JOHN KERR
This enterprise [FLOURING MILL] was established in Griswold in 1883, by Kerr and Torbert. It is a frame structure, 30x40 feet, in ground area, three and a half stories, erected at a cost of $10,000. The mill has a capacity of fifty barrels per day, and is equipped with a fifty horse-power steam engine. They have the Replogle patent and brand of flour. Messrs. Kerr and Torbert are young men of energy and splendid business integrity, and have given to Griswold an industry that she may well feel proud of, and which will be of lasting benefit to the place. The mill is kept in good condition and the flour is used generally throughout the county. Mr. Kerr is a practical miller and assumes full control of the mill.
John Kerr is of Scotch descent and was born in Gault, Canada, in 1853. His father was John Kerr, a native of Scotland, who emigrated to Canada in an early day. The subject of this sketch was reared in his native county. In 1876 he came to Iowa and located at Afton, where he commenced learning the trade of miller with Grant and Guthrie, with whom he remained two years. He then went to Osceola, where he followed his trade, then to Woodbine in the same county. He came from the latter place to Griswold, in April, 1883, where he formed the partnership of Kerr and Torbert, and built the Griswold mill. Since that time Mr. Kerr has been a resident of Griswold. He is a Sir Knight, a member of Constantine Lodge, No. 23, of Osceola. Mr. Kerr is a young man of ability and possesses the qualifications necessary to insure success in business.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 827.
