Good Deed for the Week: David Kerr Takes Care of Mom

Occasionally I like to highlight items of interest I have found in deed books. Today, I present the following good deed:

Warranty Deed

David Kerr to his mother, Nancy Kerr

43 acres on the west side of Rutherford Creek

Maury County, Tennessee

Executed March 17, 1820

Recorded February 24, 1823 in Deed Book K, page 97

Register's Office of Maury County, Tennessee

Deed from David Kerr to his mother Nancy Kerr
Source: FamilySearch

In the spring of 1820, my 4x-great-grandfather David Kerr gave 43 acres of land to his mother, my 5x-great-grandmother Nancy Kerr. That day he also did me a big genealogical favor, because he specifically identified Nancy as his mother in the deed.

The documents I have about Nancy's life could fit on just two or three sheets of paper. Like most women of her era, she left behind a very thin paper trail. I know her husband James died in 1818, and I also have good reason to suspect that he loved her very much.

The reason I think this is that James left almost the entirety of his estate to Nancy with no restrictions or disclaimers. Specifically, he left his "dear and loving wife" the right to remain on his land for her natural life, in addition to a black mare, a saddle and bridle, two milk cows, four head of sheep, half of the hogs, and "one good feather Bed and bed stead and good furniture," a cherry table, all of his chests and trunks, all of the cooking vessels, a cotton wheel and cards, a flax wheel, and a weaving loom with all of its stays and harness, in addition to "all the feathered fouls of every kind." This catalog comprised the bulk of his estate, which he left to her for "her support and comfort until her last expiring breath." 

Although it's hard for modern readers to see great love in a catalog of farm implements and livestock, what James didn't do was limit how his widow could use these things. In a time when many men left their widows a portion of their estate until she either died or remarried, James left it to his widow with no qualifiers. I think he truly cared about providing for her, even after he passed away.

Page one of James Kerr's will

Page two of James Kerr's will

Perhaps it was love that caused him to omit any mention of future marriages. But perhaps he felt free to do this because, while Nancy had the right to remain in the house and on the land for the rest of her life, the title to the land actually went to his son David, ensuring that no greedy second husband would hone in on the inheritance James left to his sons and daughters.

Two years later, it seems that Nancy may have been ready to move. 

David gave "Nancy Kerr his mother" 43 acres, including the "building and spring where Hugh Magill did live." 

It's possible that David was starting a family of his own at the time and needed the extra space. His son James Porter Kerr, probably his oldest, was born around 1822, and a marriage record exists for David Kerr and Sarah Guthrie in the autumn of 1819, albeit inexplicably seventy miles and three counties away. 

The deed from David to his mom Nancy was witnessed by Richard Hill, Samuel Kerr, and John Odil. Samuel Kerr was David's brother and co-executor of his father's will. John Odil was David's brother-in-law; he married David's sister Mary (who was given $3 in James's will). 

Nancy fades from history after this deed was recorded. David went on to have at least six children with Sarah, and died sometime around 1871, at the age of about 74. 

We don't know for sure, but we can assume that Nancy took all of the "feathered fouls" with her when she moved.