Person:Andrew Kerr (18)

Andrew Kerr was baptized by Rev. Craig at Tinkling Springs Church on Sept. 16, 1744.

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From: <OoliticIN@@aol.com> Subject: Hardin County, TN (KERR-NEILL-ALLISON's) Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 01:44:56 EDT

Hello: I am a descendant of William Andrew KERR b abt 1734 in NC, d 1792, Iredell Co. NC & Jane NEILL b abt 1756 in NC, d 11 Mar 1826, and buried Neill Cemetery, Hardin Co. TN. Their daughter Rosannah L. KERR, b 7 May 1776, NC, d 27 Jun 1857, Hardin Co. TN, married William ALLISON, b Feb 1773, NC, d Dec 1854, Hardin Co TN (they were my great-great-great grandparents). Their daughter Isabella J. ALLISON, b 3 Jun 1815, NC, d sometime in 1900, married Solomon Hardy BAKER, b abt 1811 somewhere in KY, d 26 Jun 1867 in Wayne Co. TN, and both are buried in the Baker family cemetery not far from Clifton TN. (They are my great-great grandparents.) I have info on some of the descendants of William ALLISON & Rosannah L. KERR; William Andrew KERR & Jane (or Jean) NEILL. Other surnames in their lineage are: KERR, NEILL, ALLISON, WATT, ANDREWS, BAKERE, KNOX, TARRINGTON, ROSS, PARKER, YOUNG, HURST, BAIN, BRYANT, WILLOUGHBY, FALLS, and McCLEAN. Here are some of my notes from my PAF files in my Macintosh Performa computer: Hardin Co. Historical Society Quarterly, Jan-Mar 1991. FATE NEILL notebook, a regular cloth backed account ledger, hand written and compiled by THOMAS LAFAYETTE (Fate) NEILL in 1940. I'd like to make contact with anyone who is a descendant of Fate NEILL. Fate attempted to compile all of the relatives of ANDREW and JANE NEILL KERR that came to Hardin County, Tennessee. I've been told by others and have read that a GRACE PATTERSON borrowed this book and hand copied every page as he had written it. I've also read that the 'late' Malone McDANIEL, who lived in Jackson, TN, borrowed the same book from ELLIS NEILL, who had inherited it from his father, WALKER NEILL and photocopied the entire ledger. I'd like to learn more about these books, pamplets, ledgers. BACKGROUND on my KERR and NEILL Family: ANDREW KERR married JANE NEILL in North Carolina in 1774. She was a sister to GILBREATH FALLS NEILL, whose descendants came to Hardin County around 1830-1840. They settled near the Widow JANE NEILL KERR in what is now the Olivet Community, also further east and south of this place. About 1786 ANDREW KERR bought a 5,000 acre land- grant with money that he had borrowed from his brother, JAMES KERR. The land actually turned out to be 10,000 acres. This was situated just south of Savannah,Tennessee, down the Tennessee River to Diamond Island and east to Pickens Hill, then north to Steel's Creek, west back to Savannah. About 1830 most of this land was lost to ALFRED D. KERR, son of JAMES KERR, in a lawsuit. The descendants of JANE NEILL and ANDREW KERR only received 500 acres each. These were the ROSS, WILLOUGHBY, ALLISON, and FALLS families. Many of their descendants still live on the land that was in the original land-grant, while others are scattered all across the United States. In the early history of Hardin County Tennessee, records show that Andrew Kerr (Karr) entered five thousand acres of land in North Carolina, near the Tennessee River. A part of which lies in the Tn River bottom, and the records recite that this tract of land lies by the land of Joseph Hardin. This entry bears the date of March 1786 and W. A. Farrar was the surveyor. If you are a member of this family line, I'd like to hear from you. If you aren’t a subscriber to the Hardin County “Historian” or the Wayne County “Historian” I do suggest that you check into becoming a member of both. The Historical Societies of both counties put out two very good periodicals. When you contact me, I'd like to know: 1. What computer do you have? 2. What genealogical software application do you have? 3. What is your regular word processing software that you use?

Happy Kin Searchin, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Tom Evans of Bloomington, Minnesota OoliticIN@@aol.com

TEvans8435@@aol.com I have ANDREW BILLY KERR, b. abt 1734, d. abt 1792 in NC. He m. JANE NEILL abt 3 Nov 1774, Rowan Co., NC She b. abt 1754 in NC, d. 11 Mar 1826 Hardin Co., TN, bur in Neill Cem., Hardin Co., TN. They had 8 children Andy; Annie d Iredell Co., NC; Rosana L. b 17 May 1776 NC, d 1857 Hardin Co., TN, M. WILLIAM ALLISON, 12 Jun 1798 NC, he b Feb 1773 in NC, he d 1848 Hardin Co., TN; Billie b abt 1778 NC, m MARGARET KNOX, she b abt 1796 NC; Lettilia "Lettie" b abt 1780 NC, d abt 1822 Hardin Co., TN, m GILLIE GILBREATH FALLS, he b abt 1780, d 1822; James R "Jimmie"; Margaret "Peggie"; Isabella "Sibbie Allied lines are ALLISON, FALLS, KERR, WILLOUGHBY, ROSS, WATT, BAKER, PARKER, TARRINGTON, BAIN, TACKETT, NEILL, and others

TEvans8435@@aol.com I have ANDREW BILLY KERR, b. abt 1734, d. abt 1792 in NC. He m. JANE NEILL abt 3 Nov 1774, Rowan Co., NC She b. abt 1754 in NC, d. 11 Mar 1826 Hardin Co., TN, bur in Neill Cem., Hardin Co., TN. They had 8 children Andy; Annie d Iredell Co., NC; Rosana L. b 17 May 1776 NC, d 1857 Hardin Co., TN, M. WILLIAM ALLISON, 12 Jun 1798 NC, he b Feb 1773 in NC, he d 1848 Hardin Co., TN; Billie b abt 1778 NC, m MARGARET KNOX, she b abt 1796 NC; Lettilia "Lettie" b abt 1780 NC, d abt 1822 Hardin Co., TN, m GILLIE GILBREATH FALLS, he b abt 1780, d 1822; James R "Jimmie"; Margaret "Peggie"; Isabella "Sibbie Allied lines are ALLISON, FALLS, KERR, WILLOUGHBY, ROSS, WATT, BAKER, PARKER, TARRINGTON, BAIN, TACKETT, NEILL, and others

OoliticIN@@aol.com My grandparents were Mary Irma BAKER b 25 Dec 1881 Wayne Co TN, d 1 Mar 1925 Evansville, IN, bur Baker Family Cemetery, near Clifton, TN, & m Wyatt Lemuel EVANS b 25 Feb 1879 TN, d 16 Nov 1934 Paducah, KY . Mary Irma BAKER was dau of Theopolis Allison BAKER, b 14 Jul 1852, d 21 Apr 1929, bur Baker Fam. Cem., son of Isabella ALLISON, b 3 Jun 1815 NC, d aft 1874 Hardin Co. TN, m Solomon Hardy BAKER abt 1839 Hardin Co TN, he b Dec 1811 KY, d 26 Jun 1867 Hardin Co TN, both bur Baker Fam. Cem., Wayne Co TN. Isabella ALLISON was a dau of Rosanna L. KERR, b 7 May 1776 in NC, d 1857 Hardin Co TN, & William ALLISON, 12 Jun 1798 NC, he b Feb 1773 NC, d 1848 Hardin Co TN. Rosanna was a dau of Andrew KERR, he b abt 1734, d abt 1792 NC, he m Jane NEILL, Nov 1774 Rowan Co. NC, Jane b abt 1754 NC, d 11 Mar 1826 Hardin Co TN, bur Neill Cem. Hardin Co TN. Also desire ancestors of Solomon Hardy BAKER, and Wyatt Lemuel EVANS. Please e-mail to: OoliticIN@@aol.com

From JoKerr:

Subj: KERR Date:01/22/2000 7:50:32 PM Pacific Standard Time From:jokerr@@midsouth.rr.com (Joyce Kerr) To:delijim@@aol.com

Greetings Jim, and best wishes for the start of a good new year of reseraching Kerr's.

I am including some excerpts from an e-mail I received from Nancy Arvay. I may have sent them to you earlier, but I don't think I did. Hope this helps you in some small way. <J> .......... Andrew appears to have been born in Chester County, Pa. c. 1734, which (probably) makes him a child of the first American generation of this branch of the family. He was among the first settlers of Rowan County ( 1750), where he married the much younger Jane (Jean) Neill, daughter of Andrew Neill, on November 4, 1774. Given the fact Andrew would have be about 40 at the time of the wedding, there's a good possibility that th may have been his second marriage, but I've yet to find any record of a previous wife or family.

My understanding is that a group of Allisons, Kerrs and Buchanans from the Octararo area of Chester County settled in Augusta County in t 1740s. This may be where I encountered the name Joseph Kerr. I'll check my records and let you know if anything pops up.

Like the Kerrs, the Allisons were a large, extended family which usually thought and moved as a single unit. There are historical and cultural reasons why the Allisons did this; the same may apply to the Kerrs. In fact, there's a family story that the Kerrs and the Allisons left Scotland together for Northern Ireland, and later travelled together to Pennsylvania. I suspect that the story is simply shorthand for the fact that both families were swept up in the Scottish Covenanter movement of the 18th century, and that both suffered some depredations and dislocations as a result of their involvement

Possible reference to this Andrew Kerr (Andrew's wife died in Harding County, possibly at the property described here: (http://www.hardinhistory.com/history/cerro.htm)

CERRO GORDO

IN

HARDIN COUNTY TENNESSEE

By David Cagle (dcagle@@centuryinter.net)

The community that now bears the name Cerro Gordo was one of the first places in Hardin County to be settled by non-native Americans. In the 1780s Colonel Joseph Hardin with a surveyor and chain carriers surveyed 3000 acres south of Cerro Gordo. In fact, Isaac Taylor, the surveyor, marked three large tracts of, 3000 acres for Hardin, 5000 acres for ANDREW KERR, and 4000 acres for himself, centered about the present day City of Savannah, in the soon to be Hardin County. Families of the Hardins and Kerrs moved to this area to settle, the Hardins as early as 1816. Taylors property was sold to Charles B. Nilson.

The Hardins led by James, the fourth child of Colonel Hardin, settled near the mouth of Swift Creek, now Horse Creek, on the Tennessee River. James established a ferry there, thus the first name to describe this community became Hardins Ferry. Petition was made to the state in 1819 to establish a county. This being done, the first Hardin County Court met in the home of James Hardin at Hardins Ferry or Cerro Gordo, in 1820. In 1822 the seat of government was moved to a more centralized location which was named Hardinsville, in honor of the Hardin family. That place became known as Old Town after the county seat was again moved in 1827 to Rudds Ferry on the Tennessee River. The name of the new county seat was changed to Savannah as it is today.

1. ↑ Wilson, Howard McKnight. The Tinkling Spring, Headwater of Freedom. (Privatetly published by The Tinkiling Spring and Hermitage Presbyterian Churches, pub. Fishersville, Virginia), pg. 477.