{{short description|American politician (1765-1837)}} {{other people|Joseph Kerr}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Joseph Kerr |jr/sr1 = United States Senator |state1 = Ohio |term_start1 = December 10, 1814 |term_end1 = March 3, 1815 |predecessor1 = Thomas Worthington |successor1 = Benjamin Ruggles |office2 = Member of the Ohio Senate from Ross and Franklin counties |term_start2 = 1804 |term_end2 = 1806 |preceded2 = Abraham Claypool<br>Nathaniel Massie |succeeded2 = Abraham Claypool<br>Duncan McArthur |office3 = Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from Ross County |term_start3 = 1818 |term_end3 = 1820 |preceded3 = Duncan McArthur<br>James Manary<br>William Vance |succeeded3 = John Bailhache<br>John Entrekin<br>William Vance |office4 = Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from Ross County |term_start4 = 1808 |term_end4 = 1809 |preceded4 = '''New district''' |succeeded4 = James Dunlap<br>Joseph Gardner<br>Nathaniel Massie<br>David Shelby<br>Edward Tiffin |birth_date = 1765 |birth_place = Chambersburg, Pennsylvania |death_date = August 22, {{death year and age|1837|1765}} |death_place = East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, US |party = Democratic-Republican }}
'''Joseph Kerr''' (1765{{spaced ndash}}August 22, 1837) was a Democratic-Republican politician from Ohio who served in the United States Senate.
==Biography== Kerr (pronounced "car") was born in Kerrtown, Pennsylvania (now Chambersburg), and moved to Ohio in 1792. He served in a number of positions as clerk, surveyor, judge and justice of the peace in the Northwest Territory.
He served as justice of the peace at Manchester, Adams County, Ohio in 1797. and as a judge of the first quarter session court of Adams County, Northwest Territory, in 1797.
Kerr's son, Joseph Kerr Jr., died in the Battle of the Alamo.<ref>{{cite web | last = Groneman | first = Bill | title = KERR, JOSEPH | publisher = Texas State Historical Association | date = June 15, 2010 | url = http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fke71}}</ref>
==Career== After statehood was declared, Kerr was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1808, 1816, 1818, and 1819. He was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1804 and 1810. He also served as a brigadier general of Ohio Volunteers during the War of 1812, in charge of supplying provisions to the Army of the Northwest.
Kerr was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1814 to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Thomas Worthington.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000141|title= KERR, Joseph, (1765 - 1837)|publisher= Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=August 24, 2012}}</ref> Kerr served from December 10, 1814, to March 3, 1815,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/joseph_kerr/406307|title= govtrack.us|publisher= Civic Impulse, LLC.|access-date=August 24, 2012}}</ref> and did not seek re-election.
==Death== Kerr's extensive farm went bankrupt in 1826, and he moved to Memphis, Tennessee and then to rural Louisiana, where he purchased a homestead near Lake Providence.<ref>{{cite web | title = KERR, Joseph, (1765 - 1837) | publisher = Biographical Directory of the United States Congress | url = http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000141 | access-date = March 1, 2014}}</ref> He died on August 22, 1837.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Kerr, Joseph|year=1900 |short=x}} {{navboxes|title=Offices and distinctions|list=<!-- Succession box --> {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-oh-sen}} {{s-bef | before=Abraham Claypool<br />Nathaniel Massie}} {{s-ttl | title=Senator from Ross and Franklin Counties | years=1804–1806 | alongside=Abraham Claypool (1804–1805)<br />Duncan McArthur (1805–1806)}} {{s-aft | after=Abraham Claypool<br />Duncan McArthur | as=Senators from Ross, Franklin, and Highland Counties}} {{s-par|us-oh-hs}} {{s-new | district}} {{s-ttl | title=Representative from Ross County | years=1808–1809 | alongside=Jessup Nash Couch, James Dunlap, Samuel Monnett, David Shelby}} {{s-aft | after=James Dunlap<br />Joseph Gardner<br />Nathaniel Massie<br />David Shelby<br />Edward Tiffin}} {{s-bef | before=Duncan McArthur<br />James Manary<br />William Vance}} {{s-ttl | title=Representative from Ross County | years=1818–1820 | alongside=1818–1819: John Sill, James S. Swearingen<br />1819–1820: Isaac Cook, Samuel Tizzard}} {{s-aft | after=John Bailhache<br />John Entrekin<br />William Vance}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box|class=1|state=Ohio| before = Thomas Worthington| after = Benjamin Ruggles | years =1814–1815| alongside=Jeremiah Morrow}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef | before=Thomas Worthington}} {{s-ttl | title=Adjutant General of Ohio | years=1809–1810}} {{s-aft | after=Isaac Van Horne}} {{s-end}} }} {{USSenOH}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Joseph}} Category:1765 births Category:1837 deaths Category:American surveyors Category:American militia generals Category:American militiamen in the War of 1812 Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Ohio Category:Members of the Ohio House of Representatives Category:Military personnel from Pennsylvania Category:Northwest Territory judges Category:Ohio state senators Category:People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Category:People from Lake Providence, Louisiana Category:19th-century United States senators Category:19th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly