Hello again, Nita-- I was at El Paso library this am doing a long-put-off search of their newspaper microfilms for my ancestors' obits. (They have such starting Jan 7, 1888--don't know if all issues, complete). As I expected there was a large obituary for J. I. Kerr, which I have copied for you. Now the bad news. The copier on their only microfilm reader is barely functional and the copy quality is terrible. To make matters worse, the original microfilm seems to have been photographed slightly out of focus. The net result is that what I have for you is almost unreadable. If I try to scan it and email as an attachment, I'm sure it would lose the last shred of readability. Please email me privately with your snail mail address and I'll send it to you. Since the newspapers are microfilmed, it might have been done as part of IRAD's newspaper project. I think they have a link on their site that tells what they have. If they do have them, they may be able to get a better-quality copy. The issue is the El Paso Journal, Saturday, June 30, 1906. Very briefly, he died of complications following surgery in which some two hundred (!!!) gall stones were removed. I made some notes from the microfilm, since you might not be able to read the copy. He was born in St. Fergus, Aberdeen, Scotland Dec 27, 1856. He came to the US in 1866 with his parents Thomas and Susanna Kerr. The family settled first near Flanagan, IL, then moved to Gridley, IL in 1897(?--hard to read microfilm. If so, James came to the area several years before them). Thomas died Dec 27, 1905 and Susanna Jan 30, 1905. James ran a drugstore in Gridley until 1880, when he moved to El Paso and went into the insurance and loan business. He apparently became a prominent and respected businessman. He served as mayor of El Paso for several years, resigning during his third term shortly before his death. El Paso's beloved (by some of us, at least) brick sidewalks, which are now being torn up due to deterioration and safety concerns (but the bricks preserved as accents in the city's landscaping projects) are mentioned as one of his initiatives. He married Harriet M. Hartley of El Paso Mar 2, 1877. They had two sons, J. Hartley Kerr, who would turn 19 in the fall of 1906, and Courtney V. Kerr, who would be 8 that fall. He was also survived by five sisters, Mrs. C.R. Bamber, Eureka; Mrs. B. A. Cotton, Yorkville; Mrs. M. E. Bamber, Flanagan; Mrs, A. T. Kent and Mrs. James Andrews, Gridley. Now, quite coincidentally, I was at the Gridley cemetery yesterday evening looking for my great-grandparent Gibbs' graves, and I chanced to see the graves of Thomas and Susanna Kerr, and jotted down their info, which was basically just names and years: Thomas Kerr 1825--1905 Susanna Kerr 1829--1905 Also in this plot were: Harriet Bamber 1897--1969 Margaret Ann Bamber 1859--1931. The plot consisted of a large, brown head stone with the name "Kerr" and four small footmarkers in the same stone with the individuals names and dates. It's along the east road inside the cemetery, and on the east side of the road, if I remember correctly, perhaps halfway down the road. Gridley cemetary is along the Gridley/Flanagan blacktop (east side of town), about a quarter-mile north of town. Hope this will be of some help. Sorry the quality of the copies came out so badly. Have you checked the El Paso History webpage at http://www.elpaso.net/~bank/elpasohistory/index.htm for anything about him? I found him in the table of city officials last night, but there may be more in the text sections. Dan Steffen dlsteffn@elpaso.net At 03:47 AM 2/25/00 -0800, Nita Vincent wrote: >______________________________X-Message: #1 >Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 09:31:25 -0800 >From: Nita Vincent <jevincent@plix.com> >To: ILWOODFO-L@rootsweb.com >Message-ID: <38B56AEC.833023E1@plix.com> >Subject: [ILWOODFO-L] Obiturary >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >Hi List, > Could someone tell how to obtian an obiturary in woodford County? >I'am looking for James Ironside Kerr he died 06/25 1906 also does anyone >know >if and where I might beable to obtian a death certificate also? > >Thanks for your time and help >Nita