"sero sed serio"

"late but serious"

A number of families with the surname Carr would settle in Virginia in the eighteenth century. The presence of families with the name Carr have been documented in the Gloucester-Middlesex-Mathews Peninsula area of Virginia. Carrs were also present in Alexandria and Northern Virginia, Central Virginia and Southwestern Virginia prior to the Revolutionary War. Among the Carr’s that settled in Virginia in the 1700's were the predecesors of George Miller Carr (1822 Alabama). It is believed that George's parents were born in Virginia around 1773 or 1774. Thus, it was most likely George's grandfather that originally stepped off the boat that brought him across the Atlantic.

In Colonial times, the term Scots-Irish was used to describe someone of Scottish descent that had immigrated to America from Ireland. Essentially, this means that someone of Scottish descent migrated from Scotland to Ireland and then migrated to America. It may also mean that the original Scottish immigrant in Ireland was several generations earlier than the generation that migrated to America. None-the-less, they were of Scottish origin.

Although some of the Kerr/Carr ancestors were Catholics, the vast majority were Protestant and comprised a portion of the Protestant faction in Northern Ireland.

Families began migrating abroad in enormous numbers because of the political and religious discontent in England. Often faced with persecution and starvation in England, the possibilities of the New World attracted many English people. Although the ocean trips took many lives, those who did get to North America were instrumental in building the necessary groundwork for what would become for new powerful nations.

• George Carr, who landed in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1633
• Caleb Carr (1624-1695), aged 11, who arrived in America in 1635 aboard the ship Elizabeth and Anne; he rose to become the 16th Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1695
• Rich Carr, aged 29, who landed in America in 1635
• Richard Carr, aged 29, British settler who landed in New England in 1635 aboard the ship "Abigail"
• Mr. Robert Carr, (b. 1614), aged 21, British tailor travelling from London, England aboard the ship "Elizabeth and Anne" arriving in Massachusetts Bay (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire) in 1635
• Catherine Carr, who landed in Virginia in 1702
• Thomas Carr, who landed in Virginia in 1713
• John Carr, who settled in Virginia in 1716
• Conrad Carr, who arrived in North Carolina in 1764
• Michael Carr, who arrived in America in 1764

• Mark Kerr (1553-1609), of Ferniehurst, who was made 1st Earl of Lothian in 1606
• Robert Ker (1570-1650) of Cessford, who was created the 1st Earl of Roxburghe in 1616
• Robert Kerr (or Carr), 1st Earl of Ancram (c. 1578-1654)