Very likely the most famous Kemmler is William Kemmler, who was the first man, who was sentenced to death as the first person on the electric chair in Auburn prison, New York on Aug 6, 1890
after he had murdered his friend Tilly in Buffalo, NY.
After an intensive research I could figure out where William’s family originally came from in Germany.
Interesting is the related background story about the ongoing competition between Edison and Westinghouse, which resulted in the electric chair built by Edison and equipped with
ACDC – the competitors product – to proof, that ACDC can be dangerous for the people. There is a great BBC documentation about William Kemmler and the electric chair.