Gouverneur Kemble (January 25, 1786 – September 18, 1875) was a two-term

United States Congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, diplomat and industrialist. He helped found the

West Point Foundry The West Point Foundry was a major American ironworking and machine shop site in Cold Spring, New York, operating from 1818 to about 1911. Initiated after the War of 1812, it became most famous for its production of Parrott rifle artillery and oth ...

, a major producer of

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

Early life and education

Kemble was born in 1786 to a prominent family in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the eldest son of prosperous attorney and merchant Peter Kemble of New Jersey. Ships of the firm Gouverneur & Kemble conducted trade in the West Indies, Europe and China. Kemble was educated in New York and graduated from Columbia College in 1803, then entered the mercantile business. He was friends with

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

and other members of city society, who enjoyed socializing at Cockloft Hall (an old family mansion on the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

which Kemble inherited and was sometimes known as "Salmagundi" or the "Bachelor's Elysium")."Kemble Family", Putnam County Historical Society
/ref> He was a founding member of the "Lads of Kilkenny". His sister, Gertrude, married

James Kirke Paulding James Kirke Paulding (August 22, 1778 – April 6, 1860) was an American writer and, for a time, the United States Secretary of the Navy. Paulding's early writings were satirical and violently anti-British, as shown in ''The Diverting History of ...

in November, 1818. Through his grandmother Gertrude Bayard, Kemble descended both from the

Schuyler family The Schuyler family ( /ˈskaɪlər/; Dutch pronunciation: xœylər was a prominent Dutch family in New York and New Jersey in the 18th and 19th centuries, whose descendants played a critical role in the formation of the United States (especial ...

and the Van Cortlandt family.

Diplomat

Kemble was sent to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

as a naval agent during the

Second Barbary War The Second Barbary War (1815) or the U.S.–Algerian War was fought between the United States and the North African Barbary Coast states of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. The war ended when the United States Senate ratified Commodore Stephen ...

with Tripoli. As a young man with political connections, in 1816 he was appointed United States Consul at

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, where his attention was attracted to the Spanish government's state-of-the-art process of casting

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

Manufacturer

Returning home, Kemble saw an opportunity to introduce the process in the United States. Along with other partners including his brother William and a consortium of investors including General

Joseph Gardner Swift Joseph Gardner Swift (December 31, 1783 – July 22, 1865) was an American soldier who, in 1802, became the first graduate of the newly instituted United States Military Academy in West Point, New York; he would later serve as its fourth Superin ...

of the U.S. Army, around 1817 he founded the West Point Foundry Association to produce artillery pieces for the United States Government. The need of such an establishment was demonstrated by the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

. The foundry was built across the Hudson River from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

in the village of Cold Spring, New York, and soon began to make cast iron

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

s for

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

s, gears, water pipes, and other iron products, as well as artillery. Despite the lack of local artisans and craftsmen skilled in ironworking, Kemble and his partners succeeded, especially after they hired William Young, a native of Belfast, Ireland. Robert P. Parrott became superintendent in 1836 and the Foundry weathered the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

. Kemble continued to be president of the association until the expiration of the charter. He became known as the "Patriarch of Cold Spring" for his charitable activities in the village. In 1823, Gouverneur Kemble leased land in

Orange County, New York Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798. Orang ...

, for the mineral rights to mine

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

. Four years later, the Kembles acquired most of the nearby Greenwood Iron Foundry and related industries. In 1839, the brothers sold the foundry to Parrott. A year later, his sister Mary married Parrott.

Political career

Kemble was an active member of the Democratic Party. He was elected to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses representing Westchester and Putnam counties, serving two terms during the presidency of

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

. In 1840, he declined a nomination for a third term. He served as a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

in 1840 and 1860. He was elected as a delegate to the 1846 convention for the revising New York's state constitution. In his later years, he was an active supporter of the

Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the ...

Calver, Amelia. ''Everyday Biography'', Fowler & Wells, 1889
/ref> and the Panama Railway, and was a lifelong art collector and patron. David Hunter Strother, who gained fame for illustrated articles in Harper's Monthly, and Kemble helped found the "Century Club" for artists in New York City. In 1854 Kemble was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the ...

as an Honorary Academician. Kemble was one of the last survivors of the

Tontine Association A tontine () is an investment linked to a living person which provides an income for as long as that person is alive. Such schemes originated as plans for governments to raise capital in the 17th century and became relatively widespread in the 18 ...

Death and legacy

Gouverneur Kemble died in Cold Spring on September 16, 1875, at the age of 89 and was buried in Cold Spring Cemetery. An 1853 oil portrait of Gouverneur Kemble by Asher Brown Durand is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C."Gouverneur Kemble", National Gallery of Art
/ref> Famed Civil War general Gouverneur Kemble Warren, born in Cold Spring in 1830, was named for Kemble, a close friend of his father, Sylvanus Warren.

References

Sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kemble, Gouverneur 1786 births 1875 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni Foundrymen American Civil War industrialists Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Schuyler family American people of Dutch descent 19th-century American politicians