김제 김씨(金堤 金氏) — A small Kim seat with its home in Gimje, North Jeolla, naming Kim Cheon-seo, said to descend from King Gyeongsun of Silla, as founder and his 7th-generation descendant Kim Jeong-geol as mid-founder.
A small Kim seat with its home in Gimje, North Jeolla, naming Kim Cheon-seo, said to descend from King Gyeongsun of Silla, as founder and his 7th-generation descendant Kim Jeong-geol as mid-founder. Even among people surnamed 김, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 김제) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
The Gimje Kim (金堤 金氏) is a seat of the Kim surname with its home in Gimje, North Jeolla Province. Korean Wikipedia gives the 2000 census as 1,594 households and 5,220 people, and names Gimje as its clan village. The 2015 figure was not confirmed. Kim is a very large surname, and this is a small seat beside the Gimhae Kim or Gyeongju Kim.
According to Wikipedia the founder is Kim Cheon-seo (金天瑞, 1140-1211), a great-great-grandson through a secondary line of Daeangun Kim Eun-yeol, fourth son of King Gyeongsun of Silla. He is said to have been Munhasijung in 1184, to have been enfeoffed as Lord Woneseong-buwongun in 1188, and to have settled in Gimje in 1196 after retiring in 1191. This reflects register tradition rather than verified Goryeo sources, so treat the dates and titles as tradition.
The mid-founder is Kim Jeong-geol (金正傑, 1356-1429), the founder's 7th-generation descendant. Wikipedia says that from 1391 to 1401 he served in turn as a retainer to the Gyeongju Kim lord Kim Gyun, to Yu Yang of the Munhwa Yu and to Yi Cheom of the Sinpyeong Yi, and that in 1402 King Taejong enfeoffed him as Lord of Gimje. His eldest son Kim Byeong-du settled in Hanseong with his father, the second son Kim Bu-nal stayed in Gimje, and descendants took Kim Jeong-geol as mid-founder (in effect first generation) and set the seat as Gimje. This account rests on one Wikipedia entry and was not cross-checked.
The founder is said to descend from King Gyeongsun of Silla, which ties the line to the Silla royal Kim, that is, the Gyeongju Kim. The Gimhae Kim, by contrast, is a separate line tracing to King Suro of Gaya. Wikipedia's Gimje Kim entry says nothing directly about the Gimhae Kim, and no source calling the Gimje Kim a branch of the Gimhae Kim was found. They should be treated as different seats of the Kim surname; how they connect in the registers is a matter for clan documents.
Wikipedia's list names the Joseon monk Jinmuk (Kim Il-ok, 1562-1633), Kim Hyeong-ryeol (1862-1932) of the Jeungsan movement, and the journalist Kim Gang-jeong (1943-2021). Their seats could not be cross-checked against other sources, so no person pages were made here.
Very little is available. Branch names, clan association, generation names and the seats of notable figures were not confirmed. Please check your register and clan association.
Branch names and founders were not confirmed in this research.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
김천서(traditional founder, Goryeo Munhasijung), 김정걸(mid-founder, said to be enfeoffed as Lord of Gimje)
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The 2000 census figure of 1,594 households and 5,220 people is given on Wikipedia. The 2015 figure was not confirmed.
Wikipedia names Gimje as the clan village and says the second son of the mid-founder, Kim Bu-nal, stayed in Gimje. Descendants of the eldest son Kim Byeong-du, who settled in Hanseong, would be in the Seoul area, but specific distribution was not confirmed.
The name Gimje is shared with seats of other surnames. Confirm from your register which Kim seat your family belongs to.
The clan association's name and contact, register publication years and branch structure were not confirmed. The external links on Wikipedia are archive copies of an old genealogy site, and it is unclear whether they are still in use. Ask your elders for the register and contact local Gimje clan groups.
The 김제 김씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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