Are you a left handed KERR or CARR?
January 22, 2009 by Luxegen Genealogy and Family History
Filed under Scotland, genealogy
“But the Kerrs were aye the deadliest foes
That e’er to Englishmen were known
For they were all bred lefthanded men
And Fence against them there was none.”
This left handedness may stem back to a time of border wars between Scotland and England and to an individual named Andrew Kerr. Andrew was naturally left handed and found that he had an advantage in fighting with the sword. And in particular he could fight better when he was going down spiral staircases that went one way rather than the other.
He had a whole family of little Kerrs all of whom were left handed and they defeated all their enemies and they built castles galore all of which had left handed spiral stair cases rather than right handed spiral staircases.
Or so the story goes….
In fact there is a Kerr castle in Scotland still standing that has a left handed spiral staircase.
But is there anything to this KERR left handedness?
In 1993 a paper was published in the British Journal of Psychology entitled “The Handedness of the Kerrs and the Carrs” by Duncan Shaw and I.C. McManus. I corresponded with Dr. McManus in the UK and got a copy of his paper. Their results showed there was no evidence found for an increased incidence of left-handedness in Kerrs and Carrs.
So that’s that…it makes a good story…
That leads to another question. How many of us KERR descendents are ambidextrous (equally skilled with each hand dependent on the task)?
I am and my siblings and several of my cousins are.
Maybe there is more to this story of KERR left handedness than we thought!
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Related KERR/CARR posts: Serendipity DNA
I’m not left handed, but my grandad is, my dad and one of his two sisters is, my brother is and one of my two nephews is. We’re all Irish Kerrs, though.
What part of Ireland are your KERRS from? My Kerrs are from Ireland as well but we haven’t found the specific location yet.
I am not left handed but my son is and my grandson and a nephew. My Kerrs were originally from Scotland but went to Ireland. I have found records from Keady, Ireland in the County of Armagh. I would like to trace them back to Scotland but cannot get any records. I think they might have been from Pebbleshire in Scotland. My great grand father who I believe went to Ireland from Scotland was Robert Kerr. Anyone have anything that would help I would love to hear from you
I, my brother and son are all ambidextrous, very few people we know are the same, we carry out tasks with whichever hand we happen to be using. When playing snooker or darts we switch hands without feeling any disadvantage. We also all kick a football with our left foot and struggle with our right foot.
I am a Carr and I am ambidextrous, I can do just as well with either hand.
I am a left-handed Kerr. I think my 4 month old son is going to be aswell
My great great great grandmother was Hannah Carr of NE England who married Richard Coxon of Alnwick in 1856. My grandfather Richard Coxon was left handed but had it belted out of him at primary school around 1906. Im left handed and so was my brother. No other sides of the family are left handed.
Melanie,
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Cheers,
Joan
My son is left-handed, but the vast majority of us Kerrs are right-handed. It is said that in our family, left-handedness was “trained” out of us due to rifles being made mostly for right-handedness.
We have a left handed daughter but most of us are right handed too. Thanks for your comment.
Joan
My brother and i are left handed, as was my grandfather. I am in fact bi-dexterous, eg, I write left but use tools right; I shoot a bow left but a gun right, ect. My father shared this trait but wrote right
Hi Robert,
It seems a lot of us Kerrs are bi-dexterous. I write with my right hand, shovel snow and do other chores with the left.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
–Joan
My daughter Melanie Kerr 19yrs old is left handed….No one is left handed on my wifes side so she is has to be a Kerr.
Hi Cuz Fred,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I didn’t know your daughter was left handed. We have a left handed daughter too.
–Joan
My grandmother was a Kerr. I’m left-handed. One of my brothers is left-handed, as is one of his sons. Another of my brothers and two of my nephews are both ambidextrous. That’s 43% of her direct descendants. Considering only 7-10% of the general population are left-handed, you might be on to something.
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Thanks for the comment, Crista and for visiting my genealogy blog.
cheers
~~Joan
Amazing!!! I write right handed but am comfortable doing most tasks with either hand. My son is a left handed writer, plays baseball left handed but is a right handed archer as well as shooting rifle and playing other sports right handed. He also boxes from both sides with equal power and skill… My brother is truley ambidextrous and can do all right handed functions with his left naturally. This is a source of curiosity for me.
I’ve found a lot of Kerrs and Carrs have similar ambidexterous experiences to you and your family. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
–Joan
hi my kerrs are from aghadowery co derry n ireland peter kerr married maria byrns their son,thomas kerr 1856 married to jane belltheir children joseph 1887 ,annie 1889, james 1890,william 1896,nora 1903..the family where then in belfast co antrim in 1911 .
Hi Deirdre,
Thanks for stopping by. I would love to know where in Ireland our KERRs were from. I hope you find KERR connections.
~~Joan
I am left handed and so is my dad but my brother isn’t
alot of my family is left handed aswell!
Im David Elliot Kerr, I’m right hand and it’s much stronger than my left, but i do find the I use a left hand for a few things such as Snooker, boxing and even hocker also passing the ball in rugby
also my little brother is completely left handed and left footed
hockey* not hocker :/
Hi David,
It is always interesting to hear from other Kerrs about their handedness.
Thanks for dropping by.
Joan
Hi Mari,
That is interesting. There must be something to the left-handedness…
Thanks for stopping by
Joan
Also, Gayle Ballard is a lefty, but I keep thinking that Jasmine is left-handed.
My Carr ancestry is pretty far back, but a large part of my family are leftys – I’d say about 40% of us from that lineage.
Hi Joanna,
That is interesting that there are lots of leftys in the family. Maybe it is time to do another scientific study of Kerrs and Carrs and left handedness.
Thanks for visiting.
Joan
My mother was a Carr and I am left handed. They tried to break me so like a lot of others, I use both hands. And it depends on the situation and the tools I am using (scissors drive me crazy).
Hi Karen,
Thank you for taking the time to comment. It seems there is more to the left handedness in Carrs and Kerrs. I can imagine scissors would be hard. Our daughter is left handed.
Joan
I never really thought about how big of a difference being right or left-handed would make on stairs. It’s funny how little things like that can be such a big difference. Very insightful.
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Ask your ophthalmologist which side of your vision is dominant. I was denied left handedness and grew up thinking I’m right handed. I remember at summer camp an astute archery teacher giving me a left handed bow. Turns out I’m left eye dominant. Bulls eye, grandpa! I’m an Andrew Kerr descendant.
Hi Karen,
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing that. The Kerrs/Carrs reading this will be very interested.
Cheers,
Joan
Grandfather & mother are both left-handed Kerrs. Never heard about this until now. Very interesting.
I am left-handed but find that the few times I went bowling, had much more success with my right hand. My father, John George Kerr was left-handed too. However, when he was in school, he was made to write with his right hand. He finally adjusted to printing with his right hand and writing with his left hand. We had 5 children in our family…3 of my sisters all looked like my mother and were right-handed, my brother was right-handed. I look like my father and am left-handed. My husband, James Michael Callanan is also left-handed.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for stopping by the blog to comment!
–Joan
Hi Sandra,
Interesting! Do you have children and if so are they left handed?
Thanks for stopping by to comment.
–Joan
I’m a granddaughter of a Kerr through the maternal line. My Mother is left handed as is my daughter. We passed Ferniehurst on Saturday but sadly it was cloded. My daughter has always wondered why she was left handed so would hav been thrilled to see the staircase!