Alfred Benjamin Fontaine Kerr
On Saturday 7 July 1877, I. H. Julian, editor of the San Marcos Free Press was exultant.
“Incorporation carried on Saturday by a majority of 25 out of a vote of 115. A late but signal triumph of good sense. Now elect good men for city officers — men identified in interest with their fellow citizens, irrespective of party or sect, and the direful prognostications of those who opposed incorporation will be found entirely illusory.”
On Saturday 21 July 1877, the citizens of San Marcos did just that. A.B.F. Kerr was elected Mayor. The citizens also elected Aldermen W.O. Hutchison, L.W. Mitchell, W.B. Fry, P.R. Turner, and D.P. Hopkins, as well as Marshal A.B. Dailey.
On Sunday 22 July, Rev. Mr. Kerr, the first mayor-elect of San Marcos, filled the pulpit at the Methodist church.
On 22 Dec. 1877, the Free Press reported that Mayor Kerr granted a dispensation to the boys to explode firecrackers on Christmas. Except in public thoroughfares.
Kerr was, indeed, a “good man.” On 24 Aug. 1878, Englishman John Campbell, a tailor, arrived in San Marcos sick and destitute. He appealed to Kerr for help and got it. Kerr put him up in the Hofheinz Hotel and enlisted doctors and others to help. Campbell rapidly improved and gave heartfelt thanks to the “Good Samaritan” help he received from Kerr.
Campbell was not so thankful to “Dr. Kingsbury” who had initiated his tale of woe.
Dr. Kingsbury was operating in London, England, as, or so he said, the immigration agent for the Sunset Route, the southernmost railroad line from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Kingsbury talked up the opportunities in America and convinced Campbell to immigrate.
After the long sea voyage, Campbell made his way to San Antonio where he looked for work, unsuccessfully, and ran out of money. He decided to walk to San Marcos. Along the way, he picked cotton, was overcome by the heat, and became ill. Kingsbury had promised a land of milk and honey. What Campbell got was Texas. In August.
The election of city officers did not extend to approving money to construct a City Hall. After all, the Hays County Courthouse had plenty of room so the city council held its infrequent meetings there. When Hays County was incorporated in 1848, county officials met in a log church/school house.
In 1861, Hays County built its first purpose-built courthouse. It was a twostory frame building which burned in 1868, whereupon the county built a stone courthouse which was completed in 1871. And it was razed in 1881 due to damage from “shifting earth.” It was replaced by another stone courthouse. Its top story burned in 1908, and it too was replaced by yet another stone courthouse which was completed in 1909. It still stands, but is no longer the county courthouse.
In 1914, the San Marcos fire station also burned. In 1915, San Marcos built the now-historic City Hall and Fire Station. So far, that building still exists.
Kerr showed no favoritism. In early 1878, Free Press editor Julian hitched his horse in the passage to the Travis House stable. “Self appointed secret police” reported the infraction to the marshal who arrested Julian and hauled him before the Mayor who fined Julian something over $6.
At the conclusion of Kerr’s term as mayor, he announced his candidacy for County Clerk of Hays County. He lost to incumbent Ed J. L. Green.
After his election defeat, Kerr stayed close to the action. His dry goods and grocery store sat on the North side of the Plaza, across the street from the Courthouse.
Alfred Kerr was born 1 Jan. 1823 in Giles Co., TN. His parents were Hugh Kerr (177x-1743) and Lucy Fontaine Thomson (1783-1871) who had married in 1806 in Richmond Co., GA. Hugh, Lucy and 8 kids, in company with some 40 other families, GTTed [Gone To Texas].
On 21 April 1831, the group arrived in Harrisburg, a historic community that is now part of Houston. Established in 1826 on Buffalo Bayou, it was an important trading center and served as a temporary capital for the Republic of Texas in 1836 before being burned by Santa Anna’s forces. After being rebuilt, it became a rail center and was eventually annexed by Houston in 1926.
The Kerrs did not stay in Harrisburg but went on to what is now the western part of Washington County to farm. Hugh died 18 Jan. 1843 at home in Washington County and is buried with other family members on that farm.
In the 1830s, Texans were chafing under Mexican rule, and began ignoring the terms of their Mexican land grants and oaths to the Mexican government. Skirmishes erupted and William Barrett Travis was arrested in Nacogdoches. When released, he headed southwest, apparently through Washington County where he spent the night at the Kerr farm on his way to San Antonio where he would die at the Alamo.
Davy Crockett left Tennessee in November 1935 and arrived in Nacogdoches in January 1836. He then made his way to San Antonio, also stopping for the night at the Kerr farm.
Talk of revolution appears to have inspired Alfred’s brother William Penn Kerr, who joined General Sam Houston’s army for the Battle of San Jacinto where Santa Anna was captured and forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco in which Mexico recognized Texas’ independence.
On 10 March 1847, the Texas Conference of the Methodist Church admitted Alfred on trial which must have been successful for he became a prominent minister in this conference. From 1847 to 1849, Alfred was pastor of the Seguin circuit of the Methodist Church. In Aug 1847, he helped organize the San Marcos Methodist church, the first Christian church ever organized in SM.
In 1849, William E. Owen and Martha Ann Jewell received the second marriage license issued in Hays Co. ABF Kerr performed the ceremony.
On 12 Dec. 1849, Kerr was appointed financial agent for Rutersville College, Texas’ first institution of higher learning. His task was to raise money for the college. Apparently, he was successful. While covering his circuit on horseback, Alfred would solicit donations and subscriptions for the college. He served Rutersville until 1852.
Rutersville was Texas’ first institution of higher education. Among its birth pains was Texas’ initial refusal to charter the school because of its religious affiliation. Bowing to reality, the charter application was revised to remove the religious affiliation. But the Methodist influence persisted until 1850, when a sex scandal caused the Methodist Conference to abandon Rutersville and create Soule University as a replacement.
In 1873, Southwestern University was established as a continuation of both the Rutersville and Soule charters. That chain of charters allows Southwestern to claim precedence as the first institution of higher learning in Texas.
In 1853, Alfred was transferred to another circuit, became pastor at Goliad and agent for Paine Female Institute. Paine’s history is less glorious than Rutersville’s. The West Texas Methodist Conference and Paine’s board of trustees disagreed about who controlled the school.
In 1877, the trustees sold the school to the Goliad College Company to support the Methodist Episcopal Church in Goliad. In 1884, the Goliad College Company sold the school to one of its teachers who, in 1885, sold it to Goliad High School.
Eventually, Alfred retired from the ministry because of ill health from exposure.
Susan Clayton “Sue” Steele was born 19 March 1834 in Brownsville, Haywood Co., TN, the daughter of James Slaughter Steele (1808-1847) and Mary Herndon Haralson (1809-1869). On 14 June 1854, Kerr and Sue married in Goliad Co. They soon moved to a farm in Fayette Co. where they lived for more than 20 years. In poor health, Kerr did not continue full time work in the ministry. Instead, he concentrated on farm and mercantile interests and in surveying and engineering work. And creating a family.
As was common in the day, there being no television for entertainment, Alfred and Sue had several children. Various sources report 7-10 kids from James Slaughter Steele Kerr born 22 June 1858 to Henry Lee Kerr born 5 Dec. 1878. The First United Methodist Church 125th anniversary bulletin asserts 10 known kids.
On the 1860 census for Fayette Co., Kerr described himself as a bookkeeper.
Kerr’s mom Lucy may have lived with Kerr and Sue; she died 1 Oct. 1871 and was buried in Washington Co., reunited with Hugh.
In 1876, Kerr, Sue, and seven kids moved to San Marcos. Their children were educated at Coronal Institute. Kerr established a dry goods/grocery store on the north side of the San Marcos plaza.
Already well-known and respected because of his work with the Methodist church, Alfred was elected San Marcos’ first mayor on Sat 21 July 1877. The next day, ill health and mayoral duties notwithstanding, Alfred filled the Methodist church pulpit in the temporary absence of Mr. Gillett, the regular pastor.
It appears that the Kerrs liked being in charge. At the same time that Alfred was mayor of San Marcos, his nephew M.P. Kerr was mayor of Brenham. In that mayor’s first case, “A German from the country was charged $1 and trimmings for a plain drunk.” Searching the internet for “Mayor Kerr” requires caution.
Mayoral duties soon appeared. Alfred was not responsible for maintaining law and order; that was the task of A.B. Dailey, newly-elected town marshal. But he was responsible for assessing punishments for breaches of San Marcos’ 174 town ordinances. On 20 Sept. 1877, there was a “serenade” party. The next morning, the miscreant had to “interview” the mayor. “Contributions” to the city treasury ensued.
Some breaches of the peace were allowed. Just before Christmas 1877, the mayor announced that a dispensation would be granted for the boys to explode firecrackers on Christmas, save in the public thoroughfares.
San Marcans closely watched the operation of their government. A 17 Aug. 1878 letter to the editor appeared in the Free Press. “Spectator” reminded the reader that I.H. Julian, editor/proprietor of the Free Press, had been fined “something over $6” for hitching his horse for a few moments in the passage way to the Travis House stable, the infraction having been reported post haste to Marshal Dailey.
Now, asked “Spectator,” what must people have thought when they saw a wagon with two horses attached standing on the pavement and totally obstructing the sidewalk for perhaps an hour or more? What must citizens think of the consistency and fair-dealing of our city authorities?
Alfred was an enthusiastic supporter of San Marcos and its institutions. In a 15 Dec. 1877 letter to the editor of the Free Press, Alfred extolled the virtues of Hensley’s Commercial College. Despite Alfred’s support, the College failed.
Hays Co. officials were also busy. At their Aug 1878 meeting, they resolved to purchase a “Poor Farm” and to appoint a jury of examiners to report on the cost and feasibility of a road through the mountains around the head of the river so as to avoid the muddy route through the bottom.
In late September or early October 1878, Mayor Kerr called for a town election to be held on 5 Nov. in conjunction with the general election. Kerr had been in ill health for many years. After some 14 months as mayor and the railroad issue looming, Kerr did not seek a second term as mayor. But he couldn’t seem to accept retirement without one last hurrah.
In August 1878, Ed J.L. Green announced for re-election as District and County Clerk of Hays county. In September, Kerr tossed his hat into the ring as a candidate for District Clerk of Hays Co. with, probably, little thought of winning; he didn’t.
But in 1879, he was elected a Worthy Steward of the Texas State Grange, an institution devoted to the protection of farmers’ interests. Founded in 1867, the Grange was dedicated to social and financial needs of farmers. They were alarmed by the panic of 1873, falling crop prices, increased railroad fees to ship crops, and Congress’ reduction of paper money in favor of hard currency: gold and silver.
Kerr’s forced retirement from politics left more time for his business in the dry goods and grocery business. For a short time.
On 22 Nov 1881, Kerr died. He is buried in a private section, next to Old Original H, in the San Marcos City Cemetery. His grave is decorated with a medallion marking him as a United Methodist Minister.
Sue moved to Galveston where the 1908-1909 City Directory showed her living with her son James Slaughter Kerr, who was the secretary of the Galveston Maritime Association.
After James’ death on 17 April 1915, Sue moved to Los Angeles, probably to live with daughter Maggie. She died on 25 Dec. 1916 and is buried in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, Los Angeles Co. Maggie died in 1964 and is also buried in Inglewood Park.
The number and names of Alfred/ Sue’s children are in some doubt. Kerr’s findagrave page # 66082732 lists 7. The biography on that page names 10.
On Tuesday 5 Nov. 1878, San Marcos held its second corporation election. Henry B. Coffield ran for mayor; successfully. Tune in next week.
