Charles Deal Kerr was born on September 9, 1835, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The family moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, when Kerr was a young child, and his father died soon afterward. According to one writer, his mother “soon found herself in very straitened circumstances, with the family of five little children looking to her for support, maintenance and rearing.”

 

Kerr grew up and attended school in Jacksonville, and he graduated from a local college in 1857. He studied law in the late 1850s and earned admission to the Illinois bar in 1861. He supported the Republican Party and reportedly “took an active part in the presidential campaign of 1860.”

 

He enlisted in the Union army on May 24, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of the 16^th Illinois Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. He received a series of promotions, culminating in a promotion to lieutenant colonel on May 5, 1865. According to one writer, he was “commissioned as full colonel a short time before his muster out, but not in time to have that rank appear on the rolls at Washington.” He mustered out on July 27, 1865.

 

He moved to Saint Cloud, Minnesota, after the war and resumed his work as a lawyer. By 1870, he owned $8,000 of real estate and $3,000 of personal property. He married Mary E. Bennett in 1874, and they had three children: Florence, born around 1875; Harold, born around 1882; and Charles, born around 1891. They settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Kerr became a prominent member of society. He served as president of the St. Paul City Council, and he was “known throughout the state as one of the foremost orators in Minnesota.”

 

In the late 1880s, Kerr became a county judge. One writer declared him an “honorable and an upright judge” with a “reputation for fairness and equity.” He fell ill in November 1896, and doctors advised him to travel to a warm, dry climate for his health. He died in San Antonio, Texas, on December 25, 1896.

SOURCES