Horace Steele Kemp
Horace Steele Kemp, former trustee of Sugarcreek township, whose tragic death in the summer of 1915 by reason of a farm accident in the vicinity of his home in Sugarcreek township proved a shock to the whole community, was a member of one of the old families in this part of Ohio, the Kemps having settled in the Dayton neighborhood, over in Montgomery county, in the early days of the settlement of that section. He was born on a farm in Mad River township, Montgomery county, April 17, 1872, son of Louis A. and Hester (Taylor) Kemp, both of whom were born in that same county.
Louis A. Kemp was born on the old Kemp farm, just east of Dayton, now a part of the city corporation, and remained there until the year 1875, when he came over into Greene county and located on a farm in Sugarcreek township, where he continued farming until about 1889, when he retired from the farm and moved to the village of Bellbrook, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1891. He and his wife were the parents of six children, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch being the following: Stephen A., now a rancher in New Mexico; John, who died in infancy; Josephine, wife of W. E. Strain, of Dayton; Augustus, who also is a rancher in New Mexico, and Ada, wife of Walter Weller, living one mile south of Bellbrook, in this county.
Horace S. Kemp was three years of age when his parents came to Greene county and he grew up on the home farm in Sugarcreek township and received his schooling in the neighborhood schools. He remained there until grown and then went to Kansas and became engaged in the cattle business in the vicinity of Emporia, where he married and where he remained for some years, at the end of which time he disposed of his interests there and returned to Ohio, for a year thereafter being engaged in the bakery business at Greenville. He then, in 1890, returned to the home farm in this county, his father having retired from the farm about that time, and resumed farming there, continuing thus engaged until his tragic death on June 22. 1915. I\Ir. Kemp was at the barn of his brother-in-law, Mr. Willers where men were haying, when the pully of a hayfork broke and he was struck on the head by the flying missile. He was hurriedly taken to a hospital at Dayton, but surgical skill was powerless to give him relief and he died that same evening. He was buried in the cemetery at Bellbrook and the funeral was one of the most largely attended ever held in that community, there being no fewer than one thousand sympathizing friends present. Mr. Kemp was a Democrat and had served as township trustee several terms and also for several terms as a member of the district school board. He was a member of the Mt. Zion Reformed church and was affiliated with the Grange and with the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
Mr. Kemp was twice married. During the time of his residence at Emporia, Kansas, he was united in marriage to Ida David, of that city. To that union two children were born, Lawrence and Helen, both of whom are now in high school. The mother of these children died on Januarv 20, 1905, and on June 13, 1907, Mr. Kemp married Lora Kemp, daughter of Joseph W. and Mary (Pearson) Kemp, of the Dayton neighborhood. The late Joseph W. Kemp was a farmer living near Dayton and he and his wife were the parents of six children. To Horace S. and Lora (Kemp) Kemp were bom two children, John, born on November 8, 1908, and Hester, May 28, 1911. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Kemp has continued to make her home on the home farm on rural mail route No. 1 out of Waynesville.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918