JAMES M. KERR, Niles, Ohio.
James M. Kerr, one of the oldest engineers on the Mahoning Division, was born in Middletown, Pennsylvania, October 31, 1850. His father was a contractor and for twenty-five years Justice of the Peace in Niles. The young man attended school until he was 17 years of age, when having secured a good common school education, he began work on his father's farm. After two years and a half, he left home and accepted a position as a bridge carpenter on the Erie. He held this place six months, leaving it to serve as brakeman for the same company. Eight months later he changed his vocation to firing, and then followed two years' service firing freight and three years passenger. In September, 1876, he was promoted to engineer, and for a year thereafter he fired and ran extra engineer, when he was given regular work on a yard engine in the Niles yard. He held this place for five years and then was advanced to road work, running local freight between Niles and New Lisbon. He then went to Cleveland and ran an engine on through freight for a year. after which he was placed in charge of a through freight run between Niles and Leetonia, and for the past fifteen years he has held this run. Mr. Kerr's work as an engineer is of the highest class, and he consequently stands well in the estimation of the officials, while he is highly esteemed by his fellow employes. He has never had an accident since he began railroading and has never been suspended, or as he jokingly put it, "has never missed a pay car in twenty-nine years."

Mr. Kerr was married March 19, 1877, to Miss Lena Cesna, daughter of John Cesna, of Niles, and they own one of the finest homes in the city of Niles. Three sons have blessed their union, and they are boys of whom the parents are justly proud. James Burton, aged 21, is a heater in the employ of the Falcon Sheet Mill; W. Manning, aged 17, is attending business college at Warren, Ohio, and John Newton, aged 8, is attending public school in Niles. Mr. Kerr is a member of Niles Lodge, No. 352, B.P.0.E.; Niles Lodge, No. 138, K. of P., and Devereaux Lodge, No. 167, B. of L.E. He is a prominent citizen of Niles and takes great interest in the city's development and welfare.


Excerpted from: "American Locomotive Engineers, Erie Railway Edition," H.R. Romans Editor; Crawford-Adsit Company Publishers, Chicago, IL 1899.