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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

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Kemball One-Name Study

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Study details

Study: Kemball   

Variants: Kembal, Kembel, Kembell, Kemble, Kembold, Kembolde, Kemple, Kimbal, Kimball, Kimbel, Kimbell, Kimble

Category:  3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.

Contact: Mr Clifford Kemball


About the study

I am undertaking a One-Name Study of the six names Kemball, Kimball, Kemble, Kimble, Kimbell and Kembell worldwide and am very keen to hear from anyone with any of these names. Where possible I will try to provide information and in a number of instances I can probably assist people in their research on the basis of information I have already collected. The majority of the Kemballs alive in the 19th and 20th century have been assembled into extensive pedigrees. Similar information has been collected on the other variants, but to a lesser extent.

I started work on my family history over twenty five years ago, concentrating mainly on my father's side of the family. I soon found out that my great great grandfather was a James Kemball who, according to various census records, was born in Haverhill, Suffolk around 1796. However despite a great deal of research I was unable to locate the birth or christening records of my great great grandfather. I therefore started my research into the Kemball One-Name Study. Although over 25 years of research has involved the collection of over 25,000 records of the Kemball name (and its variants) some 25 years late I have still to locate James Kemball's birth or christening.

Variant names

There are five main variants of the Kemball surname. The Kemball variants (Kimball, Kimble, Kimbell, Kemble and Kembell) can be found to intermingle with the Kemball family, but each of these could be a distinct name in their own right. The Kimball name derives from two Kemballs who sailed to America in 1634 on the ship 'Elizabeth'. There are now tens of thousands of Kimballs in America.

Other variants found include Kimbel, Kembel, Kembal and even Simbel, but these are all likely to be transcription errors.

Name origin

The Kemball family name originates from Hitcham, Suffolk, England from around the 14th Century.

Historical occurrences of the name

Historically Kemballs have mainly been farmers, although some of the more affluent Kemballs were high-ranking officers in the Indian Army or the Indian Civil Service. Henry and Richard Kemball and their respective families were passengers of the ship "Elizabeth", which sailed from Ipswich, Suffolk, mid-April 1634, bound for New England and arrived safely at Massachusetts Bay. There have been several notable people who have carried the name Kemball (or one of its variants):

  • Surgeon General Vero Clarke Kemball - Indian Army
  • Sir Arnold Burrowes Kemball - Indian Army
  • Captain Robert Kemball - Captain of the sailing ship 'Thermopylae' which raced (and beat) the 'Cutty Sark' to Australia during the wool trade
  • Heber Chase Kimball - the 'first counsellor' to Brigham Young, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Roger Kemble and Sarah Ward - the founders of the Kemble acting dynasty of the 18th and 19th centuries
  • Frances 'Fanny' Kemble - Notable actress of the 18th Century who wrote extensively about the slave trade in America

Name frequency

There are currently less than one hundred Kemballs alive in the UK, half of which are linked to my family. The frequency of the Kemball name (and its variants) from the 1851 UK census to the 1921 UK census are as follows:
 
Surname 1921
1911
1901 1891 1881 1871 1861 1851
Kemball 150 147 33 68 96 47 45 62
Kimball 7 20 24 63 13 65 44 38
Kemble 742 728 551 533 506 328 354 386
Kimble 515 469 432 344 388 166 225 164
Kimbell 220 222 179 187 157 114 167 138
Kembell 6 1 8 8 23 10 4 10

The frequency of these names in the UK can be established from a 2002 database from the Office of National Statistics. This shows the current UK population and UK ranking to be as follows:

Name Number Ranking
Kemble 903 = 7,178
Kimble 571 =10,225
Kimbell 181 =22,744
Kemball 110 =31,200
Kimball 35 =63,515

 

The Kembell surname no longer appears in the UK, which suggests that it was either a variant of Kimbell surname or else the name has since died out.

Distribution of the name

The general distribution of the Kemball surname and its variants are as follows:
  • Kemball - mainly in Suffolk, London and Kent
  • Kimball - Tens of thousands, mainly in the USA
  • Kimble - Mainly in London, Middlesex, Surrey, Essex and Sussex
  • Kemble - Mainly in Lancashire, London, Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent
  • Kimbell - Mainly in Northamptonshire, London, Essex, Middlesex and Leicestershire

Data

I have collected over 25,000 records of the Kemball name and its variants. This includes all the births, marriages and deaths from 1837 to 2002 a large number of entries from the IGI and various Vital Record Index entries. The majority of these can be accessed from the Guild's Archives (now known as the "Datastores").

The following records are held on the Guild's Archive:

  • Civil births in England and Wales, 1837 to 2002
  • Civil marriages in England and Wales, 1837 to 2002
  • Civil deaths in England and Wales, 1837 to 2002
  • Civil probate in England and Wales, 1858 to 1963

I hold some information on the Kimballs in America, but this is generally the area I need to do more research. However a significant amount of research on the Kimball families was carried out in the 18th Century by Leonard A Morrison and Stephen P Sharples. They published a two volume book (1,278 pages) entitled History of the Kimball Family in America from 1634 to 1897, and of it ancestors the Kemballs or Kemboldes of England.

Links

Civil births in England and Wales, 1837 to 2002
Civil marriages in England and Wales, 1837 to 2002
Civil deaths in England and Wales, 1837 to 2002
Civil probate in England and Wales, 1858 to 1963

Contact Details

Mr Clifford Kemball

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Kemball in the Guild Indexes
(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)
  • Global Marriages (public)  243
  • Global Marriages (members)* 247
  • Datastores  1027
  • References to the name Kemball in the Guild Journal  39
  • Stories for the name Kemball  1

Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

  • Members’ Websites Program
  • Surname Cloud
  • Guild Members’ records on FamilySearch
  • Guild Marriage Locator

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