Robert Berry Jr.

Robert Berry Jr. son of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry

Ancestors:

  1. Generation Robert and Mary Williamson Berry, Princess Anne County. Virginia.
  2. Generation Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry, Orange County, North Carolina.
  3. Generation Robert Berry Jr. married Mary Waggoner  about 1784

Supporting Documentation For Robert Berry Jr.

Robert Berry Jr. was born in Orange County, North Carolina about 1760. He registered in the 1790 census, which means he was probably a property owner at that time. It also may mean that he was over 21 years old. His brother Joshua Berry and his Father Robert Berry OC also listed in that census.

Robert Berry Jr. was originally believed to have married James Camp’s, sister, Mary Camp. Mary Berry married James Camp after her first husband,  George Waggoner, died . The problem is that later research has proven that James Camp did not have a sister named Mary.

Robert Juniors sister, Mary Berry, first married George Waggoner who did have a sister named Mary Waggoner.

From Henry Waggoner Will ( Orange County NC Book A, Page 330) we learned the names of his wife and children. The birth order of the children is not listed in the will

  • Henry and Katriana Waggoners Children:
  • Daughters:
  • Elizabeth Waggoner married Unknown Johns
  • Uley Waggoner married  William Stagg January 22, 1805
  • Susanna Waggoner
  • Mary Waggoner married Robert Berry Jr.
  • Catherine Waggoner
  • Unreadable Waggoner
  • Judith Waggoner married Peter Aldridge
  • Sons:
  • John Waggoner
  • Henry Waggoner
  • Jacob Waggoner
  • George Waggoner married Mary Berry 

George Waggoner died in 1781 right after the battle of Guilford Courthouse in Greensboro North Carolina. It is believed that George Waggoner died from wounds received in that battle. He wrote his will two weeks after the battle was fought.

Robert Berry Jr. and his wife named their first two children, Catherine Berry born 1785, and George Berry born about 1777.

On February 4th 1786 Robert Berry Junior was the bondsman for Peter Aldridge and Judith Waggoner. In 1810 Peter Aldridge and his family was living a few farms away from Robert Berry Jr and his family in Person County, North Carolina. Robert Junior’s first son George Berry married Susanna Aldridge, Peter and Judith Waggoner Aldridge’s  daughter. Robert Berry Jr. posted bond for Catherine Waggoner in the estate of James Waggoner deceased in November 1791.

When Robert Jr. registered in the 1800 Orange County Census he listed four sons who were under 15 years old. Two of them were under 10 years old and two were between 10 and 15. He also listed four daughters. Two daughters were under 10 years old, one daughter between 10 and 15 and one daughter who was over 15 but less than 25 years old. This must have been Catherine who would have been just over fifteen years old in 1800. Catherine Berry married Jacob Pickle on February 20th 1802. When Jacob and Catharine Berry Pickle listed in the 1810 census they were living next door to her uncle David J. Berry.

Deed book page 331: Land Purchase in Person County N.C.

Deed book page 421: Land Sold in Person County N.C.

Land grant to Robert Berry Jr. and his son George Berry:
Fayette County Alabama 1824 . Grant signed by President James Monroe

Robert Berry Jr. Listed in Person County, North Carolina, in the 1810 Census. Robert’s Sister Elizabeth and Mother died around 1815 and 1816. Since Robert Berry Jr.did not inherit any land from his father and since his son George had served in the war of 1812, Land became available to George Berry in a Land Lottery in Fayette, County Alabama. Robert Berry Jr and his entire family removed to Fayette County, Alabama. George Berry and his father acquired 640 acres of land there together in 1824. This property is located very close to where Berry Alabama is today. Catherine Berry Pickle and her husband Jacob also listed in Fayette Count,y Alabama, in 1830. They removed from Alabama to Monroe Mississippi and listed there in the 1840 census. None of Robert Berry Junior’s family have been found in any 1820 census. This most likely means they were all in transit from Orange County, North Carolina, to Fayette, County Alabama. When the 1830 and 1840 Census was taken Robert Berry Jr.’s sons also listed in Fayette County, Alabama. John Berry who was George and Susannah Berry’s son listed also in the Fayette Alabama 1840 Census. A descendant of John Berry has taken a Y-DNA test and matches known descendants of the Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry Family from Orange County,North Carolina. John Berry who is the grand son of Robert Berry Sr. was found living in Rusk County Texas in the 1860 census. John Berry is the oldest son of George Berry and was born in North Carolina in 1815.
Robert Berry Jr. did not list in Fayette County, Alabama, in 1850. He would have been 88 years old. Robert Berry Jr. and Mary Camp Berry both died sometime after the 1840 Census and are both most likely buried at Pleasant Hill Methodist Church Cemetery in Berry, Fayette County, Alabama.

After seeing the shape of the only headstone that was hand shaped in the picture above that was taken in Berry, Fayette County, Alabama, in 2008 and and comparing it to the only hand shaped fieldstone found in the Fiddleton Cemetery in Orange County, North Carolina, it becomes obvious that  the shapes of both headstones are almost identical. I am almost positive that Robert Berry’s wife Elizabeth Cate Berry had her slaves shape the headstone for her husband which is located in the Fiddleton Cemetery in North Carolina. This stone is pictured on the left below. Someone in Robert Berry Juniors family knew about the shape of his fathers headstone in Orange County NC and had the stone on the right below made for him. Both headstones are the only hand shaped  fieldstone headstone markers in both Cemeteries. Robert Berry Junior may have died before his wife, Mary Waggoner Berry, and she may be the one who had Robert Berry Junior’s headstone made.robertand sons robert headstonesThere are a several other field stones being used as grave markers right next to Thompson Berry’s headstone.  It seems that this part of the Church Cemetery was the original Pleasant Hill Methodist Church Cemetery.  Robert Berry Juniors’ youngest son, Thompson Berry, and his wife are also buried there. There is an inscription on Thompson P Berry’s headstone that notes he was born in Orange County, North Carolina. All of Robert Berry Juniors children were born in North Carolina.

Children:

  1. Cathrine Berry b. 1785 d. after 1850
  2. George Berry b. cir 1790 d. after 1850
  3. John Berry b. 1792 d. Unknown
  4. Henry G Berry b. cir 1794 d. young in NC
  5. Susan Berry b. May 17. 1798 d. Jul. 1874 married John H. Ray
  6. Thompson Berry b. December 18, 1801 d. January 8, 1871
  7. David Middelton Berry b. April 14, 1805 d. May 7, 1880

 Places Lived:

  • Born in Orange County, North Carolina
  • Robert Berry Jr. Removed To Fayette County, Alabama.

Census Information and Neighbors:

“ Robert Berry Jr. and his family left Orange County, North
Carolina shortly after his mother died and they were in Alabama by 1822”

Census Information:

Robert Berry Jr. Census Page

The 1840 Census indicates that Robert Berry Jr and his wife
could read and write.

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Last Updated Jan. 21, 2014