Kerr-Hurd Family Collection, 1824-1962, bulk 1849-1899

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Summary

Title:
Kerr-Hurd Family Collection
Dates:
1824-1962, bulk 1849-1899
Abstract:
The Kerr-Hurd Family Collection affords insights into medicine, society, politics, education, and family life in San Joaquin County, California, during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It includes correspondence, diaries, account books, published material, memorabilia, medical books, and other material collected by San Joaquin County physician William Reed Kerr (1813-1861); his wife, Frances Brown Kerr (1849-1866); and other family members.
Extent:
2.8 linear feet
Language:
Records written in English
Preferred citation:

Preferred citation: [Item name], Kerr-Hurd Family Collection, Ms42, San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum, Lodi, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Kerr-Hurd Family Collection spans the years 1824 to 1962, with the bulk falling between 1849 and 1899. It consists of three series: 1. Family Papers, 2. Notebooks and Assorted Publications, and 3. Medical Books, each arranged in alphabetical order. The collection includes books, diaries, and account books of William Reed Kerr and his wife, Frances Brown Kerr (1849-1866), as well as mid-nineteenth century correspondence, diaries, and memorabilia produced or collected by their daughter, Emma California Kerr Hurd, and other family members. The collection also contains genealogical resources on the Kerr family, biographical material, a variety of guides and publications, and twentieth-century memorabilia relating to Emma Hurd, her siblings, and descendants. Of special interest are medical reference works that Reed collected during his career as a physician.

Biographical / historical:

William Reed Kerr (1813-1861) studied medicine at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. During this period, he married Frances Brown of Maytown, Pennsylvania. After receiving his license to practice (1843), Kerr moved with his wife to Miami, Ohio, where they produced a son, John Brown (1847-1922), and a daughter, Emma (1848-1941). After living in Ohio about five years, Kerr heard about the discovery of gold in California and resolved to go West with his family to offer his medical services to the miners of California. The Kerrs traveled to the Golden State via New Mexico and Arizona (1849), and, after many difficulties, including trouble with Indians and with quicksand along the Gila River, they arrived in San Joaquin County. There they established themselves on a ranch east of Stockton called "Sheltered Oaks." From this base, Kerr became a "circuit-riding doctor," traveling from mine to mine, ministering to the needs of the sick. Kerr also opened a pharmacy in Stockton. During their years in California, the Kerrs had other children, including William Jr. (1851-1872), Benjamin E. (1855-1897), Sarah (Fish) (b. 1857), and Louis C. Kerr. Kerr and hs wife were good friends of another prominent early physician in San Joaquin County, Dean Jewett Locke, who lived in the nearby hamlet of Lockeford. Both families participated in temperance society activities and in the establishment of the Republican Party in San Joaquin County (1856). Although William Kerr contracted typhoid and died suddenly at the age of forty-eight, his widow survived well into the twentieth century (1918). She later married a Mr. Russem. Kerr's eldest daughter, Emma California, attended the University of the Pacific and San Francisco Normal School, subsequently teaching school briefly in Merced County before marrying Charles E. Hurd of Stockton (1870). Hurd owned a dairy on the site of the present University of the Pacific campus near the Calaveras River until 1900. The family then moved to Lodi, where Hurd operated a ten-acre farm until his death (1935). The Hurds had eight children: Lila, Nell (Bessac), Clarence W., Frances (Manning), Ethel (Comfort), Lester K., Algae (Trewhitt), and Charles Jr. The Hurds' second daughter, Nell, married a Mr. Harry.

Physical location:
Erickson Vault

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Collection processed by Don Walker and Leigh Johnsen
Date Prepared:
1998 and 2012
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid prepared by Leigh Johnsen May 3, 2012

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research by appointment.

Terms of access:

The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary property.

Preferred citation:

Preferred citation: [Item name], Kerr-Hurd Family Collection, Ms42, San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum, Lodi, California.

Location of this collection:
11793 North Micke Grove Road
Lodi, CA 95241, US
Contact:
(209) 331-2055
info@sanjoaquinhistory.org
Website