John Kerr (August 4, 1782 – September 29, 1842) was a Baptist minister who also served two term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Virginia's 15th congressional district[1][2]
Kerr was born near Yanceyville, in Caswell County, North Carolina across the Dan River from Virginia's southern border. His father, also John Kerr, operated a plantation in Caswell County, North Carolina using enslaved labor.[3] He received a private education suitable for his class, as well as studied theology.[4]
After being licensed as a Baptist minister in 1802, in 1805 Kerr accepted a position in Halifax County, Virginia.[5]
This John Kerr was elected a U.S. Representative for Virginia's 15th Congressional district and served from March 4, 1813, to March 3, 1815, and after winning re-election, from October 30, 1815, to March 3, 1817.[6][7]
He then resumed his ministry and became pastor of the Baptist churches of Arbor and Mary Creek, before moving to Richmond, Virginia in March 1825, where be served a pastor of the First Baptist Church until resigning in 1832. In the 1830 U.S. Census, he owned 11 slaves in Richmond.[8]
He relocated to a farm in Pittsylvania County, Virginia near Danville in 1836.
He married Elizabeth Williams, whose grandfather Robert Williams had been a prominent patriot in Pittsylvania County during the American Revolutionary War. She bore two sons, Nathaniel Williams Kerr and John Kerr, Jr. who also would become a U.S. Congressman. Bartlett Yancey was his cousin and, and John H. Kerr would be his grand-nephew. A native of the area, Kerr was licensed as a minister in 1802 and moved to Halifax County, Virginia in 1805; he later lived in Pittsylvania County, Virginia as well.
Kerry died at his home near Danville, but his remains were returned to the family plot in Yanceyville.
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