Chapter 14#

Thomas Person Berry 1808–1884#

T.P. Berry marriage bond to Sarah Lunsford

Thomas Person Berry was the son of William Berry and Hannah Cate. He was married three times and had children by each of his first two wives. I am descended from Thomas Person Berry and his first wife, Sarah Lunsford. She is the daughter of William Lunsford and Edy Brinkley Cozart. Edy’s parents were James and Sarah Cozart. The Cozart family descended from Jacques Cossart, who was born in France. This family was the first Cozart Family to settle in America.

Thomas Person Berry and Sally Lunsford were married on September 30th, 1831, and had only been married a year when Thomas P. Berry signed his half-sister’s wedding bond. Thomas Person and Sarah Lunsford Berry are my 2nd great-grandparents. Thomas Person Berry’s marriage bond to Sarah Lunsford was signed by his uncle, Henry Berry, and Thomas Person Berry himself.

Children of Thomas Person and Sarah Lunsford Berry#

William H. Berry b.1836. died.1858

Willie Berry b.1838. died Unknown

John Robert Berry was b. Sept. 25th, 1842. died Oct 10th, 1917

James P. Berry was born April, 1845 died Feb. 15th, 1912.

Thomas and Sarah only had four boys. They were married in 1831 but did not have children until 1836, according to the 1850 census. I think it is very likely that Thomas, his wife, and his mother went to Fayette, Alabama, with his two brothers and half sister before returning to North Carolina and starting their own family.

Thomas P. and Sarah Lunsford Berry’s Children & Spouses#

• William H. Berry, b 1836, married Sarah Frances King August 6, 1857.

Sarah King was the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Polly) King. William and Sarah were first cousins once removed.

William H. Berry died during the 1857-1859 severe worldwide flu epidemics.

• Willie Berry; born 1838. He was in the 1850 & 1860 census but there is no further information about him. Willie may have died in the Civil War.

• John Robert Berry; b 1842, married Elizabeth Frances Bowling Nov. 30th, 1865.

John Robert and Elizabeth Bowling Berry are my great-grandparents.

• James P. Berry; b 1848, married Artelia Wedding Nov. 01st, 1871.

Artelia Wedding was the daughter of Joseph and Louisa Wedding.

On the 23rd day of November, 1831, Uncle Henry Berry sold 100 and 3/10 acres of land to William and Person Berry.

William Clarence Berry married Sally Bowles on November 26th, 1826. Thomas Person Berry had married Sarah Lunsford on September 28th, 1831, two months before this land was purchased. William and Thomas only retained ownership of this property for about three years. They sold the same tract of land to Samuel Wilson and his youngest son, Felix Wilson, on 19th day of September, 1833. There is a very interesting story connected with this land sale. Sixty two years after Samuel Wilson bought this piece of land from Thomas Person Berry and William Clarence Berry, Thomas Person Berry’s grandson, Wiley P. Berry, married Ida Ann Wilson, who was Samuel Wilson’s great-great-granddaughter. Wiley P. and Ida Ann Berry are my grandparents and this makes Samuel Wilson my 4th great-grandfather. We have all heard the old saying, what goes around comes around.

So Samuel Wilson was not related to Thomas Berry’s two sons when he bought this land from my grandmother’s great-grandfather, Thomas Person Berry, and his brother in 1833.

Thomas P. Berry’s Home#

Thomas P. Berry's home built in 1852

My mother told me that she used to play in this old house when she was a little girl. Mother may have known that this house was her great-grandfather’s home only 34 years before she was born, but I have no way of knowing that now. Thomas Person Berry’s 4th child by his 2nd marriage was Della Thomas Berry and she married William Cooper Cates Senior. This family had 15 children and lived only a few miles from where my grandparents lived. They had a daughter who was 1 year older than my mother, and mother said she had spent many nights in their home.

None of Thomas Person and Sarah Lunsford Berry’s 4 boys were born in this house and all 5 of the children by his 2nd wife were born here.

Thomas Person Berry’s Second Marriage#

Thomas Person Berry’s second wife was Lucy Brown (Lucy Brown was the daughter of Alfred and Martha Brown). Thomas and Lucy had five children who were very young when their mother, Lucy Brown Berry, died.

William and Hannah Cate Berry’s Children & Grandchildren#

Hannah Cate Berry's 34 Grandchildren

Thomas Person Berry's marriage license to Lucy Brown, 1871

Children of Thomas Person and Lucy Brown Berry#

Edna H. Berry born June 1st, 1872 died April 3rd, 1929

Martha Bowers Berry born June 27th, 1873 died December 29th, 1939

Etta E. Berry born Sept. 11th, 1874

Della Thomas Berry born Feb. 8th, 1877

Daniel R. Berry born Dec. 23rd, 1880 died May 31st, 1957

Thomas married his third wife, Elizabeth Peed Bowles, on December 6th, 1883. This marriage had to be one of convenience, because Thomas Person Berry needed someone to care for his five young children. Thomas Person Berry died about 5 months later on April 30th, 1884.

Thomas Person Berry’s Estate#

Thomas died intestate and there was a large court case over his estate that lasted several years. The orphans’ grandmother, Martha Brown, entered a suit against the estate to gain support for the 5 Berry orphans. She stated that the money collected for sale of the remaining Thomas Person Berry property should be used for supporting her grandchildren. Martha Brown told the court that the older sons by his first wife had already been given property and the money received from the remainder of the estate should be divided into five parts and not seven parts. She argued that the two grown sons, John Robert and James P. Berry, had already received their inheritance. The orphans eventually won the case. There was so much documentation generated by this case that the North Carolina Genealogical Library made rolls of microfilm which may be purchased. I have one of these rolls I bought for my private collection.

The marriage license for Thomas Person Berry’s second marriage had a place on the form for him to name his parents. It was this document that identified William and Hannah Berry as his parents.

This was a great find for me and opened up a verifiable line back to Robert & Elizabeth Cate Berry. This was the very first concrete proof I had that proved they were my 4th great-grandparents. There had been some confusion in some earlier research which indicated that Thomas Person Berry was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry OC and not their grandson. This confusion existed because Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry had a son named Thomas Berry. This family has been difficult to research because so many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren did have the same given names. Documents like Thomas Person Berry’s second marriage license are vitally important in sorting out our family.

The 1891 George Tate Map#

North Corner of 1891 George Tate Map showing Fiddleton

This is a section of a map that was originally drawn in 1891 by George W. Tate for the Bingham School.

I have drafted some information on this map to pin point where Robert Berry’s 1757 Granville Land Grant was located. You will note that George Tate placed the name Fiddleton on the location that corresponds with Robert Berry’s original Granville Land Grant.

The spot to the left of the name Fiddleton is where Thomas Person Berry’s home was located. He built this home in 1852. Thomas Person Berry died 7 years before this map was drawn. This house may have been vacant in 1891, and that may be the reason it was not identified as his home.

John Robert Berry’s home is located near his name on this map and his son, my grandfather, Wiley P. Berry, was age 12 and living at home with his parents when this map was done.

Wiley P. Berry built his home about where the O in Meridith P.O. is printed on this map. He built his home about the time he was married in 1895.

Hannah Cate Berry’s Estate#

Hannah Cate Berry's Estate Listing

Thomas Person Berry, William J. Gray, and Doctor C. Parrish posted bond to the state of North Carolina on the 25th day of February, 1858. The 3 men agreed to pay the state $750 if the inventory of Hannah Berry’s estate was not delivered to the court. Thomas Person Berry was appointed administrator of his mother’s estate. He was charged with the responsibility to return a true and just inventory of her estate. Doctor C. Parish was Sarah Lunsford Berry’s nephew. He was the son of David and Mary (Polly) Lunsford Parish. William J Gray was a neighbor of Thomas Person Berry.

Eli Berry, who was Thomas Person Berry’s first cousin, was engaged to construct Hannah Cate Berry’s coffin. As you can see from the receipt listed below, Eli Berry received payment of $5 on January 31, 1859.

Receipt for Hannah Cate Berry's Casket

Hannah Cate Berry’s Later Years#

Since the census records before 1850 did not list names except those of the head of household, I do not know where Hannah Berry was living in 1820, 1830, or 1840. I strongly believe she was living in Orange County, North Carolina, all those years. Hannah Berry’s son, Thomas Person Berry, and her daughter, Elizabeth Berry, were married in Orange County in 1831 and 1833. Hannah Berry was definitely living with Henry Berry in the 1850 Census and her age was recorded as 80. This would mean that she was born in 1770. Hannah Cate Berry lived until 1858 and died at the age of 88. Hannah Berry died the same year that a worldwide flu epidemic was recorded. Thomas Person Berry’s oldest son, William H. Berry, and Joshua Berry’s son, Lewis Berry, also died at the same time. All three of them died in early January of 1858. I feel certain that all of them died of the flu. Theodoric Franklin also died that same year in Floyd County, Georgia, and Elizabeth Berry Franklin returned to Orange County in 1860. As fate would have it and to our great good fortune, she was staying with her half-brother, Thomas Person Berry, when the 1860 census was taken. I have no idea what Elizabeth Berry Franklin was able to inherit from her mother’s estate in 1860.

William H. Berry had married Sarah King, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Berry King, in 1857. He was married to Sarah only one year before he died. Thomas and Mary King were the couple who inherited the Fiddleton home place from Henry Berry in his 1855 will. William H. Berry and Sarah Frances King were first cousins once removed. William H. Berry’s widow, Sarah Francis King Berry, married Hezikiah Terry on June 7th, 1860.

I have no idea where Hannah Cate Berry lived after Henry Berry died in 1855. She may have either lived with the Thomas King family in the Fiddleton plantation home or with her son Thomas Person Berry’s family. I think it’s very likely that Thomas and Mary Berry Ashley King would have been happy to continue letting Hannah Cate Berry remain at the Fiddleton plantation home that they had just inherited from Mary Berry King’s father, Henry Berry, in 1855.

Hannah Cate Berry must have been a very strong woman. Her husband left her with 3 small boys, she had a daughter by an unknown John Berry, but she managed to raise all of her children to adulthood without the help of a husband. This is a very difficult feat to accomplish at any time and especially in those days. Hannah apparently made sure that her children were cared for and had a fairly good education. It is obvious that Thomas Person Berry could read and write because he signed his name on several legal documents. All of Hannah’s children seemed to prosper as they made their own homes and raised their families. Judging from the items that were sold in her father’s 1804 estate sale, it appears that Hannah came from a wealthy family and probably had a very good education herself. Two of her sons and her daughter left North Carolina and it is very likely that all of her family made a trip to Fayette County, Alabama, in 1834. But for whatever reason Hannah, her son Thomas Person Berry, and her daughter-in-law Sarah Lunsford Berry returned to North Carolina. It could be that Sarah Lunsford Berry, who had a lot of family in Orange County, North Carolina, wanted to be near them. Thomas Person and Sarah Lunsford Berry’s first son, William H. Berry, was born in 1836 in Orange County, North Carolina.

Henry Berry’s Legacy to Hannah#

Henry Berry left a few items and some livestock to Hannah Berry in 1855. Hannah did not leave a very large estate when she died, but that was due mainly to the fact that even though she had inherited property from her father, women were not allowed to own property in those days. Being able to live at Fiddleton with her brother-in-law, Henry Berry, may have contributed considerably to her successful raising and educating her children. Elizabeth Berry Franklin even named her first son Henry Berry Franklin. This alone speaks well for Henry Berry’s devotion to his family.