Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kemp, John (1763-1812)
KEMP, JOHN (1763–1812), mathematician, was born at Auchlossen, Aberdeenshire, on 10 April 1763. He graduated M.A. at the university of Aberdeen in 1781, and was elected F.R.S. Edinb. in 1783. In the latter year he emigrated to America, and after making a brief stay in Virginia went to New York, where in 1785 he was appointed teacher, and in 1786 professor, of mathematics in Columbia College. In 1795 he was transferred to the chair of geography, history, and chronology. He received the degree of LL.D. from an American university. Kemp was an intimate friend of De Witt Clinton, mayor of New York, and was frequently consulted by him on municipal business. In 1810 he visited Lake Erie, and in advance of the surveys pronounced the projected canal to be entirely practicable. He died in New York on 15 Nov. 1812.
[Irving's Eminent Scotsmen, p. 252; Appleton's Cyclop. of Amer. Biog. iii. 511.]