Robert Floyd Kerr Biography


	This biography appears on pages 308-311 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				HON. ROBERT FLOYD KERR. 

	Hon. Robert Floyd Kerr, educator, editor and legislator, has left 
the impress of his individuality upon the history of the state along 
various lines which have marked intellectual public progress. He is a 
native of Indiana, his birth having occurred in Sugar Grove, Tippecanoe 
county, on the 12th of April, 1850, and is today an honored resident of 
Brookings, South Dakota. His father, Andrew J. Kerr, was a native of 
Franklin county, Ohio, while his grandfather, Samuel Kerr, was born in 
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and the great-grandfather, John Kerr, was 
the founder of the family in America, having emigrated from the north 
of Ireland during the colonial epoch in the history of this country. He 
settled in Pennsylvania and subsequently enlisted for service in the 
colonial army, with which he took part in the war of the revolution. 
The mother of Hon. Robert F. Kerr bore the maiden name of Nancy Sayers, 
and she, too, was descended from Revolutionary stock. Her mother 
belonged to the McMillan family which sent several representatives to 
the American army at the time of the war for independence. 

	Robert F. Kerr acquired his preliminary education in the public 
schools of Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and at the age of nineteen 
taught one term of school in Warren county, Indiana. He afterward 
entered Wabash College at Crawfordsville, there continuing his studies 
through one term, after which he taught another term in the school in 
which he had first been employed. In 1872 he matriculated in Asbury 
College, now known as Depauw University, at Greencastle, Indiana, and 
thereafter continued to teach and attend college at intervals, 
depending upon the teaching to secure the necessary funds in order to 
enable him to meet his college expenses. He was a student at DePauw 
University during the terms of 1876 and 1877, completing the classical 
course and v inning the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with 
the class of 1877. Following this he was employed as a teacher in the 
Kentland (Ind.) public schools and in the spring of 1878 was chosen 
county superintendent of schools in Newton county, Indiana. In April, 
1879, he went to Japan, where for eighteen months he was employed as a 
teacher in the provincial school at Hirosaki, Japan, and in October, 
1880, he returned to the United States. During the two succeeding years 
he served in the engineering department on the survey of the route of 
the Clover Leaf Railroad through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, although 
he had no knowledge of the details of that business when first 
employed. In nine months he had gained such technical knowledge and 
skill that he was placed in charge of a corps of men. He returned to 
the educational field in 1883 and through that and the succeeding year 
was assistant principal of the high school of Blair, Nebraska. In 1885 
he came to Brookings, South Dakota, to accept the principalship of the 
preparatory department and the professorship of history in the State 
College. This school had been organized but one year before and he 
became one of the effective forces in shaping the educational system of 
the institution with which he was so long to be associated. He served 
as professor of history and economies from 1887 until 1892. In the 
latter year the college was placed under different executive control 
and Professor Kerr left the school. In 1894 he was elected county 
superintendent of schools of Brookings, which incumbency he retained 
until his recall to the South Dakota State College in 1899 as principal 
of the preparatory department and librarian of the college, with which 
he remained until 1905. He received the degree of Master of Arts from 
DePauw University in 1880 and at different periods has done active and 
important work, that has furthered public progress or promoted 
educational advancement. He served as private secretary to Governor 
Elrod of South Dakota in 1905 and 1906 and he was editor of the 
Minnesota and Dakota Farmer, published at Brookings, from 1907 until 
November, 1910. 

	Mr. Kerr has also left the impress of his individuality upon the 
political records of the state, for he was a member of the South Dakota 
legislature, from 1911 until 1913. He was also one of the founders in 
1901 of the South Dakota State Historical Society, was made a member of 
its board of directors, was subsequently elected its president and has 
long been a liberal contributor of articles concerning South Dakota 
history to newspapers, encyclopedias and historical publications. He is 
the author of the Block Map and Manual of South Dakota and along more 
local lines his activities have been equally pronounced and beneficial. 
He is today secretary of the Brookings Building and Loan Association 
and is publicity man of the Brookings Commercial Club. He is likewise 
manager of the Brookings Chautauqua Association. In Masonry he has 
attained high rank, having not only taken the degrees of the blue lodge 
but also of capitular and chivalric Masonry as a member of the chapter 
and commandery at Brookings. He likewise has membership with El Riad 
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Sioux Falls, and with the Beta Theta Pi, 
a college fraternity. He is active in church work and has affiliated 
with the Methodist Episcopal denomination. It is impossible to measure 
the extent of his influence. While holding to high ideals, his methods 
have been practical and substantial results have been achieved. At all 
times he has been actuated by the spirit of progress and the results 
that have followed his labors have been of substantial benefit in 
shaping the history of the state.