KERR family

[Julie in Ohio]

I've been quite amazed by the information that has poured out of this group in response to the initial question. I'm stuck myself on family questions related to these place names. Here is the information as I received it, with some minor clarifications and added dates. Any suggestions for further work that could be done long-distance would be greatly appreciated.

California native Emma Kerr (1874-1917)'s notes about her father Alexander Kerr (1840-1882)'s family. My comments are in [ ]:
 
[on an envelope]
"Three bro. Kerr came to Newton Limavady from Scotland + bo't whole township ["Tamlaght?"--from Mary Fitch]. set up linen mills and corn mills. Grandfather, William Kerr and  John Kerr were the only children of one of these."
 
"Wm. Kerr married Elizabeth Irvine (my grandmother) one of nine children. Wm, Alexander, Samuel, Ellen, Peggy Ann, Susannah, Jane {married Ritchie in America/ Michigan near Kalamazoo/had a dau. Jane} and one John (?) who went to England.  Peggy Ann married Jos. Allcorn. Susannah married Abraham [Allcorn/Alcorn?] { Eliza/John/James}."
 
"John Kerr married Eliza Torrens. 7 children-Mary, Margaret, Emily, 2 Sarahs, John and twins who died in infancy. John has 1 surviving son Wm."
 
"Wm Kerr + Elizabeth Irvine, my grandparents, married in Ireland--children, Oliver, Eliza, John, Alexander. Grandmother died of consumption when Alex was about 2 yrs. old."
 
"Oliver had 5 children
Albert, Elmer (killed), John, Mary, Ella.
Mary-teacher
Ella-milliner
Albert + John farmers + stockraisers in Nebraska"


More of Emma's notes:
[on a piece of scrap paper--comments enclosed in [] are mine, those in parentheses () and {} are as in original]
 
"Grandfather's mother's name was Miller. She died when Grandfather was very young. She had a brother named Billy Miller, who lived about 4 mi. from Londonderry.  4 children {he had a son Wm.,  one of his dau. (Peggy) married Robt. Gant}"
__________________________________________________________
"A cousin of Grandfather's, Sam Hazlet kept shoe store on Chestnut St. (?),Philadelphia. He had three sons."
__________________________________________________________
"Some of the Kerrs came to New York."

Additional information: The source of this information was Alexander's sister Eliza Kerr Fitch (b. Co. Londonderry 1834, d. Barry, Pike Co., IL 1916) and her schoolteacher daughter Mary, who visited her California cousin Emma in 1906.  Emma and Mary's grandmother Betty Irvine Kerr had died in Ireland ca. 1842.  Their grandfather William arrived in the Barry area by 1870 and died in 1882. The three sons emigrated in 1853 -- John and Alexander with a cousin? Leslie Irvine, all listed  as laborers, on the ship Superior, and Oliver following on the Fanny. Oliver was listed as a clerk, with last residence Drumachose.

William and Betty's  daughter Eliza had emigrated to Barry, Pike County, Illinois, USA via New York with her uncle and aunt John and Eliza Torrens Kerr and their two young children ca 1849. Eliza Torrens' brother John and sister Sarah Jane followed via Phila in 1851, leaving an unmarried brother William to farm in Carrowclare, Moyse, Londonderry. (When William Torrens died in 1882, his brother John returned to settle the estate. The Torrens' ancestral burial grounds were at the Presbyterian Church in Ballykelly.)

I could not find Leslie Irvine or Sarah Jane Torrens after their arrival in Philadelphia, but John and Oliver Kerr and John Torrens all settled in the Barry area. Alexander Kerr was in California by 1860. As far as I know all of these families were Presbyterian, and in the U.S. were farmers and teachers.

Thank you in advance for any insights,

Julie

[aghadowey]

Welcome to Rootschat. What a lot of wonderful detail to start tracing your family but I think most of it will be either in ireland before civil registration or in the U.S.?

In the last few years quite a bit of Irish information has been put online (much of it free).

One bit you mentioned- leaving an unmarried brother William to farm in Carrowclare, Moyse, Londonderry. (When William Torrens died in 1882, his brother John returned to settle the estate.
William Torrens actually died 1883 and his residence is Carryclare, Myroe- you can read the wording of his Will here- quite a few relatives mentioned:
http://applications.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_WillsCalendar/WillsSearch.aspx
"The Will of William Torrens late of Carryclare County Londonderry Farmer who died 15 September 1883 at same place was proved at Londonderry by the Reverend Robert Kennedy of Myroe Presbyterian Minister and Alexander Moore of Carryclare Myroe Farmer both in said County the Executors."
Using the same search page you can look for Kerrs, etc.

[aghadowey]

"A cousin of Grandfather's, Sam Hazlet kept shoe store on Chestnut St. (?),Philadelphia. He had three sons."

Samuel Haslet (c1803 Ireland-1867 Philadelphia), bootmaker:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VKZG-7Q7
More detail here- Samuel Hazlett born "Newtenladavy, Derry, Ireland"
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J6YB-G6X

[Julie in Ohio]

Thank you, Agadowey, for the helpful links. Regarding the will of William Torrens, I have some legal questions as well as a genealogical one.

http://applications.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_WillsCalendar/WillsSearch.aspx
"The Will of William Torrens late of Carryclare County Londonderry Farmer who died 15 September 1883 at same place was proved at Londonderry by the Reverend Robert Kennedy of Myroe Presbyterian Minister and Alexander Moore of Carryclare Myroe Farmer both in said County the Executors."

1) The cash amounts devised to various legatees amount to considerably more than the stated assets. These bequests were to be paid within three years of his death.

A) Would the valuation of assets include the farm itself? Would the farm (left to a nephew in the U.S.) have to be sold in order to pay the itemized bequests?

B) Torrens leaves the use of a house or room and garden to a Betty Miller for use during her lifetime. How would that be accomplished given the possible need to sell the farm? Would what seem to be the equivalent of dower rights be protected in a sale?

(I believe the farm was in fact sold, as Torrens' nephew Robert Martin Torrens was able to buy a good farm in Illinois with his inheritance. Sadly, the money left to his grandnephew William Hugh Kerr was mismanaged by his father John Kerr until male relatives of the boys' mother took the father to court.)

2) John and William Miller (father and son) and Betty Miller seem to me to be close relatives, although they are not identified as such. Aside from looking for birth (possible for John?), death records, and wills, are there other avenues I should pursue?

Thank you again for your help.

Julie

[Davirv]

Julie, I have a 3x great aunt Susannah Irvine/Irwin who married an Abraham Alcorn, farmer at Drumacarney, near Limavady.  I don't know her dob but guess it to be about 1800.

[aghadowey]

Griffith's Valuation for Carrowclare (1858) lists William Torrens as tenant under James Ogilby. Not sure when lands in Carrowclare would have come up for sale to tenants but it's likely that William Torrens didn't own the farm outright.
Having said that there's a notation that "John Torrens of Carrowclare,  regd. his freehold at Lamavady, 27 Oct.1761" so I'm not sure what went on there.

Irish Landholders (c1876)
"9. William Torrens, address Carrowclare, Newtownlimavady, owned 29 acres."

Did find this post online looking for the same Kerrs but wondering if it could be yours?
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NIR-DERRY/2009-03/1236311460

[shanreagh]

More of Emma's notes:
[on a piece of scrap paper--comments enclosed in [] are mine, those in parentheses () and {} are as in original]
 
"Grandfather's mother's name was Miller. She died when Grandfather was very young. She had a brother named Billy Miller, who lived about 4 mi. from Londonderry.  4 children {he had a son Wm.,  one of his dau. (Peggy) married Robt. Gant}"
__________________________________________________________
"A cousin of Grandfather's, Sam Hazlet kept shoe store on Chestnut St. (?),Philadelphia. He had three sons."

I wonder if the 'Gant' mentioned might be 'Galt' or 'Gault'. There are families of that name just out of Limavady around that time and up to the present day. 

I think Chestnut Street in Philadelphia may have been a shopping street in the area where many Irish immigrants made their homes when first coming to the US.  I have a photograph of an ancestor  taken  at Miles and Foster  in Chestnut Street in the mid 1800s. 

Shanreagh

[Julie in Ohio]

"A cousin of Grandfather's, Sam Hazlet kept shoe store on Chestnut St. (?),Philadelphia. He had three sons."

Samuel Haslet (c1803 Ireland-1867 Philadelphia), bootmaker:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VKZG-7Q7
More detail here- Samuel Hazlett born "Newtenladavy, Derry, Ireland"
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J6YB-G6X

Thank you for these links. This Samuel Hazlett seems to fit the bill, but I have not yet been able to identify his family in Philadelphia or Newtown Limavady. I believe I can continue working on the Phila end since so many new records have become available online since the last time I tried to approach this question, but I am uncertain how to proceed on the Londonderry end.

A key question for me is how "cousin" might be interpreted, and thus how a Samuel Hazlett born ca. 1803 might be related to Alexander Kerr b. ca. 1840. Alexander's father only had one sibling, John Kerr, and I have accounted for all of his descendants.

Alexander's mother was Betty Irvine, and the list of siblings and spouses I have do not accommodate a Hazlett first cousin in any way I can see. I would be looking for a much older sister of Betty who married a Hazlett. Please see my response to Dairv for further elaboration on this.

Samuel Hazlett and Alexander Kerr's father William were born about the same year and thus generationally could be first cousins, with Alexander a first cousin once removed. This would mean I would be looking for a sister of the three Kerr brothers who came from Scotland to Londonderry, or a another sister of Billy Miller, William's maternal uncle, either of whom could have married a Hazlett and had a son Samuel.

The wildcard in this is the surname of Betty Irvine's mother. She could have been a Hazlett or have had a sister who married a Hazlett.f

Am I construing the relationship implied by "cousin" too narrowly?

Thanks,

Julie

[aghadowey]

In Ulster 'cousin' usually mean a first cousin but since the writer of the notes was in the U.S. the term 'cousin' could probably refer to a first cousin or far more distant relative in the same or another generation.