Chapter 16#

Wiley P. Berry 1869–1965#

Wiley P. Berry was the third child of John Robert and Elizabeth Frances Bowling Berry.

He was born and lived his life in Orange County, North Carolina. He was always referred to as W.P. Berry by most of his family. Tragedy struck our family when I was eleven years old. My grandmother, Ida Ann Wilson Berry, was struck and killed by an automobile on May 4th, 1941. Soon after that tragedy, my grandfather stopped farming. It is hard for me to realize that Grandma never knew anything about World War II.

There is an interesting story about the marriage of my grandparents. The happy couple was married in Ida’s parents’ home. Her parents were Charles Eli and Mary Jane Coleman Wilson. Charles Eli Wilson prepared a room for their first night over the kitchen in his home. Many of the newlyweds’ friends and family attended the wedding and the celebration that followed at the Wilsons’ home. My guess is that the party went on several hours in the kitchen, long after the young couple had retired to their honeymoon room above the kitchen. The couple was apparently married on Saturday, because when my grandparents took their own buggy to church the next morning, my grandmother raised her umbrella and put it behind her head so the family and friends who were following could not see Grandpa kiss her. Times and customs have changed a lot since then. Wiley P. and Ida Ann Wilson Berry were married on June 2nd, 1895.

My grandparents built their home on 100 acres of land John Robert Berry gave them. Grandma did not have a cook stove when they were first married. They had a pot rack that was mounted on the right side of the fireplace. Grandma would hang an iron pot on the hook and swing it over the open fire. This is how she cooked her meats and vegetables. She used a Dutch oven that sat in the hot coals on the hearth to bake her bread. The kitchen and dining room was built separate from the main part of the house. There was a covered breezeway between the two parts of the building. This was done as a safety precaution from the fire hazard of cooking. The kitchen was on the west side of the house and there was a dug well about 10 feet south of the kitchen. This well was in the center of a concrete porch that was covered. This convenience was there so you could draw water up from the well in any kind of weather. The main part of the building consisted of a living room and a bedroom on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second floor. There was a porch that went around three sides of the lower level of the house. On the porch over the well, they had a flat board mounted between two of the posts which served as a shelf. There was always a bucket of water sitting there and an aluminum wash pan on this shelf. There was a towel hanging on a nail driven into the post. There were gourd dippers hanging from the post. Every Monday morning, Grandma would build a fire in the yard under a cast iron wash pot filled with water. She would wash their clothes using homemade lye soap. After scrubbing the clothes on a washboard she would rinse them, and hang them out to dry on a clothesline. Grandpa made his living farming and running a small country store. He raised tobacco, corn, and wheat. He raised most of the family’s food, trapped small animals and sold their pelts. He never had any debt and was very conservative with his money. He ran for Orange County Commissioner in 1932 and served in that position until 1936.

Children of Wiley P. and Ida Ann Berry#

William Eugene Berry: born September 1st, 1896; died on September 30th, 1984. He married Pattie Alma McAdams on June 6th, 1921. She was born November 17th, 1899. She died on April 16, 1993.

Mary Elizabeth Berry: born August 23rd, 1899; died on November 13th, 1957. She married Brodie Shakespeare Carr September 17, 1925. Brodie was born June 27th, 1898; died August 24th, 1973.

Thomas Young Berry: born May 11th, 1903. He died of typhoid fever on June 8th, 1925. Thomas was engaged to marry Hattie Davis in the month that he died.

Sally Malena Berry: born July 20th, 1908; died on March 19th, 2002. She married Jesse Clyde Henderson on September 22nd, 1928. Clyde was born September 19th, 1905; died on June 11th, 1984. Malena Berry and Clyde Henderson are buried at Montlawn Memorial Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. The GPS reading for their graves: N 35 degrees 44.259’ W 076 degrees 38.852'

Woodrow Wilson Berry: born April 3rd, 1912; died May 3rd, 1989. He married Ora Mae Murray on July 7th, 1936. Ora Mae was born May 22nd, 1919; died on September 21st, 2002.

Wiley Harold Berry: born March 9th, 1914; died on June 24th, 2006. He married Hilda Elizabeth Nichols on December 27th, 1934. Hilda was born February 18th, 1917; died on August 7th, 2002.

Infant son: born on September 23rd, 1916, and died the same day. He is buried at Berrys Grove Baptist Church (Little River Township).

Wiley P. Berry Jr.: born September 1st, 1919; died on August 18th, 2007. He married Mary Elizabeth Barbee, born January 13, 1928, died January 25, 2014.

An Unusual Naming Pattern#

Mary Elizabeth Berry was named Mary for her maternal grandmother Mary Jane Coleman, and Elizabeth for her paternal grandmother Elizabeth Frances Bowling. Sally Malena Berry was named Sally for her paternal great-grandmother Sarah “Sally” Lunsford, and Malena for her maternal great-grandmother Malena Barbary Brown. This is an interesting naming pattern. The first daughter’s first name was for her maternal grandmother’s first name and her middle name was her paternal grandmother’s first name. The paternal and maternal relationship was reversed for the second daughter and stepped back one generation. The second daughter’s first name was her paternal great-grandmother’s first name and her second name was her maternal great-grandmother’s first name.

Dr. Coleman made his home in Bushy Fork, Person County, NC. Dr. Ira Coleman wrote a paper about his childhood and what he remembered about the Civil War. He was born on the 27th of October, 1861, so he was very young when the war started. Dr. Coleman is in his buggy pictured here. He always had a black horse and a dog that rode in the seat beside him. Dr. Joseph Ira Coleman was my grandmother's uncle, and my mother said they always called him Uncle Doc. He delivered all of my grandmother's children. He made house calls to care for his patients.

Family Photographs#

Ida Ann Wilson Berry — Wiley P. Berry family, Orange County, NC

Sally Malena Berry Henderson made the dress she is wearing in this picture. She told me that this is what her work clothes looked like when she was a young girl working on their farm.

Thomas Young Berry. Thomas died of typhoid fever a few weeks before he was to be married. He died on June 8th, 1925. He was the third child of Wiley P. and Ida Ann Berry.

Wiley P. Berry Jr. He attended the 2007 Fiddleton Reunion and died one month later. He was the baby of the family and the last child of the W.P. and Ida Ann Wilson Berry family to die. At least one of W.P. and Ida Ann Wilson Berry's children lived on this earth from 1896 until 2007, for a total of 111 years.

Descendants Who Have Passed#

Descendants of W.P. & Ida Ann Wilson Berry who have died:

• Peggy Mae Berry Sell was born on July 21st, 1937, and died on April 19th, 2011. Peggy was the daughter of Woodrow and Ora Mae Murray Berry.
• Thomas Eugene Berry Sr. was born on May 3rd, 1928, and died on July 1st, 2011. Thomas was the only son of William Eugene and Pattie Alma McAdams Berry.
• Edsel Lincoln Carr was born November 28, 1925, and died April 13, 2013. Edsel was the son of Brodie Shakespeare & Mary Elizabeth Berry Carr.
• Joan Elizabeth Bell, who was a great-granddaughter, died in September, 2010.
• Jamie McLeod, who was a great-great-granddaughter, died in January, 2011.

Left to right: W.P. Berry Jr., Wiley Harold Berry, Woodrow Wilson Berry, Thomas Eugene Berry, and Wiley P. Berry Senior. Circa 1936.

Left to right: Thomas Eugene Berry, Mae Berry Carr, Sally Malena Berry Henderson, Woodrow Wilson Berry, Wiley Harold Berry, Wiley P. Berry Jr. This picture was taken in May of 1941. I don't know if it was before or after Grandma Ida Ann Wilson Berry's funeral. She was hit and killed by a car at night on May 4th, 1941.

B. S. Carr Store in Hillsborough, North Carolina, circa 1930. Mae Berry Carr standing at the gas pump.

In this 1915 picture, starting from the left: Harold Berry, age 1; Malena Berry, age 6; and Woodrow Berry, age 3. You can see the covered well in the background. This well was just off the kitchen and dining room of my grandparents' home. At the time of this picture, the floor was made of wood. When I remember this porch, it had a concrete floor around the well.

In this picture you have Woodrow Berry, age 74, sitting; and standing left to right are Harold Berry, age 72; Malena Berry Henderson, age 78; and W.P. Berry Jr., age 67. The thing that is remarkable about these two pictures is the direction that Harold, Malena, and Woodrow were looking in each photograph. One would almost think this was planned, but I assure you that it wasn't. I took the picture on the right.

Wiley P. Berry and Ida Ann Wilson Berry have no children alive today. Grandpa’s house was located on the Brown Road about three hundred yards west of NC 157. Meredith School was located on the Brown Road further west of my grandparents’ home. This school is where my mother and all of her siblings attended grade school. One of the teachers from Meredith School lived with my grandparents at one time.

Wiley P. and Ida Ann Berry's home place

The Berry home on Brown Road, Orange County, North Carolina