KERR FAMILY HISTORY IN CANADA

This is a history of Gavin Kerr who arrived in Canada from Scotland sometime around 1818 with his wife Jane and four sons, James, John, William, and Thomas. All five of the daughters were probably born in Canada but it is not certain.

Preamble

The information for this Kerr history was collected over a period of thirty years. It was obtained from copies of letters and obituaries obtained from Jessie Mathews and Evelyn McCall, grand daughters of Thomas Kerr and Mary Blackhall (his second wife). A letter from Mable Kerr Mills to Blanche Kerr gave the names of uncles and aunts but not that of her father. Some pictures were found in Mothers collection, which have been put in the photo album. I also remembered some details that she told me from time to time. Information obtained from Fidele Theriault of Caraquet included details from Gavin Kerr’s will made in 1854 and of an obituary of his death and also copies of the census of that time. The book "Pioneer Settlers of the Bay Chaleur in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries" by Margaret M. Hunter also provided some details.

Information was also obtained from the Ancestry Research Society in Scotland and from the Prince Edward Island Museum in Canada.

 

HISTORY OF THE KERR FAMILY OF NEW BANDON, NEW BRUNSWICK

Gavin Kerr was born in 1774 in Locherbie, Dumfrieshire, Scotland. He came to Canada from Locherbie, Scotland in 1818 to Prince Edward Island with his wife Jane and four sons, James, who was the oldest, John aged 9, William aged 7, and Thomas aged 5.

In 1989 the Ancestry Research Society in Scotland searched the old parochial registers in Locherbie and no births or marriages were recorded between 1786 and 1834 and records were not kept prior to 1782.

There are very few details available of Gavin Kerr’s history in Prince Edward Island. The Prince Edward Island Museum found some references to a G. Kerr and also in the Carr Family File was found a reference to Gavin Kerr, from England by 1817. None of references are conclusive. In a letter to her cousin Blanche Kerr Blackhall, Mabel Kerr Mills wrote that her grandfathers family first landed in Prince Edward Island when they came to Canada. Sometime after 1818 the Kerr family moved to New Brunswick.

By the year 1826 Gavin Kerr had moved to an area which later became known as New Bandon in New Brunswick. Acadian French first settled it in the 1700’s. Irish and Scottish settlers arrived before 1825 when government grants began to be given out.

In 1832 Gavin Kerr bought a 200-acre lot no. 35, which had been partly cleared. At that time the settlers were required to serve as parish officers. Records show the following appointments for 1840:

Overseers of the Poor: J. Ritchie, R. Dawson, and Gavin Kerr.

Overseers of Roads: J. Norton SR, W. Hickson, and Thomas Kerr.

Surveyors of Lumber: H. Archibald, A. McPherson, and Thomas Kerr.

Gavin Kerr was listed as a School Trustee in three School Inspectors returns. James Kerr, Gavin Kerr’s oldest son was New Bandon’s second postmaster from 1869 until 1873.	

Family of Gavin Kerr and his wife Jane Kerr

The last two were not in the will made out in 1854 so they may have died before 1854. In this will, which was dated December 24,1854 and registered at Bathurst in 1861, it is stated that the "Homestead" after the death of his wife Jane was to go to his son James Kerr.

The following information was found in the obituaries in the Miramichi Gleaner (Chatham, N.B.) June 23, 1860.

"Died at New Bandon, on the 17 th inst. Mr. Gavin Kerr, aged 86 years. Mr. Kerr was a native of Dumfrieshire, Scotland. He has been a useful and intelligent resident in the parish for 34 years, and was generally known and much respected throughout the County of Gloucester. His body was followed to the grave by many of his early friends".

The following is from the 1861 census for Pokeshaw, New Brunswick, listing the family of William Kerr, the third son of Gavin Kerr; he was born in 1811 in Scotland.

Ann F. Kerr wife 55 Irish.

Gavin M. " son 25 Native. Stone Cutter

Jane F. " daughter 22 "

James M. " son 21 "

Francis M. " son 16 "

Clara F. " grandchild 10 mos "

William Hodnett M. step-son 35 " Carpenter

Alfred Hodnett M. grandchild 8 "

Thomas Kerr, the fourth of Gavin Kerr’s son’s, was a farmer in Pokeshaw, N.B. and part of that farm has now become a tiny island and is a bird sanctuary.

He was the first lighthouse keeper for the Caraquet lighthouse built in 1870. Both he and one of his sons were drowned in crossing from Caraquet mainland to the lighthouse,the son in the fall of 1872 and Thomas on May 13, 1873.

Thomas Kerr, was married twice, first to Ellen Young and after her death to Mary Blackhall.

The Gloucester Co. marriage register had the following:

"Marriage of Thomas Kerr and Ellen Young, August 2, 1835, marriage performed by Rev. Alexander C. Somerville of Bathurst, witnesses George Taylor and Thoams Lapraik".

 

Family of Thomas Kerr and Ellen Young of Pokeshaw, New Brunswick. _

James born 1839	

Jane Louise born Feb. 12, 1840 m. John McGee Bradford, Ontario

I remember Mother saying that Grandma was very young when her Mother died and that she went to live with Mrs. Thomas Waite in Bathurst, who was Helen Young, and that Alexander was just a baby.

Evelyn McCall gave me a copy of a death notice in Miramichi Gleaner, November 16, 1847.

"Died at Pokeshaw, County of Gloucester on Monday the 8th inst. Ellen, wife of Mr. Thomas Kerr and daughter of John Young, much regretted by her friends and acquaintances".

 Descendants of Thomas Kerr from the 1st marriage to Ellen Young

John may have been the son that drowned in 1872 going to the Caraquet lighthouse.

James was a carpenter. He was living in the homestead at the time of the 1861 census and in 1862, from a letter that his father wrote to his sister Jane, we gather that he was still there.

Jane left New Brunswick with Margaret Taylor to go to Canada after 1861. We know that she married John McGee and lived in Bradford, Ontario. They had no children but adopted one or two. She was a milliner, and as a child I remember the boxes of hats which arrived each spring and fall from her. My mother said that at least one of her brothers Howard went to Bradford for a time.

Blanche married Richard BLACKHALL of Caraquet on November 23, 1868. They had five sons and one daughter. The four sons all went to either Western Canada or to the United States to live. The daughter married a Jerseyman, Nicholas de St. Croix, and a Manager for a branch of Wm. Fruing in Caraquet. Richard Blackhall died in Caraquet in 1904. Blanche died at the home of her daughter Mabel in Vancouver B.C. in 1913. See the Blackhall Family History for the five Blackhall Sons and the de St. Croix Family History for Mabel’s family.

Alexander had a farm in Youghal, N.B. where he married Matilda Armstrong of Youghal. They had three sons; Archibald, Harry, Charles and two daughters; Evelyn and Mabel. Alexander, after his wife Matilda died, went to live with his daughter Evelyn Caine and her husband who were then living in Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A. The following are some details of Alexander’s family and descendants.

Archibald went to the United States and he settled in the State of New York where he married and later moved to New Jersey where his nephew Gordon Kerr Blackhall visited them some time later.

Harry remained on the farm in Youghal. He married Emma Benson of Escuminac. When his mother died and his father went to live with his daughter Evelyn Caine in Bellingham, Washington, USA, Harry took over the farm. Harry and Emma had four daughters, Lena, Reta, Marguerite and Edith who died in infancy. Lena married Robert Thompson, lives in Bathurst NB and has two daughters, Jean and Eleanor and eight grandchildren. Reta, now a retired dietician, lives in St. Catharines, Ontario. Maguerite, married to Alton Sargent, lived in Youghal until her death in 1970. They had four children and eight grandchildren.

Charles, a carpenter working in Vancouver, married a widow Gertrude Briggs late in his life and there were no children.

Evelyn married Jack Caine and lived in Bellingham, Washington, USA. They had no children and when Jack died Evelyn Caine moved back to Vancouver, B.C. Her father, Alexander Kerr, lived with her until his death.

Mabel married Harry Blackhall, a grandson of James Blackhall of Caraquet N.B. who had gone to Vancouver as a young man.

Our mother, Mabel Blackhall as a young girl, visited the Alexander Kerr’s in Youghal. She often spoke of Aunt Til (Matilda Kerr). She spent one winter there and went to school with Mabel Kerr who was like a sister. They corresponded all their lives. Mabel Kerr Blackhall died in June 1978.

After his first wife, Ellen Kerr died, Thomas Kerr married Mary Blackhall in 1848 and the following children were born.

Robert b. 1849 d. 1869

Mathilda Helen b. Dec. 14 1853 m. Thomas Sutherland d. 1889

Mary Sinnet b. April 1 1856 d. 1875

William John b. June 7 1860 m. Letitia _

Ida Margaret b. 1862 m. Wm. James Laure Rose d. 1944

Frances Isabel b. Dec 17 1864 d. 1883

Thomas Melville b. June 16 1867 d. 1888

Clara Jane b. March 1870 d. 1877

Bertha Eliza b. March 1872 d. 1875

 

Thomas and Mary had ten children as far as we know and six of these children died in their youth and young adulthood. The four who reached maturity and married all left New Brunswick and went to that part of Ontario where their Aunt Jane McGee lived. She was Thomas Kerr’s daughter by his first marriage. They married and lived in the area of Bradford, Ontario.

Thomas Kerr was drowned in 1873 while going to the Caraquet lighthouse but we do not know when Mary Blackhall Kerr died. The following is some information of these four of Thomas and Mary Kerr’s family that left New Brunswick and of their descendants.

Matilda Helen married Thomas Sutherland. Matilda died in 1889 at the age of 36. They had three sons, McLean, Melville and Bertram.

Ellen (Nellie) married Thomas Kilkenny. They had nine children, eight girls and one son. They all married and lived in that area.

William John was born in 1860 and was listed as William in the 1861 Census. We only know that he married Letitia. He may also have been known as John and may have gone to Vancouver.

Ida Margaret married William James Laure Rose. They had one son John Kerr Rose who did not marry and he died in May 1940. They had one daughter Margaret Jessie Louise who married Frederick Matthews of Matthews Bros. Toronto. They had one son Ronald and a daughter Catherine.

Ronald Matthews who was married twice and had two children died in 1972. Jessie’s daughter Catherine who lives in Thornhill, Ontario married Arthur Cooper and they had two children, a daughter Joan and a son Douglas.

Ida Margaret Kerr Rose died in Toronto in 1944. Jessie Matthews died in Toronto on June 25, 1983 in her 99th year and a few months before the birth of her first great grandchild.

If any members of the Kerr family can add any further information to this history I would be most happy.

Blanche de St. Croix.