George Edward Kemp

George spent 39 years in his chosen profession with the Post Office but his real passion was the 44 years he spent with the National Guard of Pennsylvania (NGP). And he did well in both pursuits.

All that is known of his parents is what George himself wrote in a document four years before he died. He said his mother died six months after he was born and he never knew his father, Alfred. That conflicts with the 1880 census where he and his father were both listed living with his grandparents, George and Martha Kemp.

The Kemps were from the Southwark section of Philadelphia but after George was born they moved to a farm near Newport, Pennsylvania, northwest of Harrisburg. Alfred and George went with them, where Martha and Alfred’s sister Sarah would be substitute mothers. George grew up in the outdoors, learning to hunt and perfecting his shooting skills.

The family returned to the city in the early 1880s. Grandmother Martha was widowed in 1885 but teenage George was with her along with his uncle John who had a growing family. 

At age 20, George joined the NGP. Throughout the following 44 years of service he never missed or was even late to a drill and never missed an annual summer encampment. In those days officers were elected by their units so, three years later, George became 2nd Lieutenant with Company A, 3rd Regiment and began to make a name for himself at the rifle range. 

In 1890 he passed the civil service exam and went to work at the main post office, located at 9th and Chestnut Streets. It was a steady job that paid well; if there was some amount of monotony involved, George didn’t stay at entry level for long. And it was counter-balanced by his Guard activity which gave him time outdoors.

He added more balance to his life when he wed Kate Kilpatrick on Labor Day, 1892 (a federal holiday). They were married at the Church of the Messiah, 1163 South Broad Street, where each of their children would be baptized. 

For two years they remained with his grandmother and Uncle John’s family until they were about to start their own. The move was only a few blocks away to 2020 South 16th Street, where they lived for the rest of their lives. George Francis Kemp was born there in 1994, as was Mary Duncan Kemp in 1897.

The following year, a Navy cruiser, the USS Maine, was sunk by a mysterious explosion in Havana Harbor in Cuba. A revolution for Cuban independence from Spain was underway, and the ship was sent there to protect American interests. After Congress passed an ultimatum to withdraw from the island, Spain severed its diplomatic relations. The U.S. responded with a blockade on April 21, the official start of a war that lasted less than four months.

That same month, George was voted captain of his company, a month before the National Guard troops were federalized. The 3rd Pennsylvania Volunteers traveled to Florida where they spent three hot summer months in drills and target practice before arriving back at Philadelphia on September 10.

The 1900 census lists George’s Aunt Sarah living with them, soon to be joined by the newly born Grace Katherine Kemp in 1901 and Arthur Dickson Kemp in 1904. George became an investor when he helped organize the Market Street Building and Loan Association in 1903. 

His company elected him to the rank of major in 1903. As a way to remember those involved in the recent war, George joined Tilghman Camp 61, United Spanish War Veterans, and served as national commander of the Naval and Military Order of the Spanish War. By 1910 his job was superintendent of the West Philadelphia post office and in 1915 his rank in the Guard was Lieutenant Colonel. 

The NGP discovered that George was a good recruiter after convincing 11 others in his office to join his regiment. They heeded the call in 1916 for active service in what was known as  the Punitive Expedition. In June, President Wilson asked the states to mobilize Guard units in response to a Mexican revolutionary named Pancho Villa who raided a town in New Mexico. 

Pennsylvania led the nation in sending volunteers. George and his men arrived in El Paso, Texas in early July just as the governor of Pennsylvania appointed him Colonel of the 3rd Infantry. This clipping describes him at the time of his promotion. They occupied themselves entirely with training until they were sent home in early October with suntanned skin and more disciplined character.

The dozen postal employees were welcomed back to work at their station, 3110 Market Street, only to be returned to federal service March 28, 1917. Colonel Kemp was now in charge of the 109th and 110th Infantry, helping the Allies stop the German “high water mark” drive on Paris in July of 1918. He served in the Champagne-Marne, Alsne-Marne, and Chateau-Thierry actions and, for a time, was  in charge of 2000 German prisoners. He stayed in France until July, 1919 as administrator of the embarkation camp to get the troops home safely.

One month after George was discharged from the Army that August, Congress chartered the American Legion as a patriotic veterans organization focusing on service to veterans, servicemembers, and communities. While still in charge of the West Philadelphia post office station, George was the organizing commander of Lt. Joseph S. Ferguson Post 333.

In 1921 the colonel was appointed inspector general of the NGP. In this role he enlarged and supervised the Guard’s rifle range. Meanwhile, at the end of the year, he was promoted to Philadelphia’s postmaster, bumping his salary up from $2700 to $8000 a year. The 27th postmaster since Benjamin Franklin, he was the first to come up through the ranks. And, unlike many others, his was not a political appointment.

By 1929 George was 63 years old and chose to leave his job to run for the city treasurer position. He won that election and subsequently left his duties with the National Guard as well. Before resigning he was given the rank of Brigadier General and a gold watch.

He left the treasurer’s seat in 1934 to enjoy retirement on a full-time basis. George and Kate were at Cape May, New Jersey when he had a heart attack in May of 1938. He entered the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, where he died two weeks later. His sons were now Lt. Col. George Kemp and Captain Alfred Kemp in the Army Reserve and the two daughters were school teachers.

An attempt was made to list their father’s military record on this gravestone, which left just enough space to record his wife’s name after she died in 1944. In the same plot are George’s grandparents and his aunt Sarah. His uncle John, his wife, and seven daughters are buried just a few yards away in Section 127.