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John Leeds Kerr (January 15, 1780February 21, 1844) was an American
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
.


Early years

Kerr was born in 1780 at Greenbury Point near Annapolis, Maryland, and graduated from St. John's College of Annapolis in 1799. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1801, and commenced practice in Easton, Maryland.


A Politician

Kerr was Deputy State's Attorney for
Talbot County, Maryland Talbot County is located in the heart of the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,526. Its county seat is Easton. The county was named for Lady Grace Talbot, the wife of Sir Rob ...
from 1806 to 1810. During the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, Kerr commanded a company of militia, and was later appointed agent of the State of Maryland in 1817 to prosecute claims against the federal government growing out of the War. In 1824, Kerr was elected to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses, and served from March 4, 1825 to March 3, 1829. He was unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1828, but was elected two years later in 1830 to the Twenty-second Congress, and served one term from March 4, 1831 to March 3, 1833. In Congress, Kerr served as chairman of the Committee on Territories (Twenty-second Congress). After Congress, he served as presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840 Kerr was elected to the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
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. In the Senate, Kerr served as chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings (Twenty-seventh Congress), and as a member of the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office (Twenty-seventh Congress). Kerr died in Easton in 1844, and is interred in the Bozman family cemetery at "Bellville", near Oxford Neck, Maryland. Kerr's son,
John Bozman Kerr John Bozman Kerr (March 5, 1809 – January 27, 1878) was a U.S. Congressman, representing the sixth district of the state of Maryland from 1849 until 1851. He also served as Chargé d'Affaires to Nicaragua. Early life John Bozman Kerr ...
, also served in Congress.


References


Belleville Cemetery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, John Leeds 1780 births 1844 deaths United States senators from Maryland St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) alumni American militiamen in the War of 1812 Politicians from Annapolis, Maryland Maryland Whigs Whig Party United States senators National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland People from Easton, Maryland 19th-century American politicians