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Granville Garnett Kemper
Submitted by: June E. Tuck
Granville Garnett Kemper was born in Owen County, Kentucky, the son of Joel Hitt Kemper and Millie Ann Garnett Kemper. His tombstone gives him being born September 5, 1844, and dying Dec. 22, 1920. The 1850 census, taken Sept. 7th, gives his age as 8, making him born in 1842.
His obituary reads - Dr. G. G.Kemper, age 75, of Bonanza community, died Christmas Eve after living in Hopkins County for more than 50 years. He had lived at Reily Springs, Tazwell and Bonanza. He leaves a wife and seven children, five of whom live in this county and two in Kentucky. (Hopkins Co. Echo, Fri., Dec. 31, 1920)
Dr. Kemper was one of the first doctors in Reilly Springs, Hopkins Co., Texas, and in February 1920, in Hopkins Co., Texas, he was still practicing medicine.
In 1860, he lived in Owen Co., Kty.
In 1870, he lived in Hopkins Co., Tex.
In 1880, he lived in Montague Co., Tex., a widower, with his mother-in-law, and 2 children
In 1900, he lived in Fannin Co., Tex.
In 1910/20, he lived in Hopkins Co., Tex.
In 1930, his wife, Estelle, lived in Hopkins Co., Tex.
One can only wonder how he met his wife, since he married her in Virginia. Was Granville a physician in the Civil War and met her during the war in Virginia? He married Mary F.Carothers, 6 September 1866, in Russell Co., Virginia. When Granville shows up in the 1870 census, along with his wife, Mary F., and mother-in-law, Mary Carothers, he gives his occupation as physician, and is living in Hopkins County, Texas, Black Oak Post Office. Granville’s wife, Mary, was born Jan. 10, 1848, and died July 10, 1879, as shown on stone with her husband.
Granville married for the second time, Estelle H. Scudder, May 5, 1881, in Clay Co., Texas. Estelle was born Sept. 29, 1852, in Indiana, and died 1937, in Hopkins County, Texas, buried in Greenview Cemetery.
Children by 1st wife, Mary, were William Garrett, Claud and Ida Mae. (Ida Mae, b. 1876, d. 1877 in Montague Co., Tex.)
Children by 2nd wife, Estelle, were Roy, Rex, Sue, Ruth, and Minnie
In the summer of 2004, Larry Harmon, of Sulphur Springs, started looking for a small cemetery he remembered as a young boy. No cemetery was to be found. But this is not the end of the story. He walked down into a drained stock pond, filled with high weeds and brush. His foot hit something which turned out to be the tombstone of Dr. G. G. Kemper, and his first wife, Mary, called Fannie. With the help of a friend, they removed the stone and the large base it once sit on. Larry has placed this stone on his property.
If a family member would like to claim the beautiful large stone and place it somewhere here in Hopkins County, they need to contact Larry Harmon, 701 Connally Street, Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482.
A picture of this stone, base not included, made by Larry Harmon, has been placed on this web site. Larry did not remember this stone, and did not find the one that attracted him the most as a young boy. He recalls there were other stones, all now missing. One cannot tell where the cemetery was by looking in the area, but Larry thinks he knows the small knoll where the bodies are buried.
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