Sacramento
County
Biographies
JOSEPH
HAMPTON KERR
This gentleman’s father, Samuel Kerr, was
born in New
Jersey,
probably in Newark.
When he was a boy his father’s family moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, and in Connonsburg,
that county, he, Samuel, learned the blacksmith’s trade. The ancestry of the Kerr
family are from Scotland.
His great-grandfather, Nevin, came from County Antrim, Ireland, to America when his (Samuel’s) grandfather was a
boy. He was of Scotch descent. Samuel Kerr, who was born in 1785, moved from
Washington County to Mercer County, same State, and died there September
12, 1844, and
his wife survived several years. He
first married October 6, 1814, Margaret McGregor, who died October
21, 1820, and
had three children, namely: Margaret, Born October 15, 1815, and still living, in Missouri:
Lewis Hampton, born April 3, 1818, and now deceased; and Samuel, born December
27, 1819, also
now deceased. Mr. Kerr’s second wife,
nee Jane Nevin, was born February 10,
1799, and died January
12, 1867. By the second marriage there were ten
children, namely: John Nevin, born July 22, 1822:
Joseph Hampton, March 18, 1824; Mary Jane, November 1, 1825, and died
December 12, 1886; Andrew Wiley, born July 12, 1827; A. W. Kerr has taught in
the public school of California thirty-two years; George Harvey, October 1,
1829; Martha M., February 5, 1832; Sarah Elizabeth, February 27, 1834;
Charlotte Isabel, October 27, 1836; Samuel M., February 8, 1839; Robert
Alexander, October 14, 1841. All these except
one are still living, and four of them residing in California.
The subject of this sketch resided in Pennsylvania until the spring of 1852, when he came
to California, leaving New York April 27, on the steamer Ilias, in company with his brother, George H., a sketch of
whom is given in this volume. At Panama he took the steamer Golden Gate and reached San Francisco May 27, and Sacramento the next day. He followed his trade, blacksmithing, in Nevada County, until 1856, in September of which year
he located at old Elk Grove, which was then a postoffice
and stage station. There he bought a
squatter’s title to a quarter-section of land, and afterward he purchased the
tract. A warrant was deposited in the
general land office in favor of Lieutenant John McDowell, a veteran of the
Mexican war, who in turn assigned the land to Joseph H. Kerr. On this place Mr. Kerr has been engaged
principally in raising hay and fruit. Has had two orchards.
His present young orchard of four acres is an unusually promising
one. In the vineyard are about twelve
acres; and on the premises are many fine shade and ornamental trees. Among them
some orange trees nine to ten years old, the varieties being the Navel and
Mediterranean Sweet. One, a seedling,
was set out twenty years ago. A thrifty
palm, nine and a half feet round and twenty-five feet high, flourishes in the
front yard, set out in the spring of 1878.
The handsome residence was erected in 1877, at a cost of $3,000. Mr. Kerr’s ambition leads him to excel in the
care of his premises, and indeed to success in all his undertakings. He is fond of the chase, and sometimes takes
trips to the mountains to fish, hunt, and recreate generally. Both himself and
wife are leading stockholders in the Elk Grove Building Association. Politically Mr. Kerr has always been a
Republican. His first Presidential vote
was cast for Zachary Taylor, and he has lost only two Presidential votes. He was married December 28,
1858, to Angeline Worthington, a native of Jackson County, Iowa, and
they have two children: James Harry and
Eva.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon.
Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Page 517-518. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.