Charles H. Kemp

Charles H. Kemp came to Billerica from the neighboring town of Carlisle. On September 25, 1901, Charles H. Kemp of Carlisle married Margaret Maloney of Billerica, and the town's birth and death records of the next few years show two infant sons of Charles and Margaret Kemp, neither of whom lived more than a few months. In the 1900s the town paid him for labor on the roads and for snow work, and he served as a special police officer; in 1913 the Billerica magazine listed him among the special police officers appointed by the selectmen for the year.

He was a persistent candidate for town office. He ran for assessor in 1907 and 1908, for constable in 1910 and for Overseer of the Poor in 1913, without success, and in 1915 he missed a seat on the Board of Assessors by seven votes, 228 to William H. Sexton's 235. That year the selectmen made him the town's Fish Warden, and his report for 1915 says he had "carefully tried to do my duty as Fish Warden, looking after the rivers and ponds within the Town limits, more especially the rivers and ponds where camps are located, to see that no unlawful fishing was taking place," and also, as a special police officer, "to take care of any rowdyism which might exist."

In 1916 he was elected an assessor with 312 votes, and he served with Sexton and Edward A. King through the war years. He finished second to Ralph L. Dodge in 1919, ahead of the veteran assessor William H. Hutchins, and lost to King in 1920, but in 1921 he was elected for three years with 469 votes, the most of any candidate. He signed the assessors' reports for 1921, when the valuation of the town passed $7 million and the tax rate was $29 a thousand, with Dodge and Edwin P. Simpson, and for 1922 with Simpson and George C. Crosby, and he left the board in 1924. The town records consulted give no date for his death.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1902, marriages recorded in 1901: Charles H. Kemp of Carlisle and Margaret Maloney of Billerica, Sept. 25
2. Billerica Town Report 1915, annual election: Assessors, William H. Sexton 235, Charles H. Kemp 228
3. Billerica Town Report 1915, report of the Fish Warden, Charles H. Kemp
4. Billerica Town Report 1916, annual election: Assessors, Charles H. Kemp 312, Edward A. King 273
5. Billerica Town Report 1921, assessors' report signed by Ralph L. Dodge, Edwin P. Simpson and Charles H. Kemp
6. Billerica Town Report 1922, assessors' report signed by Edwin P. Simpson, Charles H. Kemp and George C. Crosby
7. Billerica magazine, 1913, town items: Charles H. Kemp among the special police officers appointed by the selectmen