Robert Fillmore Kerr, was the senior partner of the most important manufacturing industry in his home-village. The nucleus from which the present extensive manufacturing and milling interests of the Kerr Brothers at Hicksville sprang was formed in 1874 by Joseph D., Thomas W. and Robert Fillmore Kerr, where they began the manufacture of handles. In addition to their own labor they then employed only one man, but under careful and skillful management the business steadily and gradually increased, until it now consists of three distinct plants - one for the manufacture of agricultural implement handles, broom handles,
bicycle rims, pike and tent poles, cant-hook handles, and many other specialties, occupying two large buildings and five warehouses, the work of which gives employment to from thirty-five to fifty men. Another plant is styled the "Buckeye Furniture Company," which occupies two large buildings in which are employed from twenty-five to thirty-five men. while the third plant consists of a planing and saw mill, which gives employment to twenty men. The firm has undergone several changes in ownership since its establishment, but for the past ten years or more Robert Fillmore Kerr and his brother-in-law, E. W. Crook, have been the sole owners, though it still retains the firm name of "Kerr Brothers," under whom the business has assumed its present large proportions, and is now the pride of the village and surrounding country, and the support of many families.
The senior partner, Robert Fillmore Kerr, was born at Middletown, Holmes county, Feb. 19, 1851, and was six years of age when brought by his parents to Hicksville; here he passed his young days in attending the village schools and in assisting on his father's farm adjoining the corporation. He inherited the studious traits of the German strain in his blood, and employed much of his time in study even when going to and from work, studying over problems and orally repeating texts, with the sole object of disciplining his mind. By close application and individual effort out of school, he acquired a valuable part of his education and became one of the best read and posted men on current topics in this section of the country. Later, in the way of mental drill and of acquiring additional knowledge, he taught school near Hicksville for three winters. He also further prepared himself for usefulness in the world by becoming a member of a religious society, uniting with the Methodist Church when about sixteen years of age. Thus thoroughly equipped morally and mentally, young Kerr was prepared, when only twenty-five years of age, with his brothers to establish and direct what developed into a vast business in after years, and of which the senior member of the firm has been the controlling and directing spirit for many yeas. Although occupied continually with the many affairs of his large business, Mr. Kerr has found time to give attention to the interests of his Church, and during his thirty years' membership he has served nearly all of that period, either as trustee or class leader, and for the past fifteen years he has been the popular superintendent of its Sunday school. In politics he was a Republican until the organization of the Prohibition party, is now an uncompromising temperance advocate and has been identified with every movement for the suppression of the liquor traffic, devoting time, labor and money to that end. On Dec. 1, 1881, he was married to Amanda J. Otis, who died Apr. 21, 1885, without issue, and on Jan. 4, 1894, he was married to Elizabeth J. Banks. By this union there are two children: Robert Wendell, born Dec. 15, 1894, and Modonna Elizabeth, born July 31, 1896. In 1879-80 Mr. Kerr lived in Chicago, where he established an agency for the handling of the products of the firm's factory; with this exception he has for a period of forty years been a constant resident of Hicksville. The firm, in addition to the other large interests, owns three brick business blocks in the city and other property. Their great success may be attributed to good business judgment, industry, integrity, and energy, a happy combination possessed by the firm.
