John Ker (1789–1850) was an American surgeon, planter and politician in Louisiana. Together with several major Mississippi planters, in the 1830s Ker co-founded the Mississippi Colonization Society, promoting removal of free American blacks to a colony in West Africa (later Liberia). The state group modeled itself after the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

, where Ker later served as a vice president. Born in North Carolina, where his father was the first president of the new state university, Ker moved with his family as a youth to Mississippi after 1817, when his father was appointed to the state supreme court. He went to medical school in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and returned to the South. Serving as a surgeon in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

and

Creek War The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the Red Stick War and the Creek Civil War, was a regional war between opposing Indigenous American Creek factions, European empires and the United States, taking place largely in modern-day Alabama ...

, Ker later owned a cotton plantation in Louisiana and served in the state house.

Early life

John Ker was born on June 27, 1789Smithsonian Institution
/ref>
/ref> in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His father, David Ker (1758–1805), born in

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and of Scottish ancestry, immigrated with his wife Mary to the United States in the 1780s. He served as the first President of the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, which was chartered in 1789 and opened for students in 1795.''Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi'', Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 1999, Part 1, p. 52

/ref>Taylor, Michael
CIVIL WAR TREASURES: “What a Price to Pay, for What?”: Four Civil War Letters of Sarah Ker Butler
''Civil War Book Review,'' Issue: Fall 2011 The family moved to Mississippi about 1817, the year it became a state. President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

(1743–1826) appointed the father David Ker to the

Supreme Court of Mississippi The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was established in the first constitution of the state following its admission as a State of the Union in 1817 and was known as the High Court of Errors and Appe ...

. John Ker had been educated privately, as was common among the southern upper class. He went North to medical school, earning a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...

degree from the

Medical School A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1822.

Career

Ker worked as a medical doctor.Louisiana State University Libraries: John Ker Papers
/ref>Mosette Broderick, ''Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White: Art, Architecture, Scandal, and Class in America's Gilded Age'', New York, New York: Random House, 2010, p. 5

/ref> He served as a surgeon for the US Army in the

and the

of 1813–1814. Ker also became a planter, owning the Good Hope Plantation in

Concordia Parish, Louisiana Concordia Parish (french: Paroisse de Concordia) borders the Mississippi River in eastern central Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,822. The parish seat is Vidalia. The parish was formed in 1807. Concordia Parish is part ...

, which produced cotton as a commodity crop, based on slave labor. He was a patron of Oakland College, near

Rodney, Mississippi Rodney is a former city in Jefferson County in southwest Mississippi, approximately northeast of Natchez. Rodney was founded in 1828, and in the 19th century, it was only three votes away from becoming the capital of the Mississippi Territo ...

, a college founded by Rev.

Jeremiah Chamberlain Jeremiah Chamberlain (1794–1851) was an American Presbyterian minister, educator and college administrator. Educated at Dickinson College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he served as the president of Centre College in Kentucky from 1822 to ...

(1794-1851) that closed during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

In the 1830s, Ker was elected and served in the

Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate is compose ...

. That same decade, together with major slave owners

Isaac Ross Isaac Beattie Ross (born 27 October 1984) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the lock position for the Austin Gilgronis of Major League Rugby (MLR) competition. Professional career Ross is of Māori descent, and played for Ne ...

(1760-1838),

Edward McGehee Edward McGehee (November 8, 1786 – October 1, 1880) was an American judge and major planter in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. He owned nearly 1,000 slaves to work his thousands of acres of cotton land at his Bowling Green Plantation. In the 183 ...

(1786-1880),

Stephen Duncan Stephen Duncan (March 4, 1787 – January 29, 1867) was an American Planter class, planter and banker in Mississippi during the Antebellum South. He was born and studied medicine in Pennsylvania, but moved to Natchez District, Mississippi Terr ...

(1787-1867), and educator Chamberlain, all of Mississippi, he co-founded the

Mississippi Colonization Society Mississippi-in-Africa was a colony on the Pepper Coast (West Africa) founded in the 1830s by the Mississippi Colonization Society of the United States and settled by American free people of color, many of them former slaves. In the late 1840s, so ...

(MCS). Its goal was to send

free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...

to a colony run by the society called

Mississippi-in-Africa Mississippi-in-Africa was a colony on the Pepper Coast (West Africa) founded in the 1830s by the Mississippi Colonization Society of the United States and settled by American free people of color, many of them former slaves. In the late 1840s, ...

, in order to remove them from southern slave societies. Ker served as a vice-president of the society.Dale Edwyna Smith, ''The Slaves of Liberty: Freedom in Amite County, Mississippi, 1820-1868'', Routledge, 2013, pp. 15-2

/ref>Mary Carol Miller, ''Lost Mansions of Mississippi'', Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2010, Volume II, pp. 53-5

/ref> The organization was modeled after the

and focused on free people of color in Mississippi and later Louisiana, both of which had large enslaved populations. The Mississippi-in-Africa colony ultimately merged into the

Colony of Liberia The Colony of Liberia, later the Commonwealth of Liberia, was a private colony of the American Colonization Society (ACS) beginning in 1822. It became an independent nation—the Republic of Liberia—after declaring independence in 1847. Early ...

. Additionally, Ker later served as one of the vice presidents of the

.UNC Libraries: Collection Title: Mary Susan Ker Papers, 1785-1958
/ref>''The African Repository'', American Colonization Society, 1842, Volumes 18-19, p. 5

/ref>

Personal life

He married Mary Kenard Baker, the daughter of

Joshua Baker Joshua Gabriel Baker (March 23, 1799 – April 16, 1885) was the 22nd Governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction. Early life Joshua was born March 23, 1799 in Mason County, Kentucky. His father was Joshua Baker and his mother was Susan Lewi ...

(1799–1885), who later served as the 22nd Governor of Louisiana in 1868. They had four sons and two daughters: *David Ker (1825-1884). *Sarah Evelina Ker (1826-1868). She married Richard E. Butler. *John Ker (1826-1870). *Lewis Ker (1831-1894). *Mary Susan Ker (1838-1923). * William H. Ker (1841-1902). Ker and his family summered at Linden, a mansion on the bluffs above the river in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...

. It is now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The property was formerly owned by

Thomas Buck Reed Thomas Buck Reed (May 7, 1787November 26, 1829) was a United States senator from Mississippi. Biography Early life Thomas Buck Reed was born on May 7, 1787 near Lexington, Kentucky. He attended the public schools and the College of New Jersey ...

(1787–1829), a

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from Mississippi and son-in-law of

, whom Ker knew through the Mississippi Colonization Society. Ker was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

, the Protestant church strongly associated with Scotland and its emigrants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ker, John 1789 births 1850 deaths American people of Anglo-Irish descent American people of Scottish descent People from Concordia Parish, Louisiana Politicians from Natchez, Mississippi Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni People of the Creek War United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 United States Army Medical Corps officers American planters Louisiana state senators American Presbyterians 19th-century American politicians American slave owners 19th-century American physicians American colonization movement People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina Ulster Scots people