Generation 3 Mary Berry

Book Chapter: Read the full story in Chapter 3: Mary Berry from Our Berrys in Frontier America

The Story of Mary Berry#

Mary Berry was probably born around 1758 and was the first child of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry. During the early years of Mary’s life, her parents were building the plantation in Orange County, North Carolina, and life was generally happy and good. There were several other young families in the area, all having children and building their own homesteads. Social events consisted of barn raisings, hog killings, and quilting parties.

Mary was thirteen years old when Governor Tryon crushed the political unrest in the area with the Battle of Alamance in 1771, ending the Regulator movement. She was seventeen in 1775 when the American Revolution began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

Marriage to George Waggoner#

Mary probably married George Waggoner around 1776, the same year the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Revolutionary War was being fought across the south, and conditions were becoming uncertain and difficult. As the war came closer to Orange County, Mary’s husband and father both became involved by joining the North Carolina Continental Army.

On March 15, 1781, the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought, and George was severely wounded. Two weeks later, on April 2, 1781, George Waggoner wrote his will. He appointed his wife Mary and his father-in-law Robert Berry as executors, and mentioned his two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann.

Waggoner estate records, Orange County, North Carolina

Note: The information about George Waggoner’s involvement in the Revolutionary War is speculative, but based on the facts that Robert Berry is known to have been in the North Carolina Continental Army in 1781, the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought on March 15, 1781, and George Waggoner wrote his will two weeks later on April 2, 1781.

Marriage to James Camp#

When the inventory of George Waggoner’s estate was recorded in February 1782, Mary signed her name as Mary Kemp — meaning she had already remarried. Mary apparently married James Kemp/Camp sometime between April 1781 and early 1782. The will was registered or probated in August 1781.

Mary and James Camp had five children together, all born in North Carolina. James Camp’s sister was Annie Naomi Camp, who married John Hill about 1782. Their parents were Thomas Camp and Winifred Starling.

Move South and Death#

According to an affidavit written by Annie Naomi Camp Hill, James and Mary Berry Camp moved from Rutherford County, North Carolina, to South Carolina the day after their son Starling Camp was born on October 22, 1793 — a journey of about 70 miles. This move may have caused Mary’s death from complications of the birth.

James Camp listed himself in the 1800 Laurens County, South Carolina census with two males under 10, two males under 16, and a female under 16 — but no wife. Mary Berry Camp died between 1793 and 1800. In her father Robert Berry’s will, written in 1812, he listed his daughter Mary as deceased and left her five pounds.

Tombstone of Annie Naomi Camp Hill, James Camp's sister, whose affidavit documented Mary Berry Camp's children

The Power of Attorney#

Mary Berry Camp’s children drew up a power of attorney in 1815 to try to claim their mother’s inheritance from Robert Berry’s estate. Joseph Camp, living in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, drafted the document for his siblings, who were then living in Jackson County, Georgia.

Joseph Camp delivered the Power of Attorney to Uncle Henry Berry in Orange County, NC, 1816. Thomas Rountree, witness.

The affidavit and the power of attorney prove that Mary Berry Camp is the daughter of Robert Berry from Orange County, North Carolina. This was also stated in Robert Berry’s will in 1812.

Children of Mary Berry

Mary had seven children across her two marriages. All were born in North Carolina.

First Marriage — George Waggoner (c. 1776):

1. 1. Elizabeth Waggoner
   Born c. 1778, Orange County, NC
   Named in George Waggoner's will (1781). No further information has been found about her life after her father's death.
2. 2. Ann Waggoner
   Born c. 1780, Orange County, NC
   Named in George Waggoner's will (1781). No further information has been found.

Second Marriage — James Camp (c. 1781–1782):

1. 3. John Camp
   Born c. 1784, North Carolina
   Signed the power of attorney in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1815. Married Winifred Mattox.
2. 4. Sarah Camp
   Born November 9, 1785, North Carolina
   Married Shadrack Humphries. Shadrack signed the power of attorney on her behalf in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1815.
3. 5. Robert Berry Camp
   Born c. 1787, North Carolina
   Named after his grandfather Robert Berry. Married D. Gillea Bailey in 1813. Signed the power of attorney in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1815. Later found in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
4. 6. Starling Camp
   Born October 22, 1793, Rutherford County, NC
   The youngest child. His mother Mary Berry Camp and father James Camp moved to South Carolina the day after his birth. Signed the power of attorney in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1815.
5. 7. Joseph Camp
   Born c. 1795, Rutherford County, NC
   The attorney who drafted the power of attorney for his siblings in 1815. Living in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, at the time. Married Elizabeth.

Some Camp marriages: Barton, Thomas Camp married Lucinda on June 8, 1845, in Floyd County, Georgia. Camp, Hosea M. Goodwin married Elizabeth Jane on July 30, 1844. Camp, Seaborn married Parish Sessiller on October 21, 1854, in Fayette County, Georgia.

Census Records

• 1790 — James Kemp listed in Rutherford County, North Carolina
• 1800 — James Camp listed in Laurens County, South Carolina. The oldest female in the household was 10–15 years of age — Mary Berry Camp was already deceased.
• No census found for James Camp in 1820 or 1830

Key Documents

• Camp children’s Power of Attorney, 1815 — Joseph Camp drafted for siblings in Jackson County, Georgia
• George Waggoner’s will, April 2, 1781 — Names daughters Elizabeth and Ann, appoints Mary and Robert Berry as executors
• Annie Naomi Camp Hill’s affidavit — Documents all five Camp children and Mary’s death