Kerr, Richard

Born: 1793-02-12 Kentucky

Died: 1852-12-07 Texas

Flourished: Pike County, Illinois

Kerr moved from his native state to Pike County, Missouri, sometime before 1815. In February 1815, he married Ruth Wells, his cousin, and they had several children. Kerr represented Pike County in the Missouri House of Representatives in 1822 and again in 1828-29. From 1824 to 1828, Kerr served as sheriff of Pike County. He was the first justice of the peace for Calumet Township, and he was also an Indian agent. He was among the first members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, established in the county. Around 1834, he moved to Pike County, Illinois, where he purchased large tracts of land in and around Pleasant Hill and commenced farming. From 1838 to 1840, Kerr represented Pike County as a Whig in the Illinois House of Representatives. In 1850, he was farming in Pleasant Hill and owned real estate valued at $6,274. He died of yellow fellow on a trip to Texas.

Gravestone, Kerr Cemetery, Jackson County, TX; Cenotaph, Perry Wells Cemetery, Pleasant Hill, IL; The History of Pike County, Missouri (Des Moines, IA: Mills, 1883), 234, 556, 561; History of Pike County Illinois (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman, 1880), 223, 879; U.S. Census Office, Fifth Census of the United States (1830), Pike County, MO, 244; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Pike County, 700:157, 159; 701:51; 702:103, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Pike County, IL, 219; James Malcolm Breckenridge, William Clark Breckenridge: Historical Research Writer and Bibliographer of Missouriana (St. Louis: James Malcolm Breckenridge, 1932), 157.