John William Kerr

John William Kerr. . , John William Kerr emigrated from Ireland to Canada in the 1840s and settled a crown grant on the Hamilton Mountain in the 1850s. Kerr was made the first provincial fisheries overseer by royal warrant in 1864. From a telescope on the escarpment brow, he could see twenty miles in every direction. He was able to surprise illegal fishers and poachers before damage had been done. Kerr frequently came into conflict with local authorities. In 1884 he contested the Hamilton Board of Health's order to fill a local bog with ash and other refuse. The Board wanted to rid the city of the nuisance; Kerr argued that this violated the Fisheries Act because run-off from the fill would pollute the bay and harm fish populations. Although ultimately unsuccessful, this was typical of Kerr's pioneering environmental protection efforts. Kerr was succeeded as overseer by his oldest son Frederick in 1888. He continued to develop his productive mixed farm with his wife Mary Eliza Winslow and their four sons and five daughters., The Kerr's family home, Inkerman Cottage, still stands today. Built around 1855, the house is in the Ontario regency cottage style: a one storey home of tall proportions, often stuccoed, with tall chimneys and casement windows. It is an unusual, and a possibly unique variation on the style because of its asymmetrical L-shaped plan, corresponding roof form, and large wall-mounted brackets supporting the flared eaves.