Peter Kemble (1704 - 1789)

Born 12 Dec 1704 in Smyrna, Izmir, Turkey

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Tuite) Kemble — married 30 Oct 1749 in Trenton, Burlington, New Jersey

Descendants

Died 23 Feb 1789 at age 84 in Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Katherine Hunter [send private message], Donald Kimball [send private message], Joann Snowden [send private message], and Michael Kemble [send private message]

Biography

Peter Kemble is Notable.

Peter Kemble was born in Smyrna (modern-day Izmir), Asia Minor (now known as Turkey) in 1704. His father Richard Kemble had been an indentured servant in London to a merchant dealing in Turkish trade, and the terms of the indenture required the merchant to send him for the last two years of indenture to Turkey. There Richard Kemble settled and married a Greek woman named Mavrocordato, who was a servant, probably taking her surname from the prominent family she or her family once served.

Peter remained in Smyrna until 1712, when he was approximately seven or eight years old. He then went to England, the country of his father's birth, for education. He studied in a classical school in London for six years. His father Richard had apparently made some mercantile business for himself, but he incurred heavy losses in the War of the Spanish Succession, during the reign of Queen Anne. This necessitated Richard returning to England in 1717, when Peter was about 14 years old. Richard was apparently well connected enough (perhaps through his brother-in-law - see below) to obtain the consulship of Salonica (now called Thessaloniki) from King George I in 1718. In that year, aged 15 or 16 years, Peter was sent to Rotterdam, Holland to the home of a distant relative, George Kemble, who was a wine merchant. George Kemble initiated Peter into the mercantile trade, but there is no evidence that Peter was indentured to George. Richard Kemble remained in Salonica until his death in 1720.

During the winter of 1720-1721, when Peter was 18 years old, he returned to England and thence undertook a trading voyage to "Guinea." This probably refers to Dutch Guinea, also called the Dutch Gold Coast, or part of modern-day Ghana in western Africa. Given his age and background it is likely that Peter was sent on this voyage to pursue someone else's business. The second Dutch West India Company had a branch in Rotterdam, so it is possible his relative George Kemble had an interest in the trade the Company pursued in the Gold Coast. In any case, Peter returned successfully from that voyage and resided for some years in London, pursuing a mercantile trade.

An interesting footnote to Peter's life is the fact that his mother had a sister (whose name is likewise unknown) who also married an Englishman. This man, named Edwards, was for some time British consul in Smyrna. Upon returning to London, he brought with him a supply of coffee and a Greek servant who knew how to prepare the drink. After introducing coffee to his circle of friends, he found the demand for it was so great that he opened a public coffee-house to serve it. The business was managed by Pasqua Rossi, the Greek servant that Edwards brought with him from Smyrna. Thus, Peter's uncle by marriage was the first to introduce coffee to the English.

Around 1730, Peter traveled to New York and settled in the American colony of New Jersey. There he married Gertrude Bayard, who came from a prominent New York family. Despite her connections to leading families in New York, the couple settled at New Brunswick in New Jersey. Peter began a successful business there which allowed him to build a house and later purchase a large tract of land around Morristown, New Jersey, where he built a larger house. He was apparently on close terms with the governor of New Jersey, Lewis Morris, for he was one of the pallbearers in the governor's funeral in 1746. He resided at his second house, which was called Mount Kemble, until his death on 23 February, 1789, at the advanced age of 85.

By Gertrude, Peter had seven children. After her death, he remarried Elizabeth Tuite, by whom he had three children.

Peter remained loyal to the British during the American Revolution. As the owner of substantial property, he was at great risk of having his home and wealth confiscated by Revolutionary forces. The family dealt with this situation by the expediency of Peter's son and heir speaking strongly and publicly in support of the Revolutionary movement. Peter's estate was never molested by secessionist troops, and it is said that General Washington extended to him and his family every personal courtesy. This consideration is perhaps at least partly due to Peter's prominence and his diplomatic personality.

Two of his children who took spouses married into prominent families. His son Robert married a daughter of General John Cadwalader. His daughter Judith married into the wealthy McCall family of Philadelphia.

Name

Name: Peter /Kemble/^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S39 Page: Source number: 385.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: DGM

• The Kemble Papers ... Escrito por Stephen Kemble, by Sir Henry Clinton p. xiii
• Source: S39 Yates Publishing Title: U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2004. Ancestry.com.
• Ancestry Family Trees. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.
• New Jersey Biographical Sketches, 1665-1800
• The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
• Peter Kemble in Wikipedia