I have started my family tree, but I have very little information to go on. I am not having much success with my research. I can only go back 3 generations, and before that, I know nothing. I have an uncle who is 86, and he has provided most of what I know. This is what I have so far:
John Kerr left Scotland and moved to Germany. He met and married Christine DeWitt. Her father was a blacksmith. They moved to Canada and set up shop in an area now known as "DeWitt's Corners" in Bathurst Township [now Tay Valley Township] near the town of Perth in Lanark County, Ontario Canada. They had one son, Francis Edward. Christine died giving birth. John left Francis with Jack and Mary Irvin (sp?). (Their mother was Christine DeWitt's sister.) He moved to Owen Sound.
Francis married Margaret Manion. They lived near Stanleyville in North Burgess Township [now Tay Valley Township] near Perth, in Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. They had 4 children. Alphonsus Ligouri [1892-1949] (married Mary Jane Fagan [1894-1961], and they had 13(?) children - 4 of whom are still living - Harold, Leo, Francis, Lillian, Margaret, Mary, William, Anne, Charles, Cliff, Robert.); Francis Bernard [1891-1970] (married Sarah Catherine Laughlin [1903-1986] and they had 12 children.); Margaret [we always called her "Aunt Ettie" so it's possible that her name was actually "Loretta"] (never married); Mary (never married, but had 2 children who died very young. Apparently, they belonged to a soldier who was on leave when the first was conceived. He went AWOL and came back to her. He was taken back, stateside, by the authorities and never returned.)
I am a descendant of Alphonsus. His son Charles Vincent [1927-1995] married Carmel Florence Leonard [1934-present], and they had 7 children.
This particular branch of the family is Roman Catholic, and most attended St. Bridget's Church in Stanleyville. Many of them are buried in the cemetery there.
I really wish that I had more information, but I seem to hit dead ends everywhere. I had thought that researching the DeWitt's would be easy, since there is a small village named after them. The closest I have come is a license issued to a "John Kerr" for a shop in Perth in 1848, (I am not even sure if this is the same man), and a mention of a blacksmith named DeWitt in the early 1900's.
Beyond the shoreline of Scotland, I know nothing more. There is nothing to indicate exactly where John came from. I have no idea how to connect the dots to the John who ended up in Germany and then Canada.
My Dad, "Charlie Kerr" had just been elected Reeve of North Burgess Township in November of 1994, and he passed away quite suddenly in March of 1995. I wish I had started this project while he was still alive, as he could fill me in on a lot of this information. Unfortunately, I kept putting it off. Coincidentally, I found out that the motto of the Kerr Clan is "Late, but in earnest"!
I would appreciate any information you can provide for me, or any tips you can give me as to areas in which I would find good reliable information.