The Kempens - 1669 Third Ave (Fanning Side)

I hope to alternate every week with entries from opposing sides of the family tree. This week I am back to the Fanning side and will continue along the Kempen branch.

Henry "Henny" Kempen (1897- 1969) was my great-great grandfather. He was married to Marion Scully Kempen (1898-1971). I haven't been able to find the date they were married but I reason that it was either late 1920 or early 1921. Marion is not listed with Henny on the 1920 census. My grandmother, Veronica Kempen (1921-1989), was born in November 1921 and they are all listed in the 1930 census residing at 1667 Third Ave, East 93 to 94 St.

Born May 6, 1897, the first reference I have found for Henny was in the 1900 census. He lived at the 1669 Third Ave address as the oldest child with his parents Heinrich "Henry" Kempen (1869 - ?) and Anne Dertinger Kempen (1876 - ?) along with sister Catherine Kempen (1899 - ?). Heinrich was employed as a conductor with the surface railroad (subways had not been completed yet).

Also living in this building was Heinrich's brother, Folkert (1864-?), and his family: wife, Emma Kuhne (1866-?), daughter Margaret Kempen (1894-1975), and son, George Kempen (1896-1963). Their son William hadn't been born yet, who was the father of George R. Kempen (1938-1976). George was the Nassau Co. Police officer who was killed. Also listed in this census was 15 year-old Minnie Kuhne (1885-?) who may have been the cousin or sister of Emma.

The family affair at 1669 3rd Ave continues with Anne Dertinger Kempen's sister, Mary Catherine Dertinger Gaukel (1881-?) residing there, too. She was married to Charles Gaukel (1875-1942). They did not have children at this point but they did live with Catherine "Kate" Lyons Dertinger (1843-?), mother of Annie & Mary Catherine. Annie & Mary Catherine were both born in New York City. Momma Kate was born in Ireland and immigrated to the US somewhere around 1860. The various census dates are conflicting. Charles Gaukel was a butcher and immigrated to the US in 1890 from Germany with his parents. I know it gets confusing... a view of the family tree while reading this will help you follow along.

Henry Kempen lived at this building for many years. The 1930 census shows he was living here with Marion & Veronica. They were paying $29.00 a month rent and was employed at a brewery as an electrician. The rest of the extended family had moved to Astoria, Queens by 1930.

I had heard some stories about Henny over the years, none of which were favorable. He had abandoned his wife and daughter at some point and moved out to Suffolk County. Social Security death records show he died January 20, 1969 in Hampton Bays and is buried at National Cemetery in Farmingdale, LI. I have not found any evidence that he ever remarried but family lore is that he spent his later years with a women named Consuela. He has always been rumored to have been a bit of a con artist.

I did not know that he served in the US Army as a "wagoneer" during the end of WW 1 in France. Dennis Fanning provided me with a photo of him when he was overseas. He is the one holding the wine bottle!

I have not been able to find much about Marion Scully's family. She was born August 29, 1898 in New Jersey to Michael H. Scully (1866-1908) and Annie O'Neill Scully (1873-?). Census reports show he was born in NJ and Annie immigrated from Northern Ireland 1893. They married 1897 in NJ I presume, since Marion was born in NJ. In 1900 they lived at 109 West 46 St, NYC and Michael was employed as a masseuse. After Michael died in 1908, Annie & Marion had moved to 340 East 49 St and was employed as a restaurant cook by 1910. She also had her nephew, John O'Neill, living with them at the time. The 1920 census lists Annie as a 'laundry ironer' and they lived at 223 East 53 St. I have not discovered when she died.

My first noteable discovery on the Wright side

When I first began researching the Wright family tree, I had a basic tree that my mother had received from Grandma Madeleine. It listed Marie Antoinette Finck (conflicting DOB either 1878 or 1874 depending which census & unknown death date) married to Frederick Harriman Wright (1863-1933). I found Marie, the youngest of seven, listed in the 1880 census and it listed her siblings names. They resided at 170 Eldridge Street between Delancy St. & Rivington St. in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

The NY Times has a good digital archive and I started popping names into the search engine. One of the first to get a result was my great-great-uncle Frederick Finck (1858-1889). The article I found tells of a sickly man who suffered from "consumption" (tuberculosis) and dyspepsia (impaired digestion). He was a trader on the produce exchange and was also employed by George Fowley & Co., which was a large provisions house based in Kansas City.

In mid-August, 1889, Frederick booked himself on the steamship Norman of the Windsor Line and was last seen August 19 while the ship was off the coast of Atlantic City. It appears that the 31 year-old jumped to his death.

The article was not only important to me because it shed some light on my great-great uncle's life, but it also listed his father, Frederick Finck Sr. (1830-1899) and identified him as a NYC Alderman. I will get to that notable story in another post.

George Russell Kempen

I had sent out an email recently regarding the Kempen family and told of their arrival in 1882 on the ship Nekkar from Germany. As I listed some the descendants of Gerdes and Vendalina Kempen, I wrote of a William Kempen who was born in NY and subsequently moved to Delaware. He & his wife had 2 sons George and William who attended US Army Academy at West Point and the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, respectively. George was killed in action while serving in Korea. However, this family appears to be the wrong one that is related to us. Coincidentally, I have located another William Kempen (1900-1975) who had 2 sons, William and George, too. I have confirmed that this is the correct branch of the Kempen family.

William Theodore Kempen is the son of Folkert George Kempen (1864-?).  By 1920 Folkert and his wife, Emma Kuhne (1866-?), had moved to Rockville Centre, NY. Their son, William Theodore, is listed on the 1920 census residing with them. Folkert was a dealer of cigars. William became a Nassau County police officer and later is listed as a detective. William married Lucy "Lulu" (1905-1989) and they had sons William (1928-1998) and George Russell (1938-1976). Little did any of us know that George (my 2nd cousin twice removed) lived and died as a hero police officer. In 1960, he joined the Nassau County Police Department in his father's footsteps. He was also a member of the US Air Force and appears to have been a reservist through the 1960's.

On November 14, 1976, George was working not far from his home in North Merrick when a call for assistance came from a NYS Parkway Police Officer on the Southern State Parkway. The officer was wrestling with a suspect who had stolen a car when George arrived on the scene. While trying to restrain the suspect the officer's gun discharged striking George as he ran to his aid fatally wounding him. He was survived by his wife, Bernice (1940- ) and an eleven year old son, George (1965- ), who would be my third cousin.

 George R. Kempen

Officer Down Memorial Page - Kempen

Welcome to my family tree blog!

I have been working on my family tree for the past couple of years. What I thought would be a simple tree with mother & father listed and so forth has turned into quite an amazing journey through history with several discoveries. Rather than relay my discoveries through emails to family members, I have decided to share them here and you can read them at your leisure.

I began the research for a few different reasons. I had heard the stories that we, on my mother's side of the Wright family, were related to Commodore Isaac Hull (1773-1843), commander of the USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides. Originally, the story was that he was a great-great etc grandfather. However, quick research eliminated that rumor since the commodore did not have any children. I have not been able to make the connection to Isaac but I have found my 3rd great-grandfather is a Hull. John M. Hull (1810-?) to be precise. Born in New York and married to Sophia Kelley (1815-?). The 1850 census listed him as merchant who owned property valued at $8000. A decent sum in those days. The 1860 census narrows his business ventures down a bit and tells us he was an iron dealer to the railroads that were becoming the veins of this country as the industrial revolution took hold.


The second Wright family lore that I wanted to prove or disprove was a possible relation to William Averell Harriman, former governor of NYS, US Secretary of Commerce, and presidential hopeful in 1950's. The only connection I have found is that he shares his last name with the middle name of my maternal great-grandfather, Frederick Harriman Wright (1863-1933).


Lastly, I have always identified and enjoyed my Irish heritage being in the bagpipe band and the Emerald Society but knew little about where we came from. I have discovered names in my lineage such as Scully, Hurley, Kelley, Carroll, Hickey, and Duncan. Thanks to some research done by some other family members several years back, we know that my paternal great-grandfather, Joseph Patrick Fanning (1887-1948), was born in Dublin and traveled to New York at an early age with his parents. Irish records were not well maintained and I continue to search for more information for that side of the family.


Some of the things I have learned may not be news to you. There are factoids I have learned that are items some individuals already knew, while others had no idea. Like any other family, I suppose, we have heroes and scoundrels and I hope you enjoy the discoveries I have made as I relay them through my eyes and emotions.