John Bozman Kerr

Who was John Bozman Kerr?

John Bozman Kerr was a U.S. Congressman, representing the sixth district of the state of Maryland from 1849 until 1851.

Kerr was born in Easton, Maryland, and attended the common schools and Easton Academy. He graduated from Harvard University in 1830, studied law further, and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Easton in 1833. He served as a member of the State house of delegates from 1836 until 1838, and later as deputy attorney general for Talbot County from 1845 until 1848.

Kerr was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1849 until March 3, 1851, and was not a candidate for renomination in 1850. He was appointed by President Millard Fillmore Chargé d'Affaires to Nicaragua on March 7, 1851, and served until July 27, 1853. Kerr resumed the practice of law in Baltimore and St. Michaels, Maryland in 1854.

Kerr was appointed one of the solicitors in the Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., and served from February 8, 1864 to June 25, 1868 when the position was abolished. He served as solicitor in the office of the Sixth Auditor of the Treasury Department from November 6, 1869, until his death in Washington, D.C..