KERR, WILLIAM

KERR, MCMURREY, THOMAS, MCMURRAY, ROBINSON, JONES, CONWALL, BLISS, DOUTE, LARSON

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 2/8/2004 at 10:02:35

Biography reproduced from page 404 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

William Kerr is the owner of a valuable farm of two hundred and forty acres, located on sections 9 and 16, Seneca township. He has been actively and successfully identified with the agricultural development of Kossuth county for thirty-two years, and is numbered among its substantial citizens and capable business men. He was born in County Down, Ireland, February 24, 1847, and is a son of Joseph and Eliza (McMurrey) Kerr, both of whom were of Scotch-Irish extraction. They were born in Scotland, but in early childhood went to Ireland, where they were reared, educated and married. There the mother passed away in 1862, and the father subsequently came to America, where his children were residing. He located in Waterloo, Iowa, and there passed the remainder of his life. He was trained to agricultural pursuits in his early years, and always devoted his energies to this vocation. Our subject is the eldest of the five children born to his parents, the others being as follows: James, deceased; Joseph, a retired farmer residing in the vicinity of Waterloo, this state; John, manager of the Farmers Elevator Company at Lone Rock, Iowa; and Mary, who married E. P. Thomas, a merchant of Brooklyn, New York.

William Kerr was only a youth of fifteen years when he left home and came to America to seek his fortune. He landed in New York city, where he subsequently qualified himself for a pilot, and for nine years thereafter followed this vocation in New York harbor. In 1875, he came to Iowa and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, with which he was somewhat familiar, having assisted his father with the work of the fields and care of the crops in Ireland. During the succeeding five years he diligently applied himself to the cultivation of rented land in the vicinity of Waterloo, meeting with success in his undertakings. At the expiration of that time he came to Kossuth county and purchased eighty acres of section 27, Seneca township, where he continued his agricultural pursuits for ten years. Disposing of that property he invested the proceeds in the southeast quarter of section 9, Seneca township, where he has ever since resided. Later he extended the boundaries of his farm by the purchase of eighty acres of the northeast quarter of section 16, of the same township, making his holdings aggregate two hundred and forty acres. With the assistance of his son he is cultivating the entire tract, devoting his fields to such cereals as are best adapted to the soil. He also engages in raising and feeding cattle and hogs of a high grade, and is meeting with success in this line. He is diligent and enterprising as well as practical and exhibits clear judgment and good foresight in the development of his methods and execution of plans, his energies being directed toward the achievement of a definite purpose.

In 1875, Mr. Kerr was married to Miss Eliza McMurray, a daughter of Samuel and Jane (Robinson) McMurray, natives of Ireland, but of Scotch-Irish extraction. They emigrated to the United States in 1850, and located on a farm in Cattaraugus county, New York, where they passed the remainder of their lives. They were both living on the old homestead at the time of their deaths, the father passing away in 1907, and the mother in 1910. Mrs. Kerr, who was born in Cattaraugus county, May 20, 1853, is the eldest of the five children born to her parents. In order of birth the others are as follows: Mary, who married John Jones, a window trimmer, of Bradford, Pennsylvania; Joseph, who owns and operates a cheese factory in Cattaraugus county; James, who is engaged in farming in the same county; and Jennie, the wife of Fred Conwall, also a farmer of Cattaraugus county.

Mr. and Mrs. Kerr have had six children. William Alexander, the eldest, who is manager of the Spurbeck Lumber Company of Estherville, Iowa, married Lottie Bliss of Seneca township and they have one son, William, Jr. Mamie married C. Grant Doute, a well known horseman of Swea City, and they have become the parents of four children, Ray, Clifford, William and Donald. Joseph and Mabel, the next two in order of birth, are both deceased, the former having passed away at the age of twenty-four years, and the latter aged twenty-nine. Sadie, who is the youngest daughter, married Martin Larson, who is engaged in farming near Thompson, Iowa, and they have one child, Everett. Samuel is living at home and assisting his father with the operation of the farm.

The family affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church of Seneca, and fraternally Mr. Kerr is a member of the Masonic Lodge of Bancroft. He takes an active interest in political affairs, giving his support to the republican party, and has for the past eighteen years been one of the township trustees, while for twelve years he served as school director in district No. 2. Mr. Kerr was one of the organizers of the Cooperative Creamery Company of Seneca township, and has for twenty years been president of this concern, which has gratifyingly prospered under his direction. He is held in high esteem by his neighbors and fellow townsmen, as he is a man of earnest purpose, upright principles and rugged honesty, whose motives are above question and whose reliability has become proverbial.