Samuel Kerr
Samuel Kerr was born in Washington County, Penn., September 12, 1821, a son of Thomas and Sarah (Coe) Kerr, both natives of Pennsylvania, the father of Somerset, and the mother of Washington County. His maternal grandparents, Moses and Sarah (Powell) Coe, were native of New Jersey and early settlers of Washington County, Penn. Both died when their daughter was seventeen years old, the father surviving the mother but one day. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Kerr, was a native of Somerset County, Penn., of Irish descent, and married to Elizabeth Maskey. He died near Washington, Penn., at the age of forty-five years. Thomas was the second of a family of five children. He was born in 1792, and was seven years of age when his parents moved to Washington County, remaining there until 1823. Like his father he was a miller, following that occupation while he remained in Pennsylvania. In 1823, with his wife and one child, Samuel, he moved to Holmes County, Ohio (at that time Coshocton County, Ohio), and bought 100 acres of land of William Thompson, which he made his home until his death which occurred in 1882, when he was eighty-nine years, eleven months and nineteen days old. His widow died July 18, 1886, being within one day of ninety-two years of age. At the time of their settlement in the county the 100 acres were all forest, but at the time of the father's death eighty-five acres were under cultivation, the result of hard labor and perseverance of both father and son, Samuel assisting his father from the time he was old enough to do the "chores." He was the only son in a family of nine children, four of whom are living, his sisters being Elizabeth, Sarah and Julia Ann.
Samuel Kerr was but eighteen months old when his parents came to Ohio, and from that age he has been identified with the interests of Monroe Township; and since his early manhood he has been prominent in all enterprises of public benefit, working to maintain the good of the community. For twenty-seven consecutive years he was justice of the peace, for two terms was coroner, and has served as trustee and clerk of the township. His political affiliations are with the Democratic party. Mr. Kerr was married March 21, 1844, to Sarah, daughter of William and Rachel Frazier, and to them were born four children, three daughters and one son, of whom one daughter, Ellen (Mrs. Arnold), is living, and two daughters Carlisto and Mary Louise, and the son, Thomas J., are deceased. Mrs. Kerr died October 30, 1886, aged sixty-six years, three months and fifteen days. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church and was prominent in religious and social circles.
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio, J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1889