Hugh Kerr^[1]

1813 - 1842  (29 years)

• Name	Hugh Kerr
  Born	1813	of, Eniskillen, Fermangh, Ireland
  Gender	Male
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/253713371
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-11477
  Died	19 Jul 1842	Montreal, Ile De Montreal, Quebec   [2, 3]
  Buried	20 Jul 1842	Montreal, Ile De Montreal, Quebec   [3]
  Person ID	I11477	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family	Ellen Rebecca White,   b. 26 Oct 1817, , Fermanagh, Ireland ,   d. 10 Dec 1901, New Hamburg, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 84 years)
  Children	1. William Kerr,   b. 22 Jul 1836, Eniskillen, Fermangh, Ireland ,   d. 23 Apr 1907, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 70 years)   2. Rebecca Ellen Kerr,   b. 15 Feb 1839, , Ireland ,   d. 19 Jul 1910, Mount Forest, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada  (Age 71 years)   3. Robert Nixon Kerr,   b. 31 Aug 1841, , Ireland ,   d. 27 Jan 1919, Mersea Township, Essex Co., Ontario  (Age 77 years)
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F4633	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  WILLIAM KERR. There is probably not a farmer in Western Wilmot more familiarly known than the subject of this sketch. He was born in Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1836 and came with his parents to this country in 1842. At Montreal the family met with a sad misfortune in the death of the father who became ill of Lake fever while on the voyage across the Atlantic and died in a Hospital of that city. The mother with her three children Rebecca, Robert and William, the latter then about six years of age, came in to Toronto where they lived about a year. The mother was again married to the late William Collum, who came to Wilmot with the family in the Winter of 1842. They settled on the corner lot No. 24, 2nd Con. block A two miles east of William's present home. This farm was made memorable in the neighborhood by the untimely death of its former owner, Robert Puddicombe, who was killed by a falling tree many years ago. William Kerr, the subject of this sketch, was married in 1870 to Hannah Elizabeth daughter of William IIlingsworth. She was born on lot 28 first Concession, of Scotch parentage, in 1840. Her father who was one of the popular and conspicuous figures of this Township in its early days, died on June 16, 1891, at the advanced age of 84 years 10 months and 19 days. He came to this country in 1825. Mr. Kerr's mother is still living in New Hamburg yet hale and hearty at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Mrs. Kerr's father assisted in cutting the first logs for the old building, now used by the C. P. R. for a station in the town of Guelph, and it may be of interest to state that he was present at the cutting of the first tree on the present site of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr have been blessed with five sons, namely; William II, the eldest is at present in Manitoba; Robert J. is a prominent machine agent at New Hamburg; Alfred Edward, Arthur Louis and Walter are at home. The father has been honorably recognized by his neighbors and friends. He was for five years a member of the Township council, ten years a director of the North Blenheim Fire Insurance Company, Treasurer and Salesman of the German Union Cheese Company and has been about twenty years a member of the Board of Directors of the Wilmot Township Agricultural Society. It is scarcely probable that one will find another farmer in Wilmot Township who has had more honors thrust upon him in the same number of years than has Mr. Kerr, and owing to them requiring so much of his attention necessary on his farm he has declined furthur municipal honors. The Kerr farm, part of lots Nos. 28, and 29, on south side of Huron Road, two hundred acres in area, was part of a 600 acre tract purchased from the Canada Company by the late Henry Puddicombe early in the thirties. It was purchased by the late William Collum, Mr. Kerr's step-father, on April 9, 1861, at the rate of $20,000 for four hundred acres. Two hundred acres of this tract was transferred to the subject of this sketch and his brother Robert in 1868. But few improvements had been made on the premises prior to Mr. and Mrs. Kerr taking charge and it therefore can be surmised that they have experienced their share of hardships ere they accomplished the task of completing the comfortable suroundings they now enjoy. The home is a lovely one, and one of its pecular features, but most admirable, is the numerous maples. For two sides of the farm are fringed by these beautiful native trees while on each side of the long lane they are in luxuriant profusion. The largest orchard the writer has yet met with on any farm in Ontario is here to be found. It contains something like four hundred thrifty young apple trees all of choice standard fruit. A fine brick residence, large bank barn and all necessary outbuildings were erected after Mr. and Mrs. Kerr took possession. Here they live in their declining years deservedly enjoying the fruitful results of their earlier years of toil and frugality, surrounded by their stalwart progeny. They are members of the English church and it can be truthfully said that no citizens in the township are held in higher esteem. Waterloo County Chronicle, 2 Nov 1899, p. 6

  
  

• Sources

  [S721] Vit - ON - Marriage Registration, marriage certificate (1870), Kerr-Illingworth. William Kerr, 34, farmer of Wilmot, b. Enniskillen, Ireland, s/o Hugh and Ellen Kerr, married Hannah Elizabeth Illingworth, 29, residence Wilmot, b. Wilmot, d/o William and Ann Illingworth. witnesses, Simon James Callum and Jane Calum, both of the Township of Wilmot, Ontario, married 2 Jun 1870 at. St. James Church on the Huron Road, Haysville, Wilmot, [S2904] Montreal, Canada, non-Catholic Burial Index, 1767-1899. Name:Hugh Kerr Burial Year:1842 Church:Christ Anglican Church (Montréal) Denomination:Anglican Folio:36v Source:Centre d'archives de Montréal, CE601,S63 Burial Place:Montreal, Québec (Quebec), Canada [S2185] Quebec, Vital and Church Record (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968. Name:Kerr [Hugh Kerr] Event Type:Enterrement (Burial) Death Date:1842 Burial Date:1842 Burial Place:Montréal, Québec (Quebec) Place of Worship or Institution:Anglican Christ Church Cathedral,Actes Religion:Anglican Hugh Kerr a farmer died the ninietheenth day of July, one thousand, Eight hundred and forty two, aged twenty eight years and was buried on the twenithieth following

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1813 - of, Eniskillen, Fermangh, Ireland Died - 19 Jul 1842 - Montreal, Ile de Montreal, Quebec Buried - 20 Jul 1842 - Montreal, Ile de Montreal, Quebec  = Link to Google Earth