KERR.
James Kerr, an emigrant from Scotland, came to the county
about 1762, and soon after bought a small place at the head
of Ivy Creek. He subsequently leased the present Birdwood
plantation, in 1773 purchased it from the trustees of John
Dabney, and made it his residence for twenty-seven years.
During this time he became a man of no little note and consideration
in the community. When the records made a second
beginning in 1783, he was one of the acting magistrates, and
frequently participated in the deliberations of the County
Court. He was appointed Sheriff in 1793. He was a ruling
elder in the D. S. Church. In 1800 he sold the Birdwood
place to Hore Brouse Trist, and bought from Michael
Woods, son of Colonel John, a farm on Mechum's River, not
far above the Depot of that name. From increasing age, or
because of the distance from the county seat, he took no further
part in public business. In 1808 he sold his property
to James Kinsolving Sr., and removed to Kentucky. After
the death of Sarah, his first wife, he married Susan, widow
of David Rodes. This union was a brief one, as Mrs. Kerr
died in 1798. She left a will, which for want of proof was
not recorded; and it was not till 1826 that it was sent to
Georgetown, Ky., to procure the depositions of William
Rodes, and Milton and Rodes Burch, to prove the handwriting
of David Kerr, a deceased witness to the document.
The children of James Kerr, as far as known, were James,
John Rice, David, Mary, the wife of Samuel Burch, and Elizabeth,
the wife of Joseph J. Monroe, a brother of the President.
James seems to have been a young man of tact and sprightliness,
but of prodigal life. He once owned the lots on which
the Farish House, and the old Presbyterian Church, now
stand. He died in Richmond in 1788, leaving a short will
written in a light, sceptical tone; and when it was presented
for probate, until his father gave his consent, his brother
magistrates declined admitting it to record. John Rice was
admitted to the Albemarle bar, but appears not to have practised.
In 1807 he was appointed a magistrate, and with his
father served as an elder in the D. S. Church. He married
Sarah, daughter of Bennett Henderson, and lived for a time
on the south side of the Staunton Road, where it crosses
Ivy Creek, on land that belonged to his brother-in-law, Samuel
Burch. He accompanied, or followed, his father to
Kentucky, and there entered the Presbyterian ministry. A
son named for Andrew Hart lived near Memphis, Tenn., and
was Moderator of the Southern General Assembly, when it
convened in that city in 1868. David Kerr married Dorothy,
daughter of the elder Clifton Rodes, and by many years preceded
the rest of his family in removing to Kentucky.
