William Kemball and Elizabeth Talbot, Hitcham

William Kemball, born about 1695, was the eldest child of William Kemball and his wife Elizabeth Burgess. He was only about seven years old when his father died and his mother remarried.

On 31 Oct 1721, he married Elizabeth Talbot in Nowton. She was living in Brettenham and the time, and he was living in Hitcham. Four years later, William’s brother John would marry Elizabeth’s sister Mary.

The couple had at least five children, who are mentioned in William’s will, written in 1748:

• William, baptised 8 Aug 1722
• Elizabeth, baptised 8 March 1725/6
• John, baptised 2 Feb 1727/8
• Mary, born about 1731 (baptism not found – the scrappy parish register at this period is probably to blame)
• Thomas, born about 1735 (baptism not found either)

Along with the scrappy register potentially missing events, we also have to cope with the register rarely recording mothers’ names. So in 1728, we have two children of William Kemball being baptised within months of each other: John in February 1728 and Dinah in April that year. A William Kemball married a Dinah – I haven’t yet fitted him into the tree – so they’re two different dads, with the same name, with nothing in the register to differentiate them. Fortunately, we have a will for one of the Williams so we can work out the children to look for in the register, and some other records: his daughter Mary was 79 when she died in 1810, according to her headstone, so she was born in about 1731. Her brother Thomas was 70, according to his headstone, so as he died in 1805, he would’ve been born about 1735.

There may have been other children whose baptisms were lost in the scrappy register and sadly didn’t make it to adulthood.

William’s will

William was a yeoman by the time he wrote his will on 27 Sep 1748. He wanted all of his land and property to be sold, and divided equally between his widow Elizabeth and his children John, Thomas, Elizabeth Ranson, and Mary. His son William was to have only £5 as he’d already been provided for.

His witnesses were Thomas Kemball, Henry Hayward, and Edward Coldham. I’ve mentioned before that I think Henry was possibly his brother-in-law, as an Elizabeth Kemball married a Henry Haward in Hitcham in 1721. Thomas Kemball could’ve been his brother, who was born in 1701: as mentioned, I think his brother is a candidate for the Thomas who moved to Combs. I haven’t found his burial yet; all I know is that he must’ve died before 1756 when Margaret Kemball of Combs wrote her will, describing herself as a widow. So it William’s brother is the Thomas Kemball who lived in Combs, then he would’ve died between 1748 and 1756.

Then again, he could’ve been a completely different Thomas Kemball – perhaps the one who was born about 1707, the son of Thomas Kemball and Sarah Ranson.

William’s widow, Elizabeth, didn’t remarry. According to her memorial inscription, she died on 17 Feb 1772, aged 76.

William and Elizabeth’s children

All five children mentioned in William’s will went on to marry, and almost (if not) all of them had children. I’ll go into their stories in more detail, but for an overview, we have:

William Kemball, 1722-1792

The eldest son appears to be the William Kemball who married Ann Newport in Hawstead on 16 Dec 1745. Their marriage licence says that the groom was single, a yeoman living in Great Whelnetham aged about 24, and his bride was a single woman from Hawstead, aged about 20. They had 12 children – at least – but I can only find baptisms for a few of them, which makes me wonder if William and Ann became non-conformists at some point. He wrote his will in 1792 in Dalham, mentioning his enormous brood of children. There are more wills to look at revolving around this branch of the Kemballs, which might throw more light on them.

Despite the scanty information available, William fortuitously mentioned two close relatives in his will, aside from his children: his brother John Kemball of Bildeston and his brother-in-law Richard Kemball of Hitcham. These crucial clues meant it was possible to identify him as William Kemball and Elizabeth Talbot’s eldest son.

And this is where I find myself having to disagree with something which people have no doubt taken as fact for a long time: the fact that this son, William, is not Reverend William Kemball of Brandon in Suffolk. Volume 1 of Morrison and Sharples’ “History of the Kimball Family” contains a letter from Charles Gurdon Kemball, written in 1890.^[1]It’s on page 11, if you’re having trouble with the link Charles relates that he’s a descendant of Reverend William Kemball, via his son Vero, who married Letitia Philippa Gurdon. Going back, Charles says that he and his two brothers “have been content to commence with a great-great-great-grandfather, William Kemball, who was born in 1623, who was the father of William Kemball of Hitcham who died in 1702,” who was the father of the reverend.

But it can’t be true, because William of Dalham’s will mentions his brother and his brother-in-law, and thus identifies him as the son of William who died in 1702.

It’s obviously easy for me to point this out 136 years after Charles wrote his letter, because it’s a lot easier to access historical records. On 21 Oct 1690, at Boxted in Suffolk, James Kemball , a widower of Hitcham, married Margaret Vero of Boxted.^[2]The marriage licence gives their abodes at the time of their marriage, but the two transcriptions of the licence that I’ve seen – Suffolk Archives’ catalogue, and the printed index … Continue reading It seems to me that Rev William Kemball named his son Vero Kemball because William was descended from James and Margaret, probably their son. James doesn’t make much of an appearance in Hitcham’s register: his son, also James, by his first wife, was baptised in Hitcham in 1687, then daughters Margaret and Anne followed in 1692 and 1696. I assume James and Margaret then moved to another parish where their son William – who would eventually become Rev William – was baptised.

Elizabeth Kemball, 1726-1782

We know that Elizabeth had married a Ranson by the time her father wrote his will in September 1748. I struggled to find their marriage at first, until I found one in Hintlesham, on 19 June 1748, Christopher Ranson, single man of Ipswich, married Elizabeth Camel, single woman of Bildeston. This seems to be the right marriage, taking place not long before her father wrote his will. I’m not sure if they had any children.

Elizabeth the wife of Christopher Ranson died on 8 Dec 1782, aged 55 – according to her memorial inscription.

John Kemball, 1728-1795

According the marriage licence, when John married Susan Luckey at Bildeston in 1751, he was a baker. They had three children baptised there: Susan, Elizabeth (died an infant), and Anne. Susan went on to marry William Hines and Anne married Benjamin Field – their son was called John Kemball Field.

He was mentioned in the will of his brother, William Kemball of Dalham, written in 1792.

Mary Kemball, 1731-1810

Mary married Richard Kemball on 7 Oct 1762 in Hitcham, and their witnesses were not one but two men called John Kemball: I assume they were their brothers. They lived in Hitcham, although Richard was originally from Felsham, and had four children.

Thomas Kemball, 1735-1805

Thomas married Sarah Garrad at Chelsworth on 22 Dec 1767. They had at least one son called Thomas, born in 1775. He married Ann Stearn at Little Waldingfield in 1796 and five children.

Thomas senior had a memorial inscription at Hitcham, too, recording his death on 9 Jan 1805. His widow, Sarah, died nine years after him.

First published 10th February 2026.