ISAIAH GARWOOD KEMBLE

BORN:

August 8, 1798

Cumberland County,

New Jersey

DIED:

November 23, 1828

Decatur County, Indiana

BURIED:

Old Cemetery Section

Little Flatrock Cemetery

ISAIAH GARWOOD KEMBLE

1798 - 1828

CHARLOTTE W. - WIFE

1806 - 1889

SUSANNAH - DAU.

1827 - 1858

Isaiah Garwood Kemble was born August 8, 1798 in Cumberland County, New Jersey. He was the youngest of eleven children  of William Kemble and Ruth Garwood. Isaiah was 19 years old when he moved west with his widowed mother and unmarried siblings along with at least 2 of his married sisters, Tacey and  Daniel Brown, and Lydia and John Shelhorn. Family tradition indicates that they left New Jersey in covered wagons after tje “Year Without a Summer” in 1816, looking for fertile land. The party crossed Pennsylvania into Pittsburgh, where they picked up the Ohio River and likely took a flatboat to the vicinity of Liverpool, Ohio. From Liverpool, they probably went overland to Isaiah's older brother Samuel Kemble’s place in Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, near the present town of Lisbon, to spend the winter. Samuel had settled there earlier and was the owner of a grist mill there. The whole party may have originally planned to settle in this area, however, sometime in 1818, Isaiah Kemble, John and Lydia Shelhorn and their two children, went on to Lawrenceburg, Indiana where John and Lydia's second son Lewis was born in September of 1819. In about 1821 Isaiah and other members of the Kemble family went further west on a land prospecting tour. In 1822 he purchased a tract of government land in what later became Clinton Township in Decatur County. He filed for additional land holdings in 1822 and 1823, and owned about 480 acres, mostly in Adams Township.  His home was in Clinton Township and his mother Ruth and sister Sydney likely lived with him. Isaiah married Charlotte Wood on December 13, 1824 in Decatur County. She was the daughter of John Wood and Sarah Query. She was born in West Union, Adams County, Ohio. By 1828 Isaiah had cleared several acres and built one of the first brick homes in the area.  On November 19, 1828, while clearing the land, he was crushed by a falling tree. In spite of the terrible pain he was able to make a verbal will with David Douglas and James T. Morton as witnesses. 

Isaiah Kemble’s final wishes were preserved through a nuncupative will, an oral will spoken shortly before his death on November 21, 1828 in the presence of witnesses James T. Morton and David Douglas. Because the will was given verbally rather than in writing, it later required formal review by the Decatur County Probate Court.

On January 4, 1830, the matter first came before the probate court in Decatur County, Indiana, with Judge Angus C. McCoy presiding. At that session, John Wood and John Shelhorn, acting as administrators of Isaiah Kemble’s estate, presented the instrument purporting to be his oral will. The court ordered that Charlotte Kemble, Isaiah’s widow, along with Charles Kemble and Susanna Kemble, identified as his heirs and legal representatives, be summoned to appear at the next term of court. The court also directed that witnesses named in the will, including David Douglas and James T. Morton, appear for examination.

The case returned to court on March 2, 1830, at the courthouse in Greensburgh, Decatur County. On that date, the will was formally proven to the satisfaction of the court through the affirmation of David Douglas and the oath of Simon Farlow, and it was accepted as the valid nuncupative will of Isaiah Kemble.

In his final instructions, Isaiah first acknowledged a debt of one hundred and five dollars owed to his sister, Sidney Kemble, noting that she held no written evidence of the debt. He directed that notes and debts owed to him be collected so she could be paid, and if those funds proved insufficient, that his share in the sawmill be sold to make up the difference.

He then made provisions for Jacob Hayes, directing that a deed be made for forty acres of land where Hayes was then living, with an additional option involving other acreage near the land of Joseph Gosnell. Isaiah also ordered that a lot in Jersey be sold, with the proceeds designated for Jacob Hayes’s use.

A significant portion of the will concerned the support of his mother and his sister Sidney in their old age. Isaiah stated that when he built his brick house, it had been with the intention of providing comfort for them alongside his wife and children. He therefore wished them to have the portion of the house originally intended for their use for the duration of their lives. He further directed that the proceeds of the Hiram Dalin place be used for their support for as long as they lived.

For his widow, Charlotte Kemble, Isaiah directed that she receive the proceeds of the home farm until their son came of age. He further stated that whether she remarried or not, she was to receive a deed in fee simple for the Dalin place, on condition that she relinquish any further claim to the other lands named in the will.

Isaiah then set out provisions for his children. His son was to inherit the home place upon reaching legal age, while his daughter was to receive the quarter section of land near the Lovejoy’s.

He also made provision for Thomas Hayes, described as a young man then living with him. Isaiah stated that he had intended to give Thomas forty acres of land if he remained with him until reaching adulthood. If Thomas continued to stay on the property and care for his grandmother and Aunt Sidney until that time, he was to receive the forty-acre tract where Joseph Gosnell then lived. If circumstances changed upon the return of Isaiah’s brother Manly, then Thomas was to be fairly compensated for his services.

Finally, Isaiah acknowledged that there were outstanding settlements with neighbors and some debts still owed, though he noted that the amount was not large. He directed that, if necessary, grain and cattle be sold from the farm to satisfy his debts, and if that proved insufficient, funds from the sale of the Jersey property were to cover the deficiency.

In his closing instruction, Isaiah named John Shelhorn and his father-in-law as the administrators of his estate. The probate court ordered that this nuncupative Will be formally attached to the administration of Isaiah Kemble’s estate, thereby making his spoken final wishes part of the official court record. Fifteen days after Isaiah's will was proven, his brother-in-law and one of the administrators of his estate, John Shelhorn, died suddenly. 

Isaiah Kemble was 31 years old when he died on November 23, 1828 and was buried in the Old Cemetery section of the Little Flatrock Cemetery. His wife Charlotte was left at the age of 22 with two children, Charles, not quite 3, and 2 year old Susannah, who was a bedridden Invalid and died unmarried in 1858. Charlotte died in 1885 and is buried beside Isaiah.

In January of 1983 Mr. and Mrs. Richard Crane who lived on the original Isaiah Kemble farm, were doing landscaping when they discovered a piece of Isaiah Kemble’s grave stone with his name and dates of birth and death. Further investigation showed that the stone that they found had been broken and replaced and someone must have taken Isaiah's broken stone home.