Kemp Plummer (1769 – January 19, 1826) was an American lawyer and politician. He was educated by George Wythe, once known as "the honest lawyer",[1] and represented Warren County, North Carolina in the North Carolina House of Commons and later the North Carolina State Senate. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina[2] and grandfather of Kemp Plummer Battle.[3]
Plummer was part of the "Warren Junto" which included Nathaniel Macon, who married Kemp's sister Hannah, James Turner, Weldon Edwards, William Hawkins, and William Miller, who dominated North Carolina political life at that time.[4] Plummer's sister Hannah married Nathaniel Macon.
Kemp Plummer was the second owner of the oldest house in Warrenton. The original owner was Marmaduke Johnson, who married Macon's half-sister Hixie Ransom.[5] Another Plummer brother was William Plummer II, who married Macon's half-sister Betsy Ransom.[6]
Plummer's plantation also had several black slaves.[7]
Plummer died from gout in 1826.
Early life
editKemp Plummer was born in 1769 near Mobjack Bay in Gloucester County, Virginia to William Plummer and Mary Hayes.[2] After the death of his father around 1774, his mother moved the family to North Carolina due to "the cheaper lands and the superior healthiness of the hill country of North Carolina."[2]
Plummer attended Hampden-Sydney College and graduated with the first class in 1786.[4] He then attended the College of William & Mary and studied with George Wythe. Rather than stay in Virginia, he moved to North Carolina to practice law.
References
edit- ^ Sheppard, Steve (13 July 1999). The History of Legal Education in the United States: Commentaries and Primary Sources. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 9781584776901 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c "North Carolina Law Journal". 13 July 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Clipped from Daily Press". Daily Press. 10 November 1957. p. 49.
- ^ a b Powell, William S. (9 November 2000). Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: Vol. 5, P-S. Univ of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807867006 – via Google Books.
- ^ "The Marmaduke Johnson House: A Warren County (and national) treasure hidden in plain sight". The Warren Record. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
- ^ Groves, Joseph Asbury (1901). The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina. Franklin printing and publishing Company. pp. 512-515.
- ^ "KEMP PLUMMER PLANTATION: Warren County, North Carolina". North Carolina Plantations: A NCGenWeb Special Project. NCGenWeb Project. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
The 1790 census reported him in Warren, unmarried, and the owner of thirty-eight slaves. Four years later he married Susanna Martin (1776–1838) on September 30, 1794, daughter of William Martin of Granville County and Ann Long, who was a daughter of Nicholas Long, commissary general of North Carolina during the Revolution.