He was born February 18, 1820, in Pennsylvania, the son of an English immigrant father and a Pennsylvania native mother. By January, 1861, he was Deputy QM Commissary Genl to Col. J. Y. Dashiell, Adj Inspector Genl, State of Texas. By September 1861, he was Deputy quartermaster commissary general, 1st division Texas State Army, in Sherman, TX, having moved there from McKinney, and before that, Waco. On January 15, 1862, he's in Austin completing his duties assigned under special order no. 18 and files all of his accounts and returns for final settlement. On March 30, 1862, he arrived at Camp Price, Smith County, selecting a site four miles NE of Tyler [later called Camp Ford] and he made arrangements to supply the Camp with temporary quarters and subsistence. "From one to two thousand have been encamped in this county for two months, their indebtedness to citizens is estimated at 100,000 dollars—the creditors at first supplied readily and at reasonable prices, expecting to get their pay in time to pay their war and State taxes—they now believe that raising the forces was unauthorized and that they will loose all that they have furnished—they have stoped [sic] supplies and forced the removal of the forces, who are now on the march to Clarksville, Red River County, where it is expected the same things will be enacted." On June 3, 1862 he is appointed post/depot quartermaster at Tyler in charge of a transportation depot just to the east of Camp Ford, known locally as Kerbeyville, and he appears in various receipts in Footnote.com as well as the correspondence of Lt. Col. Gabriel Hill of the ordnance works. I've seen his military records in Footnote.com under "John C. Kerbey" although as far as I've seen he only signs himself "J. C. Kerbey" while in the service.
In 1870 he is listed in the Travis County, TX census as a land agent with $30,000 in real estate, single. He married Mrs. M. J. Johnson, the daughter of land commissioner Stephen Crosby, in 1872, but she died the next year. On December 2, 1879 he married Maria M. Spence, also of Travis County, but by 1883 they were living in Wisconsin where their three children were born. By 1887-8 they were back in Texas, living on Congress Avenue in Austin. His two sons graduated from the University of Texas. J. C. Kerbey died on August 23, 1907, and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin with his wife, children, and a few other relatives. His younger son became a writer, editor, and traveler for National Geographic magazine. I'm waiting to hear from the family genealogist through Kerbey's great-grandson in Massachusetts.
If anyone else has run across him mentioned elsewhere, I'd love to hear about it.
Vicki Betts