Samuel Kemble (1732-1796)
Collector of the Port of New York & East Indies Merchant
He was born at New Brunswick in the Colony of New Jersey. He started his career in New York City where he was a Member of the Chamber of Commerce. He was an auctioneer in partnership with Walter Spens in the firm of Kemble & Spens. On the outbreak of war, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant into the British Navy and took command of two London trading vessels named for his sister and brother-in-law: the General Gage and the Lady Gage. In 1773, he retired his commission to take the position of Collector of the Port of New York which he held until the end of the war. After the American victory, he retired to England, never to step foot in his native country again. He established himself as a commercial merchant in London but when that venture failed he went with his family to the East Indies and died on the Island of Sumatra leaving a widow and three sons including Sampson, Collector of Customs at Kingston, Jamaica.
