{{short description|American politician (1769–1826)}} {{use American English|date=April 2025}} {{use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} '''Kemp Plummer''' (1769 – January 19, 1826) was an American lawyer and politician. He was educated by George Wythe, once known as "the honest lawyer",<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQgrjw9qiqcC&pg=PA411|title=The History of Legal Education in the United States: Commentaries and Primary Sources|first=Steve|last=Sheppard|date=13 July 1999|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|isbn=9781584776901|via=Google Books}}</ref> and represented Warren County, North Carolina in the North Carolina House of Commons and later the North Carolina State Senate. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina<ref name=oldtime/> and grandfather of Kemp Plummer Battle.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31259344/daily-press/|title = Clipped from Daily Press|newspaper = Daily Press|date = 10 November 1957|page = 49}}</ref>
Plummer was part of the "Warren Junto" which included Nathaniel Macon, who married Kemp's sister Hannah, James Turner, Weldon Edwards, William Hawkins, and William Miller, who dominated North Carolina political life at that time.<ref name=dict/> Plummer's sister Hannah married Nathaniel Macon.
Kemp Plummer was the second owner of the oldest house in Warrenton. The original owner was Marmaduke Johnson, who married Macon's half-sister Hixie Ransom.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.warrenrecord.com/arts_entertainment/article_c4dc5370-f38c-11e6-b283-e35d2869f9ab.html|title=The Marmaduke Johnson House: A Warren County (and national) treasure hidden in plain sight|work=The Warren Record|access-date=2018-09-01}}</ref> Another Plummer brother was William Plummer II, who married Macon's half-sister Betsy Ransom.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/alstonsandallst00grovgoog|title=The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina|last=Groves|first=Joseph Asbury|date=1901|publisher=Franklin printing and publishing Company|isbn=|location=|pages=[https://archive.org/details/alstonsandallst00grovgoog/page/n580 512]-515|language=en}}</ref>
Plummer's plantation also had several black slaves.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncstate/plantations/plummer_warren.htm |title=KEMP PLUMMER PLANTATION: Warren County, North Carolina |website=North Carolina Plantations: A NCGenWeb Special Project |publisher=NCGenWeb Project |access-date=17 October 2020 |quote=The 1790 census reported him in Warren, unmarried, and the owner of thirty-eight slaves. Four years later he married Susanna Martin (1776–1838) on September 30, 1794, daughter of William Martin of Granville County and Ann Long, who was a daughter of Nicholas Long, commissary general of North Carolina during the Revolution. }}</ref>
Plummer died from gout in 1826.
==Early life== Kemp Plummer was born in 1769 near Mobjack Bay in Gloucester County, Virginia to William Plummer and Mary Hayes.<ref name=oldtime>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NImzAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA255|title=North Carolina Law Journal|date=13 July 2017|publisher=|via=Google Books}}</ref> After the death of his father around 1774, his mother moved the family to North Carolina due to "the cheaper lands and the superior healthiness of the hill country of North Carolina."<ref name=oldtime/>
Plummer attended Hampden-Sydney College and graduated with the first class in 1786.<ref name=dict>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeSDB5tKDagC&pg=PA104|title=Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: Vol. 5, P-S|first=William S.|last=Powell|date=9 November 2000|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=9780807867006|via=Google Books}}</ref> He then attended the College of William & Mary and studied with George Wythe. Rather than stay in Virginia, he moved to North Carolina to practice law.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Plummer, Kemp}} Category:American lawyers Category:1769 births Category:1826 deaths Category:People from Gloucester County, Virginia Category:People from Warren County, North Carolina Category:Hampden–Sydney College alumni Category:Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives Category:North Carolina state senators Category:College of William & Mary alumni Category:U.S. state legislators who owned slaves