Have you seen this man? Posted July 22, 2025

This ambrotype came to the Scott Family Collection with a little note identifying the man in the portrait as David White (1761-1837). David was the first of his siblings to be born in North Carolina. He is thought to have joined the North Carolina militia and was with General Gates at the battle of Camden, South Carolina in 1780.

David married Elizabeth Allen in 1799. Their daughter, Mary (Polly) White, married Samuel Kerr and went on to have four children including David White Kerr (1819-1879), Mary Kerr (1820-1828), Margaret Graham Kerr (1822-1892), and William James Kerr. After his first wife died, Samuel Kerr married Jane Currie and had six more children.

 It is unlikely that the image is of David White, as he died 17 years before the ambrotype was patented and became popular in 1854.

Could the man be Samuel Kerr? Probably not, as he was born in 1787 and died in 1852. However, I think David White Kerr, who was David White’s grandson, and Samuel Kerr’s son, is a possibility. He would have been the right age, between 35 and 45, and had the same dark hair and prominent cheekbones as his sister Margaret. 

If we can find out who this fellow was, perhaps we can figure out what happened to the buttons on his jacket.