John Ker (c.1715–1781) was a Scottish minister who served as

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

in 1776.

Life

He was born in the manse in

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh () is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. T ...

around 1715. He studied divinity at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and was licensed by the Presbytery of Kelso in November 1739.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; by Hew Scott He was ordained as minister of

Kettins Kettins is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland about northeast of Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous ci ...

in February 1744. In March 1745 he translated to

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

Parish Church covering the parishes of Forfar and Restenneth. He was minister there for 36 years. In 1761

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Aberdonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Univer ...

awarded him an honorary

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

. The University made him a Doctor of Medicine in the same year. In 1776 he succeeded the David Shaw as

the highest position in the Scottish Church. He was succeeded in turn by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. He died at Forfar manse on 15 December 1781.

Family

In 1746 he married Agnes Burton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ker, John 1781 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Year of birth uncertain