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Chapter 17#

Y-DNA Testing#

At the beginning of the Berry Y-DNA project, all of us thought that, because of the similarity in given names, all Berry families would eventually be found to be related. After testing about 239 Berry males, we now know that there are at least 18 unrelated Berry families living in America today. At the time of this writing, there are 14 matching Y-DNA participants in our Orange County Berry Family Y-DNA project. There are currently 239 participants in this entire Berry Y-DNA project group. There are 14 separate identified families who go by the Berry surname. There is a very interesting story about how the Berry Y-DNA project got started. Our own Carolyn (Cookie) Paulson had located her ancestor, John Berry, living in Rusk County, Texas, in the 1860 census. She had found all of the archival documents from John and Mary Howell Berry down to herself. She knew that her archival trail was solid and was trying to locate John Berry’s ancestors. She had tried for many years to find who John Berry’s parents were. Cookie knew that John was born in North Carolina. She also knew that he was born in 1815. Cookie and I had corresponded on several occasions about the elusive John Berry. She once told me that she was about ready to accept any Berry from North Carolina who could pass as John Berry’s father. Knowing her as I do, she was joking, of course, since she would never approach genealogy in this unprofessional way. Because of her persistent attitude, she looked into what was involved in taking a Y-DNA test. She convinced her cousin, participant #8, to take this test and she started the Berry Y-DNA as project administrator. I asked my uncle, W.P. Berry Jr., if he would take a test and he agreed to do this. He was #18 in the Berry Y-DNA project. On July 20th, 2004, I had an email from Cookie telling me that #8 and #18 had a matching set of Y-DNA results. She also attached a picture of herself and Joyce Foster, her cousin from the John Berry line. It just so happened that we were having the local Wiley P. Berry reunion that very day. I printed a copy of the picture and made the announcement at our gathering that Sunday. After it was known that John Berry somehow descended from Robert Berry in Orange County, North Carolina, we still could not determine who John’s parents were. We did not discover this information for three more years. I located a John Berry family who was living in Fayette County, Alabama, in 1840. He was the right age and this led to us finding that Robert Berry Jr. and his entire family had moved there in 1824. It turned out that John Berry was his grandson and John Berry’s parents were George and Susan Aldridge Berry. Here we have to give credit to Victor Glenn Berry’s book, “Wagons South Wagons West” for helping verify our research. In September, 2008, Bob, Cookie, Jean, and I spent the day in Fayette County, Alabama, and visited a little town named Berry, Alabama. This town was named in honor of Thompson P. Berry, who was a son of Robert Berry Jr. We went to the courthouse and retrieved many records on this branch of our Berry family. I will add that it was a very enjoyable day in my life. I am not sure that Bob and Jean enjoyed it as much as Cookie and I did, but both were very tolerant. You can view the Y-DNA charts on page 272 that list the markers of 14 of the participants in our Orange County Berry Y-DNA Project. Y-DNA testing is continuing to become more efficient and less costly. Y-DNA testing is an excellent addition to genealogy research.

Y-DNA Chart#

Berry Y-DNA Chart

Thomas #183 and Shelby D. Berry’s DNA test was done by a different company than the rest of the Berry Y-DNA participants used. That is the reason there are missing markers in their results.

This does not disqualify their results however. As you can see by the other results on this page there are very few mutations in the other test. These mutations do sometimes appear on a given marker in one family as in the Thomas Berry line, Markers 3 & 13. I don’t think anybody understands why mutations occur or what they really mean. The information from our Y-DNA test is reliable and the archival data we as a family have been able to locate and record is excellent. Shelby Dale Berry is the first descendant of John and Martha Stepp Berry who we have ever been able to locate. John Berry died in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1804 and left five orphans. Shelby descends from the baby of the family, William Berry. William was only 2 years old at the time of his father’s death. It is believed that William’s mother remarried and the orphans were raised by Benjamin and Mary Camp. We know that John Berry’s sister, Mary Berry, married James Camp and her children were living in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1815. We do not know how Benjamin is related to them. It seems reasonable that he was.

Genetic Influence of Six Berry Brothers’ Lines over 280 Years#

We have discovered that our genes are very powerful and have replicated appearances over many generations and in different family lines. Note the facial structure and their ears.

Joshua Berry Jr.

Wiley P. Berry

Francis Marion Berry

The picture on the left is Joshua Berry Jr. He is a grandson of Robert Berry OC and was born on the 15th of April, 1801, in Orange County, North Carolina. He died in Benton County, Iowa, on May 29th, 1879. He descends from Joshua and Nancy Ellison Berry.

The picture in the middle is of Wiley P. Berry, who is a great-great-grandson of Robert Berry OC. W. P. Berry was born on September 8th, 1869, and died on 8th May, 1965. He descends from William and Hannah Cate Berry. William Berry and Joshua Berry were brothers. W. P. Berry was born in Orange County, North Carolina, and he is buried there.

The picture on the right is of Francis Marion Berry, who is also a great-great-grandson of Robert Berry OC. Francis was born in Texas on February 23rd, 1861, and died in Sunray, Moore County, Texas, on January 8th, 1943. He descends through Robert Berry Jr., who was the oldest brother of Joshua Berry and William Berry.

Five Berry Men from William, Robert Jr., and Joshua Berry Lines#

Wiley P. Berry, Willy Berry, Thomas E. Berry, Francis Berry, Joshua Berry Jr.

In the picture above and on the left, you have three of John Robert Berry’s sons. All were born in Orange County and died in North Carolina. On the left is Wiley P. Berry 1869-1965, in the center is Willie Adolphus Berry 1877-1964, and on the right is Thomas Ewart Berry 1880-1960.

In the center photo is Francis Marion Berry 1861-1942. He is the son of John Berry who was in Texas in 1860. In the photo on the right is Joshua Berry Jr. 1801-1879. All of these five men could easily pass as brothers.

I cannot see Joshua Berry Junior’s eyes, but W. P. Berry had such light blue eyes that sometimes they would not show up in a picture. It looks like Francis Marion’s eyes are the same. You will notice the facial structure and ears are also very similar in all three men.

We have seen a similar favor between two living male Berry descendants. One lives in Alabama and is from the David J. Berry line, while the other is from North Carolina and descends from both Joshua and William Berry’s lines.

We have a young lady from the David J. Berry line who looks very much like a young lady who descends from William Berry.

We have at least one more known example of a close resemblance between distant cousins on this page.

Ernest John Berry and Raymond Berry#

Ernest John Berry and Raymond Berry

The picture on the left is of Ernest John Berry and he descends from the Thomas Berry line. He is a great-great-great-great-grandson of Robert Berry OC. Ernest John was born in Cypress Inn, Tennessee, on November 25th, 1911, and died there on July 14th, 1977.

Thomas Berry, Robert Berry Jr., David J. Berry, Joshua Berry, John Berry, Isaac Berry, William Berry, and Henry Berry are all brothers.

The picture on the right is Raymond Berry, who descends from the David J. Berry line. Raymond is also a great-great-great-great-grandson of Robert Berry OC.

Descendants of Robert Berry Jr., Joshua Berry, John Berry, Thomas Berry, David J. Berry, and William Berry participated in our Berry Y-DNA project. All of them descend from Robert Berry OC and Robert Berry PAC.