The subject of this sketch was a son of Hugh and Jane Kerr. He was born April 24, 1811; died Aug. 9, 1898. He was born near Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N. C. In his 15th year his parents moved to Tennessee and settled near Pulaski, in Giles County. In the fall of 1826, at a camp meeting of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, held where Cornersville now stands, he professed faith in Christ. The meeting was held by James Porter, Thomas Calhoun, Robrt. King, Nat Farmer and H. B. Warren. In the fall of 1827 he joined the Presbyterian Church where he remained for two years, when he withdrew and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Bear Creek. He continued with his parents until December 3, 1833, when he was married to Miss Delia N. Lowrance, daughter of Jacob and Rebecca Lowrance. He joined the Richland Presbytery in the fall of 1844, was licensed to preach in the fall of 1846 at Mt. Moriah, near Pulaski, Tenn., Rev. C. P. Reed officiating. In the latter part of the same year he removed to Mississippi, in the bounds of Bell Presbytery. In the latter part of 1852 he moved back to West Tennessee and joined the Madison Presbytery. At the second term of presbytery, in 1854, he was set apart to the whole work of the gospel ministry. Rev. Joseph Pope preached the ordination sermon and Rev. Reuben Burrow presided and gave the charge. He remained in West Tennessee until the close of the civil war, by the ravages of which he lost his property. He then moved with his family to Alcorn County, Miss., the same being in Bell Presbytery. Here he remained until the winter of 1872, when, with his wife, three sons and their families, he moved to Corsicana, Texas, where he joined Tehuacana Presbytery. The following year he located eight miles northeast of Corsicana. There he lived happily with the companion of his youth, who was his support in the great conflicts of life until Sep. 1, 1880, when she was called home.

The foregoing was dictated by this aged brother in his last sickness, His life in common with those who fought the battles of our beloved Zion during this period was one of toil and privation, yet with that joy have we heard him recount those trials concerning them as nothing compared to the victories where scores of souls would be born unto God in a day. When we compare the above dates we are carried back to the morning of our church. We see two towering rocks, standing side by side, the one Mt. Calvin, the other Mt. Armenia. The religious world was divided, one and another saying, From this mount or that, man alone can see God. The eye of our fathers, directed by the Holy Spirit, saw lying between these two great obstacles flowing the waters of life, not a small stream for the elect few, but a sufficiency for the perishing millions of Adam's race.With their master logic and the battering rams of God's eternal truth, they forced asunder these mighty rocks and showed the water of life free for all. This was a wonderful period in the history of Christendom. A new ship launched on the great theological sea, on whose mast was vindicated the character of God and the salvation of all men made possible through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Can we wonder, that our old fathers speak with pride, that they were of the ship's first crew that moved and fought for the glorious doctrines which has revolutionized religious thought, has given a new impetus to missions and made possible the salvation of the world. For nine years I preached to Eden congregation where Father Kerr lived. How often have I sat as it were at his feet and heard from the lips of him who had seen with his own eyes and had stood shoulder to shoulder with these mighty prophets, witnessing the triumphs of gospel truths as they had been revealed by our own blessed church. From week to week I visited him in his last sickness. Each week his body would look more frail, but as he would begin to talk you would realize that his faith was growing stronger, that his eye had caught a glimpse of his Father's house. In that home I saw no costly furnishings. On that plain wall where his eye could easily rest, was the picture of our Theological faculty that he had clipped from "The Cumberland Presbyterian." Near it was that of Dr. Beard pointing higher, silent reminders that the battles of the Lord were no more to be fought as they had in his day with bows and arrows, but that while science was lending her hand to cover the waters of our country with great battle ships and to plant mighty cannons in our forts, the great naval school of our church was having revealed by the Holy Spirit that science pointed to God, and that under the generalship of these consecrated men from year to year would go forth worthy sons, "As plants grown up in their youth," fitted to cope in modern warfare, and hold their own against infidelity and higher critics. He had great faith in the future of his church. He would say, "My work is done; I am patiently waiting to go up higher." As his neighbors would visit him from day to day each received a gospel message. At his funeral we sang "I saw a wayworn pilgrim, in his hands were palms of victory." We laid him to rest in Oakwood Cemetery, where he waits the Lord's coming.
       Corsicana, Texas.

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, 25 March 1897, page 1226]