Tombstone Tuesday - Rachael S. Kemp

Rachael Salina Kemp was only 25 years old when she died in the earliest days of the Civil War. Because of her age and the era in which lived and partly because she was a woman, we know few details of her life. Much of what we do know comes from the tombstone marking her grave on a hill in the middle of Duncan Cemetery, off Hwy. 365 in Crittenden County, Kentucky.




Rachael S.
Wife of
D.F. Kemp
and daughter of
John P. & L.A. Boyd
Born
Oct. 22, 1835
Died
July 9, 1861

Her tombstone was photographed 20 March 2010. Click on the photo for an enlarged view.

Dempsey Kemp and Rachael Salina Boyd married 4 April 1850 Caldwell County, Kentucky. In the next ten years, Dempsey and Rachael had several children, including Elizabeth, John H., Mary A., Laura A. and Joseph or Josephine. Elizabeth, age 1, died in 1858 of scarlet fever. No death record for Rachael S. has been found, but perhaps she died in childbirth. Just a few months after Rachael's death, Dempsey married (2) Mrs. Harriet Hood. In 1883, he married (3) Miss Nancy Truitt, but they would later divorce. Dempsey died in 1909 and is buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Caldwell County, Kentucky.