Coming with his family to Peoria County, Illinois, Kerr studied law but enlisted in the Union Army before getting the chance to practice.
The son of a prominent lawyer, Kerr studied at home and worked occasionally as a youth.
Kerr traded and shipped livestock in Elmwood, then moved to nearby Peoria to study law.
Kerr was admitted to the bar around 1861, then almost immediately enlisted in the 11th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry of the Union Army.
An infection quickly spread and he died at the house of the Mayor of Peoria on October 31, 1873.