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Notes for Thomas Camp, III

Thomas was a patriot of the Revolution. He was born in Virginia, removed to Island Ford, Rutherford County, North Carolina, before the Revolution and is buried in the burying ground of the homestead. He had five sons at the battle of King's Mountain. The National Society of the DAR Vol 21, p 275.

Vol 1, A Roster of Revolutionary Ancestors of the Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution, Indiana, Unigraph, 1976, p 52, "Service: Patriot; too feeble for general active service, however did participate in battle of Kings Mountain with his sons."

Southern Genealogies #1, 1600s-1800s, Historical Southern Families, Vol. XXII, Alexander Kilpatrick of Scotland & South Carolina, with Related Families: Kemp and Camp..., Page 190-191: Thomas was the father of eleven sons and three daughters by his first wife Winifred Starling, and ten sons and two daughters by his second wife Margaret Carney. The Camp family claims that these twenty-two sons founded all branches of Camp/Kemp in the South, but this assertion ignores collateral lines of, as yet, unidentified cousins, some of whom may be assumed to have migrated with Thomas.
The journeys of the large Thomas Camp family west and south included a cluster of Culpeper (former Orange) County, Virginia families, who traveled together to Orange (later Caswell) County, NC, then before the Revolution to the Broad River counties along the North-South Carolina border; after the Revolution they proceeded to newly opened Indian lands in the South Carolina Piedmont by 1794, and finally into the states of the Deep South.
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The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Richmond, VA,
. Vol XXVIII, 1920, p 251, Virginia State Troops in the Revolution, March 1, 1776, "Paid John Camp for Thomas Camp for Waggon hire to the public, 4 pounds 10 shillings
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Calendar of Virginia State Papers, H.W. Flournoy, Vol VIII, Richmond, VA, 1890
Williamsburg, March 1, 1776
"A warrant to Thomas Camp for for 4 pounds 10 shillings, the balance of his wages as wagon master."
"A Warrant to Thomas Camp for use Capt. John Thornton for 20 pounds 10 shillings for recruiting expenses and the balance of bounty money: also for himself 27 pounds 10 shillings for 5 rifles purchased for the use of the public.
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Rutherford Co, NC Abstract of Deeds, G-218, No 787, March 22, 1785, Thomas Camp to William Tunnel for 100 pounds, 420 acres S side Sandy Run on N branch of Whiteoak.

Rutherford Co, NC Tax List 1785 Thomas Camp 150 acres, 1 poll

Greenville Co, SC Deeds Books Index 1787-1802, Robertalee Lent, 1966, p 64
Thomas Camp JP bought 149 acres 1795; sold 68 ac and 95 ac 1797; buys 25ac in 1799 and sells 124; 1801 sells 180 ac bounds James Tarrant in 1795 and David Ridgeway in 1798
p 90 Peter Ragsdale 1797 bounds Thomas Camp
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Camp - Kemp Family History, Col. Robert Neville and Cathrine Cleek Mann, (Cedar Bluff, Alabama 35959, 1967), Vol. 1, p 4.
Tombstone of Thomas Camp (1717-1798) in family cemetery, Rutherford County, North Carolina, located 1/4 mile east of US Route 221, between Forest City, NC and Chesnee, SC
p. 10 - He first lived in the upper part of Virginia. Then moved to Halifax County in the same state. Then to where Durham, NC, now is, and just before the revolutionary war moved to Rutherford County, NC and settled Ireland FOrd, on the French Broad River. He was a millwright by profession and built and owned the first mill erected in that section. He and his wife were staunch rebels, patriots, and aided the revolutionary army, for which they were robbed and pillaged by the British army. Five of their sons participated in the battle of Kings Mountain. They both are buried in the burying ground of the old homestead to this day, owned by a descendant of their youngest son, Joshua. The descendants of the grand old man are to be found in every Southern state, and so far I find they number 5,000 or more.
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Camp - Kemp Family History, Col. Robert Neville and Cathrine Cleek Mann, (Cedar Bluff, Alabama 35959, 1967), Vol. 1, p 14-17
"Sketch of Thomas Camp, Senior, by the late W.A. Camp"
After the War was over they moved up to what is known as Island Ford, in Rutherford County, NC and made their final and last settlement. Thomas Camp who was a millwright by profession, built a grist and saw mill. The mill no longer remains, but the small falls of the river, where the mill stood, can be pointed out and recognized. Just across these falls, on the opposite side of the river from where the mill stood, is the family cemetery of Thomas Camp which was selected by him. Here is buried Thomas Camp and his wife Margaret Carney camp and many of his descendants. The author visited the cemetery in 1904 ......one in the party, selected the grave and considered might be his, and after scrapping away fully two inches of moss from the plain blue granite rough hewn stone, found the upper part of some rough letters. We worked diligently to raise this head-stone from its placement of 107 years ago and after cleaning the imbedded part of the stone, was able to read very plainly the following: T. CAMP B. - 1717 D. - 1798
This stone very plainly corroborated the dates of his birth and death as set down in his daughter Ruth's bible, (which I possess). ... This old cemetery is grown up all around in large trees. The writer has a letter written by Thomas in which he said that he owned this old country cemetery and would will it to his youngest descendant named Camp, to be willed by him in like manner, so that it should never pass into strangers hands. This cemetery was reserved separate from the division of the 800 acres of the old homestead, on the rise of the hill on the site of the first home built by Thomas Camp about the year 1780, and about 1795 he concluded to build a more pretentious building and selected the top of the hill, about 500 yards from the first site, on a beautiful elevation overlooking the Ford and the mill and surrounding county. A large portion of the first house was used in building the second and last home of Thomas Camp. ......
Thomas Camp like nearly all of his descendants after him, was a good liver and genial host and his home was sought by all the notables of that day, and many are the famous meetings under that roof of celebrated men of that day and section. His hospitality was of the old Virginia pattern learned at the knees of his mother in old Virginia.
So far very little is known of his early life to manhood. Atr the age of 22 he married his first wife Winifred Starling, who was of Welch descent. They both lived in the lower eastern section of Virginia and it is reasonably supposed that his first wife died in that section of Virginia; since Thomas married his second wife in Virginia and children were born by her in that state.
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