Thomas Person Berry was born on June 1, 1808, in Orange County, North Carolina. His uncle Thomas and his father were searching for land in Tennessee when he was born. William may never have seen his baby son. Hannah and William had two other young sons. William Clarence Berry was born 17 Oct 1803 and Robert C Berry was born 14 Apr 1805. These three boys were all the children Hannah and William ever had.
In the 1810 Orange County, North Carolina, Census, Hannah Cate Berry listed as head of household. Hannah’s sister was living with her and children from both families were listed in this census also. Thomas and Sarah had a son, David II Berry who was age 8 and a daughter Eleanor Berry age 9. Thomas Person Berry was age 2 years. Hannah Berry was listed on the farm joining her Father in Law Robert Berry in 1810. There were several important changes made in Hannah Cate Berry’s and her sister Sarah Cate Berry’s lives around the time the 1810 census was taken.
Thomas Person Berry’s Bible
Hannah must have learned that William was not planning to return home because in 1812 she had a daughter Elisabeth Berry by an identified John Berry (per Thomas Person Berry’s Bible). Thomas Berry apparently returned home to retrieve his family and take them to Tennessee. After arriving at their new home in Tennessee, Thomas was killed by Indians and his wife was in their new cabin with two pre-teenage children. She was married again in December of 1815 to John Pigg. We also have proof that Thomas was already dead in April 1812 because that is when his Father wrote his will and noted that his son Thomas was deceased.
I know that Hannah remained in Orange County and all of her children were planning to remain in North Carolina also. Two of William Berry’s brothers with all of their families left home shortly after Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry died and Henry Berry inherited Fiddleton. William Clarence Berry married Sally Bowles on the 20th of November 1826. William Clarence and his brother Thomas Person Berry bought 100 acres of land from Uncle Henry Berry on November 23rd 1830 for $500. (Orange County Deed Book 24 Page 226) Thomas Person Berry married Sarah Lunsford on the 28th September 1831. William and Sally Bowles Berry had a son born on the 28th February 1829.
Theodrick Franklin marriage bond
Elizabeth Berry, the three boys’ half sister, married Theodrick Franklin on the 30th of June 1832. Thomas Person Berry and William Bowles signed their marriage bond. William Bowles was Sally Bowles Berry’s father. William and Sally Bowles Berry’s second baby was a little girl, Elizabeth Jane Berry was born on the 30th of June 1832, and Elizabeth Berry and Theodrick Franklin’s first baby, Temperance Jane Franklin, was born on the 5th of October 1832. Everything that was known at this time points to fact that Hannah Cate Berry’s children were planning on staying in North Carolina.
What happened next changed all of the plans that Hannah Cate Berry’s children had been making. In May 1833 Roann Frances Berry was born to William Clarence and Sally Bowles Berry. Sometime after Roann was born her mother died in 1833, most likely from complications of childbirth. On the 14th day of September 1833 William and Thomas Person Berry sold their 100 acres of land to Samuel and Felix Wilson for $450. (Orange County Deed Book 25 Page 431). William and Thomas Person Berry’s brother, Robert C. Berry, was a witness to the land transaction. William Clarence Berry and Robert C Berry settled in Fayette County, Alabama. Elizabeth Berry Franklin and Theodrick Franklin’s second child, Henry Berry Franklin, was born in Alabama in 1835.
Even though Thomas Person Berry and Sarah were married in 1831, their first son was born in Orange County, North Carolina, in 1836. I think that Hannah Cate Berry, Thomas Person, and Sarah Lunsford Berry went to Fayette County, Alabama, with the intention of locating there permanently. I have no idea why they decided to return to North Carolina, but apparently they made this decision. The Franklins went back toward North Carolina as far as Floyd County, Georgia, where their child was born in 1837. The Franklins lived in Floyd County, Georgia, until Theodrick died in 1858.
William Clarence Berry married for the second time in Fayette County, Alabama, in 1836. Their first child was born in July 1838. Robert C. Berry married for the first time in Fayette County, Alabama, around 1838 because their first child was born in 1840.
I cannot be sure where Thomas Person and Sarah Berry were living in 1833 to 1835, but their first son was born in North Carolina in 1836 (refer to 1850 census). Thomas was listed in the 1840 census as Parson Berry (Person). I have found several documents where he was referred to as Person Berry. In the 1840 census there was another male listed with two children, a son and a daughter between the ages of 5 and 9. I do not know who this was, but the rest of the listing matches Thomas Person Berry’s young family.
I also know Thomas built the house pictured above in 1852. Both of Thomas’ first and second families lived in this house. My mother played in it when she was a little girl. The house was located near the west boundary of the original 1757 Robert Berry land grant.
Sarah Lunsford Berry’s headstone
Hannah Cate Berry may have died in this house in 1858. Thomas and Sarah Lunsford Berry’s oldest son William H. Berry also died in 1858. Lewis Berry and Theodrick Franklin also died in 1858. There was a world wide flu epidemic that year. After Theodrick died, Elizabeth Berry Franklin was visiting her half brother, Thomas Person Berry, in 1860 when that Orange County, North Carolina, census was taken. Elizabeth very likely returned to claim some of her mother’s estate.
After the Civil War was over Thomas and Sarah only had two sons who were living. Both sons were given land by their father before he died. Sarah Lunsford Berry died on the 27th of December 1870. Sarah was buried in the Fiddleton Plantation Cemetery where Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry and about 20 other Berry family members are buried. This cemetery was found by descendants in 2005.
Sarah Lunsford was the daughter of William and Edy Cozart Lunsford. Edy is the descendant of Jacques and Lea Villeman Cossart. Jacques was born in Leyden, Holland, in 1639.
Children of the First Marriage — Thomas Person Berry and Sarah Lunsford#
1. William H. Berry
Born 1836, Orange County, NC — Died 1858
Married Sarah Frances King on August 6, 1857. Died in the worldwide flu epidemic of 1858.
Thomas Person Berry was 62½ years old when his first wife Sarah Lunsford died. Eight months after Sarah died he married Lucy Brown who was 24 years old. She was the only daughter of Alfred and Martha Brown who lived on the next farm over from Thomas. This marriage license was a very important document to locate because Thomas Person Berry named both of his parents in it.
Children of the Second Marriage — Thomas Person Berry and Lucy Brown
1. Edna Hannah Berry
Born June 1, 1872 — Died April 3, 1929
Married Cary R. Rogers about 1896. They had 8 children, seven sons and one daughter.
2. Martha Bowers Berry
Born June 27, 1873 — Died December 29, 1939
Married James Caroway Wrenn. They had ten children, eight sons and two daughters.
3. Della Thomas Berry
Born February 8, 1877 — Died unknown
Married William Cooper Cates Sr. on May 8, 1895. They had 15 children and made their home in Person County, North Carolina. There were 9 daughters and six sons.
4. Etta E. "Emma" Berry
Born September 11, 1884 — Died unknown
Went by the name Emma. Married James Madison Clayton. They had seven children, two sons and five daughters. The family made their home in Bushy Fork, Person County, North Carolina.
5. Daniel Richmond Berry
Born December 23, 1880 — Died May 31, 1957
His mother died 16 days after he was born. Married first Ella Pucci about 1906 (5 children; Ella died October 8, 1926). Married second Maggie Turner (2 children). Buried between his two wives at Berry's Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. Daniel was John Robert Berry's half-brother.
Lucy Brown Berry died 16 days after Daniel was born, on January 8, 1881. She was only 34 years old. I feel very confident that Lucy Brown Berry died from complications of childbirth.
The five children of Thomas P. Berry and Lucy Brown were orphaned at a very early age and knew very little about how they were related to all of our Berry relatives in Orange County, North Carolina. A very interesting fact stands out in Thomas Person Berry’s two families. In his first family he had four sons and in his second family he had four girls and one son.
After Lucy Brown Berry died, Thomas Person Berry had a very big problem. He was 73 years old and had five children all under the age of 9. He apparently managed to care for the orphans himself until his own health started to fail. At that time he must have decided to marry again so there would be someone to care for his children after he could no longer do so. He married Elizabeth Peed Bowles, a widow, on December 3, 1883. Thomas Person Berry died four months later on April 30, 1884. He was 75 years and 10 months old when he died.
The orphans were placed with different families in the nearby communities and the five children had very little contact with each other while growing up. Their grandmother Martha Brown went to court to secure an inheritance for the five orphans. Thomas Person Berry had already given property to his two living sons from his first marriage. Thomas Person Berry died intestate and the remaining property had to be divided by the court.
There was a law suit entered against Thomas Person Berry’s intestate estate by Martha Brown, the five orphans’ grandmother. She stated in her suit that the two sons of the first marriage had been given property by their father and the remaining estate should be awarded to the five orphan children for their support. This trial went on for many years and the case was finally settled in the October session of Superior Court 1895. There is a microfilm reel about this case located in the North Carolina Genealogy Library at 109 East Jones Street in Raleigh, North Carolina. I bought a copy of this reel which is in my private collection and printed over two hundred pages of documents concerning this trial.
Edna Hannah Berry Rogers and family (click for full document)
Edna Hannah Berry was the oldest daughter of Thomas P. and Lucy Brown Berry. Edna was given her grandmother’s name as a middle name. Her grandmother was Hannah Cate Berry. Edna married Cary R. Rogers about 1896. Edna Hannah Berry and Cary Rogers had 8 children. They had seven sons and only one daughter.
Martha Bowers Berry Wrenn’s family (click for full document)
Thomas and Lucy Berry’s second daughter was named Martha Bowers Berry. She married James Caroway Wrenn. The middle name Caroway is also a very interesting name. As you may remember, Ann Foster Williamson married John Caraway in Princess Anne County, Virginia, about 1650. Their son John Caraway married Ann Kemp who was Robert Berry’s aunt in Princess Anne County, Virginia. I do not know if James Caroway Wrenn’s family has a connection to Anne Foster Carraway or not, but middle names are often family names. James and Martha had ten children, eight sons and two daughters.
The Clayton family (click for full document)
Emma Berry Clayton in her later years
Etta E. Berry was Thomas and Lucy’s third daughter. Etta E. Berry went by the name Emma. When she was grown she married James Madison Clayton. The couple had seven children. This couple only had two sons and the other five were daughters. In the picture on the left you only see three of their daughters and both of their sons. This family made their home in Bushy Fork, Person County, North Carolina.
Della Thomas Berry Cates family (click for full document)
Della Thomas Berry was the fourth daughter of Thomas Person Berry and Lucy Brown. She was only three years old when her mother died. She married William Cooper Cates Sr. on May 8, 1895. Cooper and Della had a total of 15 children and made their home in Person County, North Carolina. There were 9 daughters and six sons in this family. My mother visited their home many times and spent many nights with the girls. Their daughter Sally Cates was born in 1908, the same year as my mother. Their home is still standing.
Dan and Ella Pucci Berry's family (click for full document)
Daniel Richmond Berry
The fifth child of Thomas Person and Lucy Brown Berry was Daniel Richmond Berry who was born on December 23, 1880. His mother died 16 days later on January 8, 1881. The oldest child was nine years old so Thomas Person Berry had a huge problem. He solved his problem by marrying Elizabeth Peed Bowles on December 3, 1883.
Maggie Turner Berry, Daniel’s second wife
Dan Berry married Ella Pucci about 1906 and they had 5 children. Ella Pucci Berry died on October 8, 1926. Dan married second Maggie Turner and they had 2 children. Daniel Richmond Berry is buried between his two wives at Berry’s Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. Daniel Richmond Berry was my great-grandfather John Robert Berry’s half-brother. Dan Berry was known by my mother as Uncle Dan. Dan Berry died on May 31, 1957.
Hattie Audrey Berry Shull holding a picture of her grandfather Thomas Person Berry, 2012
Hattie Audrey Berry was the daughter of Daniel R. and Maggie Turner Berry. Audrey was born on February 8, 1930, and married Howard Lee Shull on October 11, 1948. She is shown here holding a picture of her grandfather Thomas Person Berry in 2012. Thomas Person Berry is my 2nd Great Grandfather. Audrey Berry Shull died on May 5, 2013.
Nancy Clayton Whitfield, Thomas Person Berry’s last surviving grandchild
Nancy Sneed Clayton was born to James Madison and Etta Emilie “Emma” Berry Clayton on January 13, 1915, in Person County, North Carolina. She married Rainey Ora Whitfield on April 6, 1947. They had three children. Nancy died on January 10, 2014. Her grandfather, Thomas Person Berry, was born on June 1, 1808. This was 206 years, 4 months, and 21 days from the time Thomas Person Berry was born until his last grandchild died. This might be a record for the Guinness Book of Records.
Thomas Person Berry is buried in the Fiddleton Cemetery in an unidentified grave. Lucy Berry’s headstone has an error engraved on it.
Lucy B. Berry’s headstone — note the inscription reads “wife of Passon Berry”
The inscription states that she was the wife of Passon Berry. My Grandfather, Wiley P. Berry, always thought his middle name was Passon. I think his middle name was chosen from his grandfather, Thomas Person Berry. General Thomas Person, for whom Person County, North Carolina, was named, also had a problem with this same mispronunciation of his surname. I suspect the Southern colloquialism was responsible for this mix up. Record keepers tended to write surnames the way they sounded. You see this a lot when you research census forms from the past.
1850 Orange County, North Carolina, Census — Thomas P. Berry household
This is a complete listing of Thomas Person and Sarah Lunsford Berry’s children:
Thomas P. Berry — born 01 Jun 1808, married 28 Sep 1831, died 30 Apr 1884
Sarah Lunsford Berry — born 25 Jul 1811, married 28 Sep 1831, died 27 Dec 1870
William H. Berry — born 1836, married Sarah Frances King 06 Aug 1857, died 1858
Willie Berry — born 1838
John Robert Berry — born 25 Sep 1842, married Elizabeth Frances Bowling 30 Nov 1865, died 10 Oct 1917
James P. Berry — born Apr 1847, married Artelia Wedding 11 Sep 1871, died 15 Feb 1912
Living on the farm listed next to Thomas P. Berry was the Thomas King family. Mary Ashley Berry King age 41 was Henry Berry’s daughter by Fanny Ashley. They were living in the old Robert Berry Plantation home that Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry raised their 10 children in. Henry Berry willed this property to his daughter in his 1855 Will. Fanny Ashley age 70 was living with her daughter and son-in-law when this 1850 census was taken. Sarah King age 12 would grow up and marry her cousin William H. Berry. After William died from the flu in 1858, Sarah married Hezekiah Terry on June 7, 1860.
1860 Orange County, North Carolina, Census — Thomas P. Berry household
In the 1860 census William H. Berry was living elsewhere and no information has been found on Willie Berry. The household consisted of the following people:
Thomas P. Berry — age 52, male
Sallie Berry — age 45, female
John Robert — age 18, male
James P. — age 15, male
Jesse Blalock — age 12, male, Laborer
Elizabeth Franklin — age 48, female
Elizabeth Berry Franklin was Thomas Person Berry’s half sister. Hannah Cate Berry, who was Thomas and Elizabeth’s mother, had died in 1858 from the flu. Elizabeth’s husband Theodrick Franklin had also died in 1858 from the flu. Hannah Cate came from a wealthy family and I am sure that Elizabeth Berry Franklin thought she had inherited some money from her mother. Thomas Person Berry was appointed administrator of his mother’s estate which, on paper, was meager. It is not known what Elizabeth Berry Franklin received from her mother’s estate. Elizabeth Franklin was trapped in Orange County when the Civil War broke out and probably rejoined her children in Texas after 1865. Jesse Blalock was the son of Sarah Lunsford Berry’s sister. Angeline Lunsford married William Blalock on December 9, 1835, and Jesse Lyse Blalock was their oldest son.
1870 Orange County, North Carolina, Census — Thomas Person Berry household
Alfred and Martha Brown lived on the farm adjoining Thomas Person Berry. They listed a daughter, Lucy Brown age 22 in 1870. (See the red arrow.) After Thomas Person Berry’s first wife, Sarah Lunsford Berry, died on December 27, 1870, he married Lucy A. Brown on August 24, 1871. Thomas and Lucy Berry had five children between 1871 and 1881. Twenty-six days after Daniel R. Berry was born on December 23, 1880, Lucy Brown Berry died on January 8, 1881. She was only 34 years old and I feel sure her death resulted from complications of childbirth.
The 1880 census form is almost unreadable, so it was necessary to list the information here.
Thomas P. Berry — age 72, male
Lucy A. Brown Berry — age 33, female
Edna H. Berry — age 8, female
Martha Berry — age 7, female
Etta E. Berry — age 6, female
Della P. Berry — age 4, female
When Lucy Brown Berry died on January 8, 1881, Thomas Person Berry was left with 5 orphans all under 8 years old. It seems likely that the children’s grandmother took care of them until Thomas married Elizabeth Peed Bowles, age 50, on December 6, 1883. Thomas died less than 5 months later on April 30, 1884. Martha Peed Brown, the orphaned children’s grandmother, challenged the property settlement in court. The trial lasted for several years and there is a huge file generated by this case in the North Carolina Genealogy Library at 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27699-4600.
The file is about 300 pages and was so large that the library made copies of the microfiche which they have available for sale. I have a copy of this microfiche that I bought for my private library. I have also printed out the file on hard copies. Martha Peed married Alfred Brown in Person County, North Carolina, on August 5, 1841. I have no idea what Martha’s relationship is to Elizabeth Peed Bowles.
