|
William Jasper Kerr by LaRae Fonnesbeck August 1970
The information in this history has been taken from family records and a newspaper article published in Portland, Oregon April 17, 1947.
William Jasper Kerr was born in Richmond, Utah November 17, 1863. He was the second son of Nancy Jane and Robert Marion Kerr who were among the first five families to come as pioneers to that area. His first home was a log cabin with a dirt floor and dirt roof built near a fort for protection.
His mother had come across the plains to Utah from Hancock, Illinois where she was born to Mormon pioneer emigrants who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley with a group of fifty wagons on October 12, 1848. She was Nancy Jane Rawlins, the daughter of Joseph and Mary Frost Rawlins. Her parents lived in Draper, Utah at the time of her marriage to Robert Marion Kerr who was also a convert to the Mormon Church and had come from Iowa, traveled to California and Australia before returning to California and then coming to Utah. After Robert Marion’s arrival in Draper, Utah, he was employed by Nancy Jane's father who was Bishop in that community.
Nancy Jane and Robert Marion Kerr were married on January 1, 1860. They moved to Cache Valley, Utah in the spring. William Jasper’s father helped guard against hostile Indians, built bridges, roads and the homes in which his family lived. He also assumed many civic responsibilities and church duties that were an essential part of establishing a new community while caring for his family.
William Jasper’s mother skillfully performed the many tasks of a pioneer mother that she had learned from her own pioneer mother, such as spinning, carding, dyeing and weaving the wool from the sheep. The sewing for the family was done by hand. Even the shoes were homemade at that time. Cooking was done over an open fireplace with kettles suspended on cranes, and Dutch ovens where hot coals were placed underneath and on the lids for baking. She was an excellent homemaker under the most difficult circumstances, and provided well for the family. Nancy Jane became the mother of nine children, two of whom died in childhood.
Will1am's parents built a two-story, brick home about two miles south of Richmond in 1874 when he was eleven years old. Their farm was in a beautiful area on the foothills east of the valley. Natural ice cold springs provided fresh water. His father boxed in one of these springs and piped running water into their home where he had built a drain for it. This was the first home in that area to have such a convenience. He also laid the first wooden floor in Richmond in their home. Fresh cold water from the springs also ran through a brick cellar and kept their milk and other food cool. The family worked side by side to plant a fine orchard and garden. There were green meadows for the cows to graze. His father also owned acres of sugar cane which supplied them with molasses. Corn was also plentiful. This was a hospitable, gracious home where the young people in the area enjoyed gathering for happy occasions. A family melodian was available for singing and square dancing.
The children were taught to assume responsibility. When William was 14 years old and his brother 16 their father accepted an assignment by his church leaders to go to Texas as a missionary. His mother was expecting another baby in a few months. The boys planted the crops and took over the many tasks of caring for their mother and doing the farm work. When the crops were planted his older brother left for Montana to work on the railroad until harvest time.
Although his parents had little formal education, they were very appreciative of the value of education, and made available to their children the finest in literature, scriptures, and educational opportunities possible at that time.
It was necessary for the children to walk about two miles to attend school. The winters were very cold, and the snow and mud made getting there extremely difficult at times. Their mother knit them warm woolen stockings, caps and mittens to protect them and to encouraged them to go to school regardless of the weather. They were taught and expected to make the most of every opportunity to learn and to do their beat to achieve. This background and inspiration started William Jasper Kerr toward a life of great achievement and service in the field of education.
In 1885 William obtained an A.B. degree from the University of Utah. During his attendance there he was privileged to live with his mother's brother, Joseph Lafayette Rawlins who was a prominent lawyer in Salt Lake City and had taught at the University before obtaining his legal training. Joseph L. Rawlins was very influential in political circles, serving as the first senator from Utah to serve in the United States Senate after the admission of Utah to the Union as a state. Senator Rawlins was very helpful in gaining statehood for Utah, and in sponsoring legislation that brought progressive changes to the state and nation. He was helpful and influential in William's life as he planned his career. His earliest vocational plans were for a law career, and this led him to turn down an appointment to West Point.
Following his graduation from the University of Utah on July 17, 1885, he was married to Leonora Hamilton. They became the parents of six children: Horace, Vesta, Leonora. Lynette, Genevieve and Robert Marion.
During the early years of their marriage, they went east where William did graduate work at Cornell University. In 1887 and 1895 he was a delegate to Utah' s Constitutional Convention. When he was 21 years old, he was manager of a mercantile firm, but was persuaded to teach school in Smithfield, Utah. Within two years he was City Superintendent. From there he went to Brigham Young University to serve five years as instructor in Physiology, Physics and Mathematics. The next rung on the ladder of Dr. Kerr's ascent in educational leadership was professorship in mathematics and astronomy at the University of Utah. In 1894 he became president of Brigham Young University. He was then 30 years old.
In 1900 he was elected president of Utah State Agricultural College and remained until 1907. From there he was named president of Oregon State College where he served for 25 years. He was the first chancellor of the Oregon State system of higher education during the years from 1932 until his retirement in 1935. In 1938 he became Chancellor Emeritus. For 32 years he was president of land grant colleges and in 1911 served as president of the Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities.
When Dr. Kerr became head of Oregon State College, it had only777 students and 32 faculty members. Under his leadership it grew to the front rank among land grant colleges and increased in size several times. His interest in Oregon's entire educational system led him to encourage standardization of high schools, thus making possible higher entrance standards at OSC and University of Oregon. He stressed co operation among educational institutions and creation of a state board of higher curricula which served to eliminate unnecessary duplication
He held membership in the National Education Association, the National Council of Education, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the National Economic League, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Oregon Social Hygiene Society and the Oregon Tuberculosis Association.
He was a member of the Utah State Board of Education from 1900 to 1907 and of numerous civic groups. including Chambers of Commerce of Corvallis and Portland. He was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi, social fraternity, and Phi Kappa Phi, national scholastic honor society. He belonged to Rotary, Elks Lodge, and was a 33d degree Mason. He was also a Shiner, and in 1920 21 was Grand Master of the Scottish Rite Masons and a member of the Grand Council Order of DeMolay.
On October 27, 1968 a new library was dedicated in his honor and memory at the Oregon State College. A citation was published at that time stating:
"William Jasper Kerr (1863 1947), President of Oregon State University for a quarter of a century (1907 32) during the institution's growth and development from a locally oriented institution to a nationally recognized Land Grant college. Chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education during the first three years of its difficult beginnings. One of the great national educational statesmen and educational administrators of his era . . . .
Poised, resourceful, able executive, respected and revered by faculty, students, and alumni . . . Widely recognized for his high personal character, integrity, fine sense of honor, his passion for the facts, and his view that ‘poise is power.’ Vigorous exponent of the ideals of the Land-Grant College.”
William Jasper Kerr died at his home, 1633 N. E. Knott Street April 15, 1947. |