Bio:Alvah Milton Kerr

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Alvah Milton Kerr was born in Athens, OH, on July 22, 1853, the son of Joseph and Rebecca (Sanders) Kerr. When he was six months old, his family moved to an isolated farm in Wisconsin, and shortly thereafter his father died. He grew up working on the farm, roaming the woods in his leisure time, and receiving some education from Monroe, Wisconsin, public schools. In his teens, he taught himself telegraphy, and before becoming a poet, writer, and editor, he worked as a station master and train dispatcher for twelve years. He was married twice: to Florence Ophelia (Burgess) Kerr and Harrirt [not a typo] Anne (Sinclair) Kerr, and in later life, he and his family, were heavily involved in the theosophy movement. He published adventure stories for more than thirty years (from 1888 until his death) in magazines such as Blue Book, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Monthly, McClure's, Munsey's, the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post, and The Youth's Companion. More than thirty were railroad stories. Some were science fiction. At the age of 71, he died, in Los Angeles, on September 26, 1924. (This is based on three contemporary (that is, during his lifetime) articles about him and two family tree sites. Dr. Charles G. Waugh)