BORN
11 May 1812
MARRIED
1833
LIVED
1853 – Salt Lake
1859 – Harrison Co, Iowa
Spouse
Elizabeth Wilkey ( – 1881)
Parents
Possible parents
John Kemmish
Sarah Goddard
BORN
Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
MARRIED
St. Mary’s Parish, Portsea, Hampshire, England
LIVED
Persia, Harrison Co, Iowa
DIED
Persia, Harrison Co, Iowa
Immigration to Salt Lake
“Charles Kemmish, about the year 1852, decided, after mature deliberation and a careful weighing of the pros and cons, based upon all he had heard and read of the opportunities which awaited the man of diligence in the new country across the Atlantic, to come to America.
“Bringing his family with him, he immigrated from the crowded babel of London to seek a new location in this county. Attracted by the possibilities which seemed to be offered in such profusion in the then far west, he went to Salt Lake City, Utah, where for several years he followed the vocation to which he had been devoted in his home city, that of basket maker.”
“If you don’t know history …You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree”
~Michael Crichton
“Becoming convinced, however, that upon the farms of the great prairie lands of Iowa there awaited fortune and favor for whoever would properly apply his endeavors thereto, he decided upon another step in his quest for home and fortune in the new country, and, following this determination, came to Harrison county about the year 1859 and bought a farm in Union township, where he passed the remainder of his days, his death occurring in 1896, his wife, the mother of the subject of this biographical sketch, having preceded him to the grave in 1879.
“Charles Kemmish was a man of much industry and found his farming venture both profitable and pleasant, he and his good wife early becoming among the best known and most popular residents of that section of the county.”
~Harrison County Iowa Album of Biographical History
CHILDREN
- Sarah Jane (1835)
- Elizabeth (1837)
- John Wilkey (1839)
- Jane Kate (1842)
- Peter Charles (1844)
- Mary (1846)
- Daniel (1848)
- James Ephraim (1851)
- Eliza Golconda (1853)
- Ruth Hannah (1855)
- Rachel (1857)
OBITUARY
Saints’ Herald Obituaries, 1896, p. 352
Charles Kemmish joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 7 September 1844 in England. He immigrated to America, settling in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, in 1853. He was rebaptized in 1857. He attended the Goshen, Utah Ward in the Tintic Stake. He moved to Iowa in 1859 and was baptized a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on 18 June 1864 by Wm. Cook.
RESOURCES