Thomas Kemball and Sarah Ranson: their family

Thomas Kemball appears to have been the son of Thomas Kemball and Grace his wife.

I haven’t found his baptism, but he was married 25 September 1706 to Sarah Ranson in Hitcham. They had three children, all baptised in Hitcham:

• Thomas, baptised 3 August 1707 (his father is named as “Thomas Kemball junior”)
• William, baptised 5 February 1709/10
• Sarah, baptised 30 Dec 1711

Thomas Kemball was buried in Hitcham on 16 May 1716, and his wife became his administrix on 19 June that same year. The bondsman was Thomas Ranson of Hitcham, a farmer, who is presumably her father or a brother, but I haven’t traced her Ranson family yet. I’m not sure what became of Sarah after her husband’s burial; its especially difficult when the parish register records burials for more than one woman called merely “The Wedow Kemball”.

William Kemball, 1710-1784

William, the son born in about 1710, left a will and it’s clear when you compare the names and places in it to other records that it’s him. He wrote the will on 16 August 1775, and it wasn’t probated until 21 June 1784.

He named the children of his brother Thomas “Kimble” of Hitcham: Ann Kimble, William Kimble, John Kimble, Sarah Kimble, Mary Kimble, Elizabeth Kimble, and Susan Kimble, then the children of his sister Sarah, wife of Edward Sewell: Edward Sewell, Mary Sewell, and William Sewell.

He also mentions several people related to his wife. William was a bachelor when he married Martha Moore, a widow, in Creeting St Mary (about 10 miles north-east of Hitcham) on 19 September 1756. She died only four years later, but William didn’t remarry. It seems that Martha was older than him and they didn’t have any children together.

He was a yeoman, living in Little Stonham, when he wrote his will in 1775, and he was buried in Earl Stonham on 16 June 1784.

Thomas Kemball, 1707-?

Thanks to William’s will, it’s possible to identify several Kemball baptisms in Hitcham. Thomas’s first wife was Mary (although “Mary who?”, at the moment, as I don’t have their marriage yet). They had eight children, baptised in Hitcham between 1733 and 1748, and you’ll recognise the names from the will: Thomas, Anne, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Thomas #2, William, and John.

His first wife died in 1750, then he married wife #2, Anne – again, she’s an “Anne who?” as I don’t have this marriage yet either. They had two children, Susan (who is named in her uncle’s will) and Rebecca (who died in early childhood). Anne died in 1753, and I’m not sure what happened next to Thomas.

What I would like to do at some point is work out what happened to all those Kemball children who Thomas and his two wives produced. I had wondered if the John Kemball mentioned in William’s will could be my ancestor John, who I don’t have a baptism for, but he was born in about 1748 and would obviously be far too young to have a son of his own in 1758! But then, this is why I’m combing through the different Kemball families in the area, to find possibles for my ancestor, then working out if it’s actually him or not. I think it’s safe to say that my ancestor isn’t descended from Thomas Kemball and Sarah Ranson.

Sarah Kemball/Sewell, 1711-1757

The youngest of Thomas Kemball and Sarah Ranson’s children was Sarah Kemball, born in about 1711. She married Edward Sewill in Hitcham on 8 February 1736/7. I haven’t been able to find the baptisms of their three children mentioned in William’s will yet.

Sarah was buried on 13 October 1757, as Sarah the wife of Edward Sewell.

First published: 1st February 2026.