not being able to have a pound cake together. In May of 1827, Rev. Jackson Kemper was among the clergymen from Philadelphia Episcopal churches who attended a meeting in Harrisburg in which the fifty clergy were evenly divided on the selection of an assistant bishop of Pennsylvania. His letter to Ann told of the two hundred clergy and lay delegates assembling in the fine noble room of the House of Representatives, and about the famous meeting in Mrs. Elder's house where the twenty-five clergy of his group failed to agree on a candidate for the position. The next day, the Rev. Henry U. Onderdonk of Brooklyn was nominated and elected to the position. Jackson Kemper's brother Sylvestre, who had never recovered fully from wounds received in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812, died May 17, 1827. Soon after, my grandfather Samuel Relf Kemper was born in Philadelphia, on July 8, 1827. In 1828 Ann Kemper was in Bordentown, New Jersey for several weeks with the two children during, a severe epidemic of dysentery in Philadelphia that took the lives of many children. Her Husband always wrote of July as his "funeral month." During these years he was contributing to the support of his aged parents and two unmarried sisters by sending them $60 quarterly. At the end of June 1829, Rev. Jackson Kemper was delayed on his way to New York for two and a half hours when one of the shafts of the steamboat broke in the Raritan River; the passengers had to return to New Brunswick to take another ship. On this trip he wrote of visiting with his cousins Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Quincy on the boat between New Brunswick and New York. Mr. Quincy had recently been elected president of Harvard University. While in New York, he took a twelve-mile carriage trip to visit Dr. Muhlenberg's School near Flushing on Long Island, where he saw William Ashurst, a son of very close friends of his family. He was very much impressed with this excellent boys' school. Back in New York, he conducted two days of examinations at the Theological Seminary, and also visited his aunt Maria Sophia Kemper [#1233], who was Mrs. John Morton [#1234] and mother of Eliza S. Morton [#1240], who was Mrs. Josiah Quincy [#1241]. During the week, he dined with Bishop Hobart and several other New York clergy, attended meetings of the trustees of the seminary, visited the Pro-Episcopal Press (which had just been established for the publication of works of the church), and attended a special meeting regarding help for the Green Bay Mission, a subject of great interest to him. The return trip from New York to Philadelphia began at 7am by steamboat to New Brunswick, by stagecoach to Trenton, and then by steamboat to Philadelphia, arriving at 7pm. His letters to his wife from New York were addressed in care of her mother, Mrs. Sarah Relf, Chestnut and Broad Streets, Philadelphia. All letters during these years were written on a rather heavy paper, which was simply folded to resemble an envelope and sealed on the back with red sealing wax. The third child of my great-grandparents was born July 19, 1829 and named Lewis Ashurst Kemper. Ann (Wilcocks) Poyntell, Ann Kemper's grandmother, died on October 6 of that same year. Also in October of 1829, Rev. Kemper wrote to Ann between sessions of the general church convention in New York, "As far as I am concerned, I expect no result from my present visit." He was endeavoring to find a parish in need of a clergyman away from Philadelphia, as Ann was very eager to live in the country. On March 15, 1830 in another letter to Ann from New York, he said that he dined with his cousin General John Morton, and that again prospects for a vacant parish for him were not favorable at that time. Ann spent the entire summer with the three children at New Brunswick. She wrote that Sam was a merry little fellow and a constant companion to his "drampa," spending a good part of each day in the garden with him. She begged him to write to her of church news, and also said, "Do not forget my great desire to leave Philadelphia." That summer in Philadelphia, a great many little children died of scarlet fever, and Rev. Jackson Kemper wrote his wife in July: "This is my funeral month, and I have been averaging two a day." She wrote to him again, "The little while I have been here confirms me in my desire of living in the country. Altho', as you know, I do not consider Brunswick a pretty and agreeable place, I really prefer their manner of living to a Philadelphia life. ---No news you can send me will be so welcome as that you have a prospect of getting a country parish. ---Goodbye my dear husband, and believe me your affectionate Annest." In another letter she wrote of my grandfather, "Sam is a plain, matter-of-fact, sturdy fellow without one particle of imagination. He will neither make a painter or a poet." Jackson Kemper wrote to his wife on June 15, 1830: "The subject of removal appears to have an unconquerable hold upon you. Suppose we come to a perfect understanding before the subject. I submit the following propositions: That we remain quiet until next Easter Monday, and will not in the meanwhile think of a change unless an offer decidedly advantageous is made to me - that we live with the utmost economy with the view of having all our debts paid by that time, and that you prepare yourself by a regular course of study to instruct the children when we get to the country - that we do all the good we can, and that I never suffer a week to pass without writing a new sermon, in order that I might have a good stock for a new parish - that you learn all the act and mystery of economy and I strive to be a better preacher and parish minister than I ever yet have been. Then if Easter Monday find us as we now are, I will start off and look for a parish and resign this whenever you please. Will you agree to all the above? If so - keep this letter and remind me of it from time to time." On August 12, 1830, Jackson Kemper went to Georgetown, Maryland to conduct the funeral service of the Rev. Samuel Sitgreaves [#1401], his sister Mary (Kemper) Sitgreaves' son and the husband of Ann (Lyman) Sitgreaves [#1402], she a sister of Rev. Jackson Kemper's first wife. He had died suddenly "of the ordinary bilious fever of the climate." Rev. Kemper had mentioned in a previous letter that there had been 196 deaths in Philadelphia during the previous week, and that he had never known it to be so continuously warm. It is little wonder that they did not want their little children to be in Philadelphia during the hot weather and serious epidemics of the summers. On October 3, 1830 Ann wrote to her husband in New York, "I do not expect anything to result from your visit, and am therefore quite easy on the subject, but you cannot imagine with what alacrity I would tear up all my carpets and start off." On October 5th, Jackson Kemper wrote of having preached on the morning of Sunday the 3rd at St. Paul's, and in the afternoon at St. John's. The following morning he had left New York at 8am, and arrived in Hartford, Connecticut at 10:30pm. The following day he dined with the Bishop of Connecticut, and met with the Reverends Wheaton, Hawks, Potter, and Humphreys, but "obtained very little satisfaction in relation to the African Mission." As always, Rev. Jackson Kemper was very much interested in the support by the Episcopal Church of missionary work, and since the general convention of 1820 he had been chairman of the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society in the United States for Foreign and Domestic Missions. On May 19th and May 20th, 1831, Ann was suffering great pain in her side, and wrote of having been bled with sixty leeches; she reported that later the woman would be coming again to bleed her. Of course, this blood-replacement theory was the standard medical practice in those days in the treatment of serious illnesses. The following day, though, May 21, Rev. Kemper wrote the following from Norwalk, Connecticut, where he had gone to consider a call to St. Paul's Episcopal Church: "Dearest wife - I have rec'd your two letters and trust you are much better. I can now address you as the wife of the Rector of this parish. Of this, however, I hope you will not say much. I am rather too old [he was 41] to be very sanguine - but I believe by economy and kindness on our part we may be comfortable. The place is healthy and somewhat pretty. The parsonage is, at present, occupied. I have seen it, but have not examined it. It is very pretty in front where there is a yard that may almost be called a lawn, in which there are some numerable elm trees. Let me see if I can roughly sketch the house. [A sketch and room arrangement of the house was included.] I have just said yes to the offer, and hope to be here with my family today fortnight. If I bring you to poverty, I know I bring you willingly; and I thereby maintain my independence of character and the dignity of my office. ---truly and ever with great love to you and the children - Jackson Kemper." On Trinity Sunday, May 29, 1831, Rev. Jackson Kemper preached his farewell sermon at Christ Church in Philadelphia. His resignation from the United Churches was accepted by the vestry on June 1. They drafted a resolution which acknowledged his service to the United Churches of over 20 years, and praising his devotion to his office there. It ended, "The vestry part with Dr. Kemper, with sentiments of affectionate respect, and pray that the blessing of Heaven may attend him personally, and prosper his labours in his new connection. Resolved, that as a mark of esteem of the United Churches for Dr. Kemper, the accounting warden be instructed to pay him the sum of five hundred dollars, in addition to his salary for the accruing quarter." After settling in Norwalk, Ann speaks in letters to her mother of the excellent supplies of all kinds of food there: four chickens that gave four eggs a day, and a cow for milk. A vestry committee procured for $500 a gentle, steady horse along with a carriage for them. She wrote of her husband preaching to a congregation of 180 on Sunday mornings, and in the afternoons at "Uncle Daniel's" to immense crowds that filled the house and yard. He preached seven times a week: Twice on Sundays, on Monday evenings at Old Wells, on Wednesday evenings in the church, on Thursdays at Saugatuck, on Saturdays at the Academy in the northwest district; on Fridays he lectured in preparation for confirmation. He had only Tuesday evenings at home. She speaks also of being quite comfortably well-off, with a nurse for the children, a cook, and a man for all outside work. At the end of August, the Rev. Kemper was in Philadelphia for ten days. She wrote to him of having baked several pies and cakes, and of having received gifts of fruit. She wrote of having made butter "quite as good as our neighbors'," and of the delicious meals they were having. Her letters were full of happiness about their new life in the country, which she had wanted for so long. She also wrote about one somewhat amusing incident on August 29, 1831, in which little Sam had been sitting on a fence watching their coachman, Anson, while he fished, when he had fallen off into the brook. Anson rescued him, but the little boy was sick for a little while from all the water he had swallowed. On October 18, 1831, Ann Kemper wrote to her mother that she had been in bed with a fever and bad cough for a week. He doctor had advised a journey, so she reported that she would be coming to Philadelphia with her brother Charles, who had been visiting in Norwalk. She said she would bring the baby Lewis and a nursemaid, and that she was eager to see the new home her mother had purchased and the new furnishings. For the next two weeks, daily letters were exchanged between Ann and Jackson Kemper, full of minute details of the happenings in their daily lives, and full of love and devotion. On October 24th, he wrote: "I wish you had been more minute as to your chest, side, and cough. I greatly rejoice, however, that you have stood the journey so well, and I pray you to remember that your first object is to get well." On November 4th, he concluded a letter by writing: "Rest assured, dearest wife, when that good providence of God restores you to our sight we shall rejoice with gratitude in the possession of the best earthly gift our heavenly Father bestows - a devoted wife and mother. Most truly and ever yours - Jackson Kemper." It is apparent that her health was not good, in spite of the benefits of living in the country. In May of 1832, Ann Kemper suddenly became very ill, and she died at the age of 28 on May 15, 1832. It is tragic to think of how happy she had been that her husband had obtained a country parish, and how short a time she had to enjoy their happy situation. In a letter written in New Brunswick in 1830, she had said, "I would rather live on bread and water the rest of my life in a healthy country parsonage than be a society lady in an unhealthy city." She had seen so many of her friends and friends' children die in the summers in Philadelphia that she was determined to protect her husband and children from the epidemics that occurred there. She was buried in St. Paul's Churchyard in Norwalk, and a handsome monument in front of the church and over her grave was erected to her memory by the family. The inscription on the gravestone reads: Ann Kemper wife of Jackson Kemper D.D. Rector of this church Born at Philadelphia 16th Dec. 1803 Died at Norwalk 15th May 1832 Her Christian walk was characterized by lowliness, unsurmounting submission to her Heavenly Father and entire dependence on the merits of The Redeemer Thus possessing through Divine Grace a meek and quiet spirit She was enabled to adorn the doctrine of God her Saviour in all things Her obituary in the Norwalk paper read: "May 1832, died on the 15th inst., at Norwalk, Conn., aged 28 years, Ann, wife of Rev. Dr. Kemper, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Norwalk. The providence of God has seldom inflicted in the removal of any individual, a blow more severely or more generally felt, than in calling to himself the estimable subject of this notice. Idolized by her own family, and possessing the warmest affections of an extreme circle of friends in this city, she had, during the short period she was permitted to sojourn at Norwalk, unalterably secured the love and admiration of all to whom she there became known. Mysterious as is this event, and agonizing as is this dispensation of God, to those bereaved of one so lovely and so early snatched away, there are yet mercifully permitted to them, some source of comfort. Distinguished as she was for personal loveliness, remarkable for candour and simplicity and gentleness of manners, and most affectionate in disposition to all around her, there might seem but the greater cause to mourn her early departure; but she had long been a follower of Christ, and had adorned by her life and conversation the religion she professed; and in her last illness she was permitted to bear testimony to the power of that gospel, whose precepts had governed and guided her precious life. During the whole of her sickness of 16 days (for 9 of which only was she considered to be in danger) she afforded the strongest proofs of lowliness of mind, unsurmounting submission to the will of God, renunciation of self, and entire dependence on the merits of the Redeemer. Thus was she enabled to glorify God, and all who mourn her loss may draw ample consolation from the reflection that to her 'to die has been gain,' and that the Savior she had chosen, and loved, and served in life was her support in death, and will be 'the strength of her heart, and her portion forever.'"

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Record Change June 28, 1999