So do I, Emma, so do I.
----- Original Message -----
From: "E McCurdy" <jmccurdy(a)ruraltel.net>
To: <CAMP-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2000 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: [CAMP-L] Camp/Kemp name
Hello,
In one of the papers I have I found this information on the family name.
As one of
th "newest kids onthe block" I'm posting it and hope it hasn't
been on before. If so, I apologize for taking up the space.
The armies of Julius Ceaser marched over many lands--up for
Italy--through
the Alps--into Spain, central Europe, acrosss t he channel into the
islands.
At nightfall they made camp and lit up great fires for warmth, comfort and
cooking. If the legions remained in any particular spot for any length of
time--which t hey often did--the surname "camp" sprung uf--sometimes as de
Campes (of the camp), Campe, Kempe, and deCampe. The place where the armies
spend a few weeks or were detained a few weeks of account of the weather was
later referred to as the "campus ", the field where the armies camped. It
is the opinion of the genealogists that the familyname "Camp" had its origin
in t he source indicated
Among the Saxons the family name Camp or Kemp seems to have had a
slightly
different shading in meaning. The Saxon word "kemp" indicated a
fight--a
combat of some sort--perhaps in the field, the fighting place. Burke in
"Peerage and Baronetage" says: This family, deriving its name from the Saxon
work 'kemp' or 'combat' has been of long standing in the count ies of
Kent,
Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. We meet with two very eminent churchmen of the
the name: John Kemp, LLD., Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Kemp, his
Grace's nephew who was consecrated Bishop of London in 1449.," Sir Robert
Kemp was created Baronet March l4, 1641. Hisseventh heir in direct line was
Sir Benjamin, a familiar name in the Camp family, and his son was Sir
William, also aname very common in the Camp family.
In the days when John was King of England, and long before, country
squires were required under the rules of knighthood to keep a record of
their available fighting men--"t he Hundred Rolls" or a roll of villages.
We find: Felicia in Campo, William de Campos, r egistered in Cambridge
County in t he year 1273. Richard de Campos, Viscount, was sherifff of
London in 1299.
Somehow, I like this explanation better than "cow
pasture" or "cow pen".
Emma Jean Camp McCurdy
"