Clara McClurken Kemps' Death Certificate

I recently ordered and received some death certificates from the Illinois Department of Public Health. One was for Clara Amanda McClurken Kemps (1849 - 1936). Previous attempts to acquire this had been unsuccessful. This time I located it in their database with the last name misspelled Kerups and an incorrect year of 1935. Most of the information was previously known and some was incorrect (parents birthplaces should have been South Carolina). A curiosity was the cause of death - cerebral hemorrhage. One of her sons, Luther James Kemps, had also died of a cerebral hemorrhage just six months earlier. It was nice to finally acquire this document as an additional source for the various dates and facts of her birth and death. This document has been included as a reference file for her biography an is also available at this link.

Dorothy Lois Jennings Kemps (1916 - 2010)

Dorothy Lois Jennings married William Worth Kemps in 1935. They were married for over 66 years when he died in 2002. Dorothy was a remarkable woman. One of the three eulogies, at her memorial service, was delivered by her minister, Jonathan Chute. This eulogy is presented, with permission, as her biography. See biography.

William Worth Kemps (1913 - 2002)

A biography has been created for William Worth Kemps. He was the son of William Henry Kemps and Edna Hammond Wright. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and lived most of his life in Glendale, California. I spoke to him in September of 1993 and some of this biography comes from that recorded conversation. For additional details of his life, see biography.

Richard G Kirkpatrick (1918 - 2000)

A biography has been created for Richard Garnholz Kirkpatrick. He was the son of Raymond Kirkpatrick and May Belle Kemps. He was born in Oakdale, Illinois and lived most of his adult life in Waukegan, Illinois. I spoke to him in October of 1987 and some of this biography comes from that recorded conversation. For additional details of his life, see biography.

GEDCOM Update Is Available

My latest GEDCOM file has now been uploaded to Ancestry.com and Rootsweb.com. It replaces any that I had previously placed on these sites. The family tree is identified as Samuel Henry Kemps and on Rootsweb.com, the database is rkemps. This file includes 452 individuals and all the latest identifications of the various sources. The file can also be downloaded from each site.

More Find A Grave.com

For the past 7 weeks, I have continued to concentrate on FindAGrave.com. The totals of my efforts are now 115 memorials created and 155 managed. For these memorials, I uploaded a total of 186 photos and I wrote 81 biographies. All 20 of my photo requests were completed for the Oakdale Cemetery. Headstone pictures now total 78. Almost all of my work is now complete. To check out any of the memorials that I manage, see summary.

FindAGrave.com Revisited and Recommended

Previously, I had never found anyone on FindAGave.com. However, I decided to check it out again. I found that on May 30, 2009, the Oakdale Cemetery in Washington County, Illinois and a total of twelve McClurkens and McClurkins were added. Upon reviewing their FAQs, my whole perspective changed. I realized that it is a great place to create memorials to individuals. So far, I have added my parents, two of my grandparents, two great granparents, four great great grandparents, two great great great grandparents and eight aunts and uncles. Additionally, I added 38 additional McClurken - McClurkin graves in the Oakdale Cemetery and I am managing the original 12. I have requested photos for many of the above gravesites.

Lengthy biography space is available and 5 free photos are allowed (20 if you pay a one time fee of $5). Grave Monument photos can be requested from volunteers. I, now, highly recommend the use of FindAGrave.com as a way to create memorials to our dearly departed loved ones. (And you may find that they are already there).