James Witherspoon Kerr graduated from the Western Reserve University in 1849 before entering the medical profession. He practiced as a physician in New York city for several years, but in 1857 he answered a higher calling, entering Princeton Theological Seminary to prepare for the ministry. After his graduation in 1860, Kerr went south, and was ordained as an evangelist in the Presbytery of Tombeckbee in October 1861.
From the beginning, his ministerial career was characterized by constant change, taking him through a lengthy series of Mississippi towns, and as far away as Arkansas, as he filled pulpits in stated supply (temporarily filling vacancies) and worked occasionally as a teacher. Kerr was associated longest with Yazoo City -- where he was pastor (1869-1872) and teacher (1870-1873) -- and Brandon, where he was in stated supply from 1886-1892. He died in Brandon on January 15, 1901.
From the guide to the James Witherspoon Kerr sermons, Kerr, James Witherspoon, 1859-1860, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
