| Notes |
- Mary Cameron was a half sister of Margaret Johnstone 1856-1935, wife of Robert Thomson (son of William Thomason and Jessie Park) 1855-1921. (from Margaret's obituary). Mary and Margaret's mother, Margaret Bone, married Duncan Cameron, then married James Johnstone (or Johnston?). Marriage Registration 010510 Archives of Ontario microfilm MS932 Reel 38 provided information about the January 10, 1881 marriage of Albert Kerr and Mary (Cameron) Thomson. Albert was the second husband of Mary. The witnesses at the wedding were Donald Cameron of Oro Township and Robert Thomson of Orillia Township. Rev. John Gray performed the service. Both were residents of Town of Orillia. Albert and Mary's marriage recorded in the Orillia Presbyterian St. Andrews Church Records, marriage certificate stubs 1877-1896: Albert Kerr, age 22, resident of Town of Orillia, Ontario, born City of Bellville, Ontario, farmer, Presbyterian, parents Samuel Kerr and Margaret Kerr; Mary Thomson nee Cameron, age 34, resident of Town of Orillia, Ontario, born Oro Township, Ontario, parents Duncan Cameron and Margaret Cameron. Witness, Robert Thomson of Orillia Township and Donald Cameron of Orillia Township, married 10 January 1881. Grandson Donald Clark Amos recorded he visited his grandmother in Vancouver in 1934. Donald Clark Amos also recorded that Albert and Mary Kerr lived in Toronto where Albert owned a hide company and in Vancouver where he owned a lumber business. Did not locate Albert and Mary in the Toronto City Directories. In the Vancouver City Directories, in 1910 Commercial Investment Co. is listed at Suite 915 Dominion Trust Building, 207 Hastings Street West. In 1911, Albert Kerr, dealers in hides & skins, Commercial Investment Co. at the same address as in 1910. Residence listed at 30 Manhattan Apartments. In 1913 & 1914, Albert Kerr, dealers in hides & skins, Vancouver Block, 736 Granville Street. Residence at 254 Twenty-third Avenue. In 1916, Albert Kerr, dealers in hides & skins, 609 Granville Block, 736 Granville Street. Residence at 1899 Dunbar Street at West 3rd Avenue intersection. (Albert and Mary continued to live at this address until their death. Mary was listed as the owner in 1935). In 1917, Albert Kerr, president of Albert Kerr Company Ltd. at 600 Granville Street. In 1918 Albert Kerr, president, Albert Kerr Company Ltd, Hides, Furs and Wool at 43 Alexander Street. In 1918 & 1919, Albert Kerr is listed with Kerr & Munn Logging Co. at Suite 607, 736 Granville. In 1920, 1921, 1922 Albert Kerr Company Ltd., hide, fur and wool company is listed, then disappeared. In 1923 & 1924 the logging operators were named Munn & Kerr Timber Co. with Albert Kerr as president and between 1924 and 1926 the name changed to Kerr & Dumaresq Timber Co. Ltd., with Albert Kerr as president, all operating from Suite 607, 736 Granville Street. The company, Kerr & Dumaresq Timber was still in operation in 1944 at 736 Granville Street. Mary's death registration #1935-09-505879, Government of British Columbia Vital Statistics, microfilm B13154 (GSU#1953018). Mary was cremated. Mary is buried beside her first husband, Robert Thomson, in Plot A12-3-2, St Andrew's & St James Cemetery, Orillia, Ontario. Albert Kerr was born December 17, 1858 in Belleville, Hastings County, Canada West, died December 3, 1934 in Toronto, Ontario (according to David Sarjeant) and was buried December 5, 1934 in Orillia, Ontario. Albert is buried with his parents, Samuel Kerr and Margaret Vandervoort and his brother John, in Plot A70-8,9 in St Andrew's & St James Cemetery, Orillia.
The Vancouver Province, Saturday, October 26, 1935, Deaths Section:
KERR. On October 25, 1935, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs G. Bruce, 1023 Springer Avenue, Mary Kerr, widow of Albert Kerr, in her eighty-eighth year. Survived by two sons and three daughters. Funeral service from the chapel of Mount Pleasant Undertaking Co., Monday, October 28 at 1.30 o'clock. Rev. J.R. Henderson officiating. Cremation.
The Orillia Packet and Times, Thursday October 31, 1935 edition, Archives of Ontario microfilm NO39 Reel 72NP. Page 19
Mrs. Albert Kerr
A funeral service was held on Monday, October 21, at Mount Pleasant Undertaking Parlours, Vancouver, B.C. for Mrs. Albert Kerr, who had passed away on Friday, October 25, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. George Bruce, following a lingering illness, the result of a stroke suffered about one year ago, from which she had never fully recovered. The remains are being brought East to Orillia for interment in St. Andrew’s Cemetery. Mrs. Kerr, who was in her eighty eighth year, was a native of Oro Township, moving to Vancouver twenty-six years ago. She was married twice, her first husband being Mr. Robert Thomson, who passed away fifty-seven years ago. Her second husband, Mr. Albert Kerr, died in December 1934. She is survived by two sons and three daughters, Mrs. George Bruce and Mrs. John T. Johnston, of Vancouver; Mrs. William Amos, of Palmerston; Mr. Duncan C. Thomson and Mr. William J. Thomson, of Orillia. One brother remaining is Mr. Robert Johnston and there are twenty-one grandchildren. Mrs. Kerr had many friends in Orillia and vicinity who will regret to learn of her passing.
The Orillia Packet and Times, Thursday, December 6, 1934 edition, Archives of Ontario microfilm N039 Reel 71NP
(Front page with a photo of the late Albert Kerr)
FORMER ORILLIA ALDERMAN AND BUSINESS MAN DIES
Albert Kerr Had Built Up Business Stretching From Toronto To Vancouver
An Orillian who had made his mark in the business world, and who had made warm friendships wherever he went, passed over to the majority when Albert Kerr died in the private patient’s pavilion of the Toronto General Hospital on Monday. He had been ill for three months, and his death was not unexpected.
Born 75 years ago in the Township of Otonabee, six miles from Peterborough, the second son of Samuel and Mary Kerr, pioneers of that part of Ontario, Albert Kerr first came to Orillia with the family in 1879. He spent a short time in Toronto, as an express messenger. Returning he took up farming at McPhee’s Switch, in south Orillia. Forty two years later he came back to town to enter the butcher business. Shrewd and industrious he rapidly built up a prosperous business, launching into the wholesale trade in hides and kindred products. His business expanded until it stretched across Canada, with branches in the chief centres between Toronto and Vancouver. Several brothers were associated with him in the business, which was known as Albert Kerr Hide Company Limited, and of which he was president. Shortly before the war, Mr. Kerr himself removed to Vancouver, to be nearer the Western end of the business. While in the city, he also engaged in the lumbering trade and became interested in mining in partnership with Mr. A.E. Munn, M.P., also a former Orillian. He made trips East two or three times a year, and always made a point of visiting Orillia.
But, good business man as he was, Albert Kerr’s outstanding characteristic was his capacity for making and keeping friends. He had friends, warm friends, from one end of the country to the other. Akin to this was the family loyalty and affection which bound the Kerr family together in bands of steel.
While a resident of Orillia, Mr. Kerr took an active interest in the life of the town. He served on the Town Council for eight terms, first entering that body in 1897, remaining during the critical period when the first power plant was under construction till 1902 and coming back again in 1906 and 1909. He was keenly interested in sport, particularly in lacrosse, and was a member of the executive of the Orillia Lacrosse Club and a firm financial supporter of the game.
Mr. Kerr was a member of the old Methodist church while in Orillia and subsequently joined the United Church in Vancouver, taking an active interest in its work. He was also a member of Orillia Lodge, A.F. and A.M., Barrie Preceptory Knights Temple, and Rameses Temple, Mystic Shrine, Toronto.
Mr. Kerr is survived by his wife who has been detained in Vancouver by illness while her husband was in the Toronto Hospital; also by five out of seven brothers, George, Frank, Fred and Sam Kerr of Toronto, and John Kerr of Orillia; by one of three sisters, Mrs. Robert Plunkett, Orillia. Mr. Kerr had no children.
The funeral took place in Orillia yesterday afternoon. The service in St Paul’s church was conducted by the Rev. W.E. Baker. Speaking from the passage beginning "Blessed in the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly" and concluding "whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" Mr Baker paid a warm tribute to the deceased, on the strength of information which had been given him by friends. He was, he said, a worthy son of pioneer parents, was industrious, thrifty and large hearted, had a deep family affection and a wonderful capacity for making friends and keeping them; and a due regard and reverence for holy things.
The floral tributes were unusually numerous and beautiful, filling the whole of the space in front of the pulpit. The pallbearers were six nephews: Messrs. Douglas Kerr, John Kerr, Albert Kerr, and Albert Plunkett, Toronto; and John Kerr jr. and Morley Plunkett, Orillia. The honorary pallbearers were Mr. John Sinclair, of Barrie; Mr. Aubrey Davis, of Newmarket; Dr. W.C. Gilchrist and Messrs. J.B. Tudhope, Angus Carss and J.C. Miller, of Orillia.
Among the out-of-town friends who attended were the Hon. E.J. Davis and Mr. Andrew Davis, of Newmarket; Mr. J.S. McLean, President of Canada Packers; Mr. W.A. Amos, of Palmerston; Mr. George McNeillie, of Toronto and representatives of a number of wholesale leather firms.
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1847 - 1935 (88 years)
