Leona Berry Daughter Of Alexander Howard Berry

ANCESTORS
  1. Generation Robert and Mary Williamson Berry. Princess Anne County, Virginia.
  2. Generation Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry, Orange County, North Carolina.
  3. Generation  Robert Jr and Mary Waggoner Berry. NC and Fayette County, Alabama.
  4. Generation  George and Susan Berry Generation 4 John and Mary Howell Berry
  5. Generation  Alexander Howard and Josephine Gregory Berry, Texas
LEONA BERRY was born on November 19,1894 in Indian Territory. Leona Berry married Ben Summers Jan 4 1911. He died in the 1917 flu epidemic in Colorado. The family heard there was work in Colorado so the A.H. Berrys, the Willie Berrys with son Alec, daughter Hettie and a second son, Willie Howell Jr., born June 2,1917, the Ben Summers family with three children, Newborn, born 1913, J.C., born 1915 and Maggie born 1917, the Hal Johnsons and seven children, Myrtle, Edith, Lula, Matthew, Albert, WillEtta, and Leola,and the C.L. Johnsons all loaded into covered wagons and went to Pueblo, Colorado. When they arrived at Pueblo,the Hal Johnson,and Ben Summers families loaded their belongings into boxcars and continued on to Rifles Colorado. A.H. Berry was not well and decided to continue on in the wagons. He was accompanied by the Willie Berry family, The C.L. Johnson family stayed in Pueblo. Rifle was across the mountains from Pueblo and when A.H. and his group reached Salida, Colorado the altitude was too high and he could not breathe. They backed the wheels of the wagons into the river to turn around as the road was too narrow, and returned to Pueblo. When they arrived there was a message waiting for Willie from Hal Johnson asking them to wait as they were returning on the same train they had gone on. They had unloaded nothing but the horses, After they returned to Pueblo the group found jobs and went to work. In a few months A.H. became homesick and wanted to return to Texas. The A.H. Berrys and the Willie Berrys did so at that time, August 1918, but the Johnsons and Summers families did not return with them. Those who stayed in Colorado all came down with the influenza and Ben Summers died. So many people were dying that it was almost a week before he could be buried in Pueblo. A few months after Ben Summers death, Hal Johnson and his family and Leona (Onie) Berry Summers and her children loaded their livestock and belongings into a boxcar and rode the train back to O'Donnell. That was December 1918. When they returned to Texas they again settled in Borden County. Leona and her three children moved into the house with her parents. On November 27, 1920 Leona (Onie) Summers married Montgomery (Dick) Simpson in Tahoka, Texas.View Large Image of Leona (Onie) Summers and Dick Simmons Marriag License They continued to live on the Berry place, View Leona and Montogomery Simpsons Picture on their 50th Wedding Anniversary 1970

Willie Berry and his family moved to Amherst, Texas in 1924, Hal Johnson moved his family there in 1925. A.H. Berry died in 1926 while visiting his son, Willie and is buried there. Griff Berry and his wife Minnie (Suits), separated. The children were left with their grandmother, Mrs. Henry Suits, until 1932 when they joined their father in Amherst, Griff Berry died July 29, 1952 and is buried in Amherst. Josephine (Gregory) Berry was bitten twice by a diamond-back rattle snake while picking wild plums near Pampa, Texas. She died the next morning, July 9, 1930 and is buried beside her husband in the Amherst Cemetary. (this is taken from some of my mother’s writings..) J.F.

  • CHILDREN
  • Jack Newborn Summers b: Dec. 17, 1913 Borden Texas d:Oct. 16, 1983 Texas
  • J. C. Summers b:Jul. 27 1915 Borden Texas d: Oct 1934 Texas.
  • Maggie Blanch Summers b: Sept 22 1917 Borden Texas
  • Living male Simpson.
  • Betty Jo Simpson b. 1 May 1926 Borden Cty., TX d. 9 April 2001 Austin, Tx.
  • Mona Lee Simpson b:2Sept 21 1929 Berry Flat Borden Texas d: Aug 1973
  • Living male Simpson.
  • Living female Simpson.

Leona Berry Summers was married twice Her second marriage was to Dick Simpson

August 13, 2009

CENSUS INFORMATION
“ Leona (onie) Berry was recorded in every one of her fathers census except the 1900 Census ”
  • Alexander H. Berry listed in the Texas 1880 Census
  • Alexander H. Berry listed in Oklahoma in the 1900 Census
  • Alexander H. Berry listed in the Texas 1910 Census
  • Leona Berry was living in the home of her father Alexander H. Berry in the Texas 1920 Census
  • Leona Berry was living in Borden County in the Texas 1930 Census