SAMUEL
KERR
BORN: 2 Jul 1790 Headwaters of Eno River, Orange Co., North Carolina
MARRIED: 1st - Anna Paisley,
5 Oct 1820 Giles County, Tennessee, daughter. of James and Hannah Denny Paisley.
She was born 6
Jul 1797 in Guilford County, North Carolina.
CHILDREN:
Caroline Paisley Kerr; Nancy Minerva Kerr; Elizabeth Jane Kerr; Addison
Mitchell Kerr; Eleanor Hannah Kerr; James T. Paisley Kerr; Maria Frances Kerr
& William Archibald Kerr
Samuel married a 2nd
time to Sarah Ball. Note: In a letter dated 11/26/1957,
Luther Earl Walker, great grandson said, � Widower Samuel deeded
his land to his children in
equal shares in 1865 provided that each
paid him $35.00 per year during
his life. (Canny Scott, Records in Giles Co., TN Courthouse). Sometimes prior to
1863 Samuel went to see about
a disturbance in the barn one night and somebody shot him thru the chest. He was
nursed back to health by a neighbor widow woman named Sarah Ball. He
married her on the 15th day of July 1863. Later, when she found he had given his land to his kids she lost
interest and left. There is a deed remaining today where Samuel gave Sarah
S. Ball Kerr 65 � acres and in effect divorced her? Deed Book CC, page 278
registered Nov 29, 1865. On the 1876 D.G. Beers map the property is shown on Jenkins Creek
listed as Mrs. S. S. Kerr just above the Kedron Church. She's buried in the
Kedron cemetery along side the Ball family. There is no grave stone listing
that matches Sarah, but instead Sidney S. Kerr which we believe to be her
possibly using her full name Sidney S. (Sarah) Kerr. Perhaps Sidney Sarah Ball
Kerr.
Samuel
died
22 Apr 1881, Giles County, Tennessee, and is buried in Stella Cemetery, about 100 feet
out from the old Stella Cumberland Presbyterian Church front door.
Samuel
came by wagon-train with his father's family to Maury, Co., TN in 1807.
His parents were James & Nancy Mitchell Kerr, who died in the old Jackson
College (then called Manual Labor Academy) neighborhood near Spring Hill, Tennessee. Samuel is
listed in a tax list for Maury, Co. for 1816. After his marriage on October
20th 1820 to Anna
Paisley he settled in Stella, Giles
County Tennessee. Later censuses show him
living next to his in-laws, the James Paisley�s where he was a slave-holding farmer
and planter. He
lived out his life in Stella dying past 90 years of age.
Samuel
was a cabinet maker and wheelwright and had a well equipped woodworking shop. He
was a maker of wagons, buggies, furniture, looms and spinning wheels. He made
approximately three thousand spinning wheels including one for his daughter
Caroline and his granddaughter Annie Josephine Walker.
His age
made him a non-combatant
during the Civil War, but his home was along the dividing line of the two armies
when they were fighting in Giles Co. This unfortunate location made him a target
for both factions and he was repeatedly ambushed and scarred by the Confederates
as well as by the Federals.
Anna
Paisley Kerr died 29
Sep 1849, Stella, Giles Co., TN and is buried In the Mt. Carmel Cemetery,
Stella, Giles County, Tennessee. Anna Paisleys great - great - grandfather was from Paisley, Scotland.
Several of
Samuel & Anna's children eventually moved to Texas.
Extracted
with
permission from the book �Kerr History Project�, By Frank Kerr McDaniel,
Santa Clarita California. Initially 17 0ct 1986; Revised 12 Sep 1987; 25 June
1989 -Thanks to Cathie Seaver; 16 Oct 1990, Thanks, K. B. Walker; 4 Nov 1991.
Revisions by Wayne Austin 7-15-2004
Shown above is a photo of the home once owned
by the Samuel
Kerr family made by Guy Mitchell during the 1980s, who grew up in Stella. The
house is
still standing today on H. Smith Road having been moved a few hundred feet from
its original place and a new home constructed there. It was again remodeled. It is not known when it was built,
but we know there were modification to the original log structure. Samuel Kerr was
living in Stella by 1820. Dr Waters was an early community medical practitioner. Marilyn Hare,
a descendent says Addison Mitchell Kerr also lived in this house house occupied later
by Renzo
C. Smith.
A letter detailing the family history of Samuel Kerr is given here.
It was written by Andrew Ross Kerr in 1875 of Campbell Station Tennessee just
about 25 miles to the north of this place. He was addressing John T. Kerr a
nephew from Texas. This letter has been passed around thru the Kerr descendents and was first translated in May 22,
1922 by Lula Kerr Dorris and transcribed for this site by Wayne Austin July 12,
2004. My collection came from Raymond Kerr Evans thru the efforts of Mr. Sharp a
later Kerr researccher.
Mr.
John T.
Kerr
Fountain Creek,
Tenn.
August 25, 1875.
Dear Sir:
Please excuse me for delaying answering your letter of November 4th,
1874 so long. I was trying to hear from uncle Samuel Kerr, he could have given
more of the history of our ancestry than I can, but Calvin Warden (aka Calvn
Kerr Warden, b. 1816) thinks he is
dead. You ask for the history back as far as your grandfather. I can give some
of our history as far back as your great-grandfather. He was a native of
Ireland. He brought the Kerr name to America. I do not know the date, (perhaps
uncle Samuel could have told.) but it was some time before the Revolutionary
War. I think he was married in Ireland, do not know his wife's maiden name. He
was a weaver by trade, and taught school. I think he was a high churchman in
religion, and died, I would guess, about the year 1800 in Orange County, N. C.
His name was James Kerr. He had three sons and seven daughters. The names of his
sons were William, John and James. William and John died in the army of the
revolution, both single men, leaving James, my grandfather and your
great-grandfather, to perpetuate the name. About the year 1780 he married Miss
Nancy Mitchell, they raised six sons and two daughters, all lived to be old and
brought up families.
Grandfather's occupation was farming. He and all of his family came to Tennessee
in the year 1807, none of them were married at that time except my father, he
being the eldest. They settled in Maury County, where Spring Hill now stands,
then that part of the country was cane break.
Grandfather died about the year 1816 or 1817 in this county near were he had
first settled. His religion was old Presbyterian; he was a leading member of
that church. I remember hearing him sing, pray and
exhort at the meetings, when I was small. I thought he was a preacher. I can
remember hearing him sing and shout in the fields while following the plow. He
cared but little for the things of this world, a competency was all he desired.
We will now come a little nearer to home. My father, your grandfather, William
Kerr, was born in the year 1781 in orange county, N.C. In 1804 he married Miss
Kate Ross. They raised eleven children, six boys and five girls, Nancy Simpson
the eldest, and Taswell, the youngest. Your father T.B. Kerr (Thomas B. Kerr), was the seventh
child. My mother (Kate Ross) died in 1826. In 1827 father married widow Polly Crafton, by
whom he had seven more children, five girls and two boys. Four of the first set of
children are dead and five of the last, leaving nine still living. Father died
in the year 1853, he was about seventy-two years old at his death. He was a
mechanic, a turner, by trade, and a member of the old Presbyterian Church. He
raised his children to be sober, honest and industrious.
I will now trace our race back as far as I can on my mother's side.
Grandfather Ross was married in Edenburg, Scotland. He was a blacksmith by trade
and worked for the Revolutionary army. His name was Andrew Ross after whom I was
named. Grandmother Ross' maiden name was Aley Pratt. I think she was born in
America. Great-grandmother Pratt's maiden name was Wriley. I do not know her
given name, but I think it was Susan.
I have now gone back to your great-grandfather, James Kerr, on my father's
side, and your great-great-grandmother Wriley on my mother's side. I believe
this is all I can do for you in that direction. If you wish to file this, you
are a good scribe, copy it in a better hand and please correct the orthography.
Your Uncle, A.R. Kerr (Andrew Ross Kerr)
Notes
by Wayne Austin July 17, 2004: The writer Andrew R. Kerr sadly would live only
36 more days after issuing this letter. The Samuel Kerr mentioned above was the
brother of the William or the father of Andrew Ross Kerr the writer. It must be
pointed out that Samuel Kerr was not in fact dead but lived until 1881. The
confusion might have occurred because the son of Samuel who was Addison M. Kerr had recently
died in 1872 and communication was very slow in those days. According to
Samuel's tombstone inscription he was born in July 2, 1790 and died Apr 22,
1881. He lived in the Stella Community, Giles County, Tennessee and is interred
there. Stella is nine miles south of Pulaski in Giles County and this PO
Fountain Creek is about 15 miles northeast of Pulaski in Maury County, Tennessee.
According to the Tombstone inscription of James Kerr of Springhill Tennessee, he
died in 1818, so A. R. Kerr's date of 1816 or 1817 was quite close. The Calvin
Warden above was Calvin Kerr or known as CK Warden a native of Campbell Station
Tennessee. He was a Christian Church minister, and was found by the D. G. Beers
mapping company during 1876 as living there in Campbell Station where he called
home. The post Office at Campbell Station was known as Fountain Creek at that
time so this letter was written by Andrew Ross Kerr who was a resident of
Campbell Station. The D. G. Beers map finds his estate in 1876 located just to
the east of what was the Shane (Methodist) Meeting house. That is just to the
east of the present day Shane Cemetery, the community cemetery of Campbell
Station. Calvin Warden transferred before his death to the Campbellsville
village where he died in 1891 and is interred there. He followed two of his
daughters there.
The A. R. Kerr mentioned was Andrew Ross Kerr, 1807 - 1875, the son of
William & Kate (Ross) Kerr. Andrew R. is buried in Campbell Station
Tennessee in the Shane Cemetery about 600 yards west of his old home place which
still stood in 2004 though in poor repair. The letter was addressed to John T.
Kerr who lived in Texas but he was mentioned as the son of Thomas B. Kerr of
McNairy County Tennessee. Thomas B. was the son as mentioned of William &
Kate Ross Kerr of Maury County. So this John T. Kerr removed to Texas from
McNairy County Tennessee. Later he moved back to Giles County settling somewhere
around the Roberson Fork or Buford Station Community as a clerk for his uncle
Richard Warden's store. Later he took over that store and operated it as sole
owner. John T. Kerr is interred in the Lynnwood Cemetery. b. 1846 d. 1927.
The
above letter was transcribed into MS Word on 17 Jul 2004 by Wayne Austin for
this site.
