John Leeds KERR, Congress, MD (1780-1844)

KERR, John Leeds, (father of John Bozman Kerr), a Representative and a Senator from Maryland; born at Greenbury Point, near Annapolis, Md., January 15, 1780; graduated from St. John’s College, Annapolis, Md., in 1799; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1801 and commenced practice in Easton, Md.; deputy State’s attorney for Talbot County 1806-1810; commanded a company of militia in the War of 1812; appointed agent of the State of Maryland in 1817 to prosecute claims against the federal government growing out of the War of 1812; elected to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses (March 4, 1825-March 3, 1829); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1828; elected to the Twenty-second Congress (March 4, 1831-March 3, 1833); chairman, Committee on Territories (Twenty-second Congress); presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840; elected to the United States Senate as a Whig to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John S. Spence and served from January 5, 1841, to March 3, 1843; chairman, Committee on Public Buildings (Twenty-seventh Congress), Committee on Patents and the Patent Office (Twenty-seventh Congress); died in Easton, Talbot County, Md., February 21, 1844; interment in the Bozman family cemetery at ‘Bellville,’ near Oxford Neck, Md.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present