Book-Chapter on Berrytree.org

Chapter 1: Williamsons, Fosters, Berrys & Kemps

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Preface | Table of Contents | Chapter 2: Robert Berry →

Chapter 1#

Williamsons, Fosters, Berrys & Kemps#

I have been researching the Robert Berry family from Orange County since 1997. When I first started researching, I found that the Census forms from 1790 to 1840, only listed the head of household’s given and surnames. Sometimes they would be listed alphabetically, which was not totally useless but not very helpful either. When the families were listed in the order of farms and plantation physical location, the information became more valuable. I would search the census forms from the very early years and become familiar with as many of the surnames located near one of my known ancestors as possible. Soon I learned that a cluster of surnames in one county would often vary greatly from the surnames listed in the very next county. Since the population was small, clusters of surnames in a close proximity were often related to each other. As our ancestors relocated from one state to another, the pattern was repeated over and over. When I located a family surname who seemed to be a relative from a previous community, I started looking at the surnames of his neighbors. I always paid particular attention to these very close neighbors. This is a very important tool; since there were really not very many people in these early settlements, many of them migrated there together. Many of them were friends and a lot of them were relatives and children who had known each other their entire lives. They had grown up together and when the time came to relocate, they chose to go together.

Our Berrys in Frontier America

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Our Berrys in Frontier America#

A History of Robert & Elizabeth Cate Berry’s 10 Children

By Benjamin Berry Henderson Sr.

In 1997, a retired Westinghouse engineer from Raleigh, North Carolina, visited Texas and saw a family tree on a computer screen for the first time. He came home, subscribed to Ancestry.com, and began a journey that would last the rest of his life.

Ben Henderson releases second Berry Book!!!

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is great news for everyone associated with the Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry family line.

Chapter 2: Robert Berry 1729–1814

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 1: Williamsons, Fosters, Berrys, Kemps | Table of Contents | Chapter 3: Mary Berry →

Chapter 2#

Robert Berry 1729–1814#

Robert Berry OC came to a part of Granville County, North Carolina, which was soon to become Orange County, NC. We know that he built a small cabin in the northeast corner of his staked out land. This cabin was documented in Robert Berry’s OC Entry for his Land Grant. Thomas Bradford owned the land just north of Robert Berry’s OC claim.

Chapter 3: Mary Berry 1757–1800

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 2: Robert Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 4: Robert Berry Jr. →

Ancestor Profile: Mary Berry — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 3#

Mary Berry 1757–1795 to 1800#

Mary Berry was the first child born to Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry sometime between 1757 and 1758. Unfortunately, she was born and married before such records were kept in Orange County, North Carolina. We have located several documents which give us a little peek into Mary’s life. George Waggoner left a will dated April 2nd, 1781, which named Mary Waggoner as his beloved wife. Mary Waggoner and her father, Robert Berry, were named executors of his will. (Orange County Will Book A Page 231)(Fig. 39 page 108 this book.)

Chapter 4: Robert Berry Jr. 1760–1850

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 3: Mary Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 5: John Berry →

Ancestor Profile: Robert Berry Jr. — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 4#

Robert Berry Jr. 1760–before 1850#

Robert Berry Junior was born in Orange County, North Carolina, about 1760 or 1761. He lived in North Carolina until after his parents died. He was listed as a Private in the Revolutionary War (See Fig. 47, Pg. 125) and he listed in the 1790 & 1800 Orange County Census. Robert Berry, Jr., then moved to Person County, NC, and is listed there in the 1810 Census. He was not listed in the 1820 census and listed again in Fayette County, Alabama, in 1830 and 1840 census.

Chapter 5: John Berry 1762–1804

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 4: Robert Berry Jr. | Table of Contents | Chapter 6: Joshua Berry →

Ancestor Profile: John Berry — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 5#

John Berry 1762 to 1804#

John Berry was probably the third child and second son born to Robert OC and Elizabeth Cate Berry. John was born in Orange County, North Carolina. Robert OC and Elizabeth apparently used the English naming order, which would make John Berry their third son. The first son would have been named Robert Jr. for his father or paternal grandfather. The second son would have been named John for his maternal grandfather. Elizabeth Cate’s father was John Cate, and her mother was Margery Lawrence Cate. John Berry was most likely born about 1762 and would have been a grown man by 1782. We know that John was married and had children because Robert Berry Sr. left a slave to the children of John Berry, deceased, in his 1812 will.

Books

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Read Online — Free Digital Edition

Our Berrys in Frontier America — By Benjamin Berry Henderson Sr.

Now available as a free digital edition right here on berrytree.org. Nineteen chapters covering all 10 children of Robert & Elizabeth Cate Berry — twenty years of research brought to life. No download required.

Chapter 6: Joshua Berry 1766–1838

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 5: John Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 7: Isaac Berry →

Ancestor Profile: Joshua Berry Sr. — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 6#

Joshua Berry 1766–1838#

Joshua Berry was probably the fourth child of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry. He was named for his mother’s oldest brother, Joshua Cate. I think Joshua was born around 1766, and I know his wife, Nancy Ellison, was born in 1775 based on census information taken from the 1850 Orange County, North Carolina, census. Joshua Berry, with his family and most of his descendants, is one of the four brothers whose families remained in Orange County, North Carolina.

Chapter 7: Isaac Berry 1768–1840

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 6: Joshua Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 8: Elizabeth Berry →

Ancestor Profile: Isaac Berry — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 7#

Isaac Berry 1768–1830 to 1840#

Isaac Berry was probably born about 1768. He was the fifth child of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry. I have no idea where the name Isaac came from in the naming sequence of their children. I have noticed that the 5th child in several of our Berry families was given biblical names. Robert may have had an uncle or a distant grandfather named Isaac. The name Isaac was later used in several branches of the family. Isaac was the only biblical name used in naming any of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry’s sons. I guess Joshua is a biblical name, but in this case Elizabeth Cate Berry had a brother named Joshua Cate. All of the other sons were named for Kings or other unknown family members in the Berry and Cate families.

Chapter 8: Elizabeth Berry 1768–1815

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 7: Isaac Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 9: Thomas Berry →

Ancestor Profile: Elizabeth Berry — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 8#

Elizabeth Berry 1768–1815#

Elizabeth Berry was the sixth child and only other daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry. I think she was named for her mother, Elizabeth, because her maternal grandmother was Margery Lawrence Cate. Margery Lawrence Cate had a daughter named Margery. Usually if another close member of the family is named for the maternal grandmother, the newborn daughter will probably be named for her mother. Elizabeth Berry was born about 1768 and was probably the second baby to be born in the new plantation house at Fiddleton. Elizabeth Berry’s will was probated on May 6, 1815, in Person County, North Carolina. She would only have been 47 years old. The Plantation home had been built in 1766 and that date is scratched into the mortar between the stones on the back side of the 249 year old chimney that is still standing today. (Fig: 38, Pg. 104).

Chapter 9: Thomas Berry 1770–Before 1812

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 8: Elizabeth Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 10: David J. Berry →

Ancestor Profile: Thomas Berry — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 9#

Thomas Berry 1770 – Before 1812#

It is almost impossible to write about Thomas Berry without including younger brother, William Berry, at the same time. The two brothers were involved in so many of life’s endeavors together. The William and Elizabeth Smith Cate family is a central point in both of their lives. Thomas and William Berry married two of their three daughters. This is a case of two brothers who married two sisters. This was not at all uncommon in the early days of our nation. William Berry married Hannah Cate first and Thomas married Sarah Cate a year later: It gets a lot more complicated after that.

Chapter 10: David J. Berry 1774–1838

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 9: Thomas Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 11: William Berry →

Ancestor Profile: David J. Berry Sr. — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 10#

David J. Berry 1774 to 1838#

David J. Berry was the eighth child and the sixth son born to Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry. The Regulator Movement had already been quieted by the brutal and unfair actions of Governor Tryon three years before David was born. David was in his formative years while the Revolutionary War was being waged. David was about 6 years old when his father, Robert Berry, his oldest brother, Robert Berry Jr., and brother-in-law, George Waggoner, joined the North Carolina Continental Army. George Waggoner, who married David’s older sister Mary Berry, was apparently mortally wounded in the battle at Guilford Court House. It is very hard to imagine how bad conditions were, what the family had to endure, or the effect it may have had on David as he was growing up.

Chapter 11: William Berry 1775–1860

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 10: David J. Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 12: Henry Berry →

Ancestor Profile: William Berry — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 11#

William Berry 1775 to 1860#

William Berry was next to the last child born to Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry. William was about 6 years old when Robert Berry OC enlisted in the North Carolina Continental Army in 1781. Shortly after the battle of Guilford Courthouse, the war and its fighting soon moved from the State of North Carolina to Virginia and ended at Yorktown on October 9, 1781. Robert Berry OC was definitely back home in November, 1781, because he appeared in court with his daughter Mary Berry Waggoner concerning George Waggoner’s will.

Chapter 12: Henry Berry 1776–1858

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 11: William Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 14: Thomas Person Berry →

Ancestor Profile: Henry Berry — view the full family profile on berrytree.org

Chapter 12#

Henry Berry 1776–1858#

Henry Berry was the youngest child of Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry from Orange County, North Carolina. Robert and Elizabeth had been married about 17 or 18 years when Henry Berry was born in 1776. Robert Berry was about 46 years old and his wife, Elizabeth, was probably about 41 years old. Their family now consisted of 10 children—two daughters and eight sons. They had been living in the new Fiddleton Plantation home for 10 years when Henry was born. Henry’s oldest sister, Mary, was about 17 or 18 years old and was already married or about to marry George Waggoner, son of Henry and Katriana Waggoner. This was the year of the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of much turmoil in the nation. Most of the fighting with the English had been done far away from Fiddleton but a lot of the political action was now taking place about 14 miles away. Two of the signers of the Declaration of Independence lived in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and much of the involvement by North Carolina was being directed and decided in Hillsborough, N.C.

Chapter 14: Thomas Person Berry 1808–1884

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 12: Henry Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 15: John Robert Berry →

Chapter 14#

Thomas Person Berry 1808–1884#

T.P. Berry marriage bond to Sarah Lunsford

Chapter 15: John Robert Berry 1842–1917

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 14: Thomas Person Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 16: Wiley P. Berry →

Chapter 15#

John Robert Berry 1842–1917#

John Robert Berry was born on September 25th, 1842, and was the third son of Thomas Person and Sarah Lunsford Berry. He is also my great-grandfather. He fought in the Civil War and was wounded in the battle of Cold Harbor. After the war, he returned to Orange County, North Carolina, and married Elizabeth Frances Bowling on November 30th, 1865.

Chapter 16: Wiley P. Berry 1869–1965

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 15: John Robert Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 17: Y-DNA Testing →

Chapter 16#

Wiley P. Berry 1869–1965#

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

Chapter 17: Y-DNA Testing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 16: Wiley P. Berry | Table of Contents | Chapter 18: Some Berry Family Stories →

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.

Chapter 18: Some Berry Family Stories

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 17: Y-DNA Testing | Table of Contents | Chapter 19: Berry Brothers →

Chapter 18#

Some Berry Family Stories#

In the August term of 1803 Orange County Court, William Cate’s inventory sale of personal property was recorded. The Berry family was well represented as purchasers of many items. Robert Berry Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth Cate Berry, both bought items. Their sons William, Thomas, Joshua, and Robert Berry Jr. are all listed on this document. It is very clear why Thomas and William Berry should be at this sale. William was married to Hannah Cate and Thomas was married to Sarah Cate. William Cate was their father. A very interesting purchase made that day was a pair of cotton cards that Thomas Berry bought. This was of interest because of what happened many years later. Thomas paid 2 schillings, 1 pence for the pair of cards.

Chapter 19: Berry Brothers Die in GA. 1921

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

← Chapter 18: Some Berry Family Stories | Table of Contents | End of Book

Chapter 19#

Berry Brothers Die in GA. 1921#

Joshua Berry death certificate

Joshua Berry

Age at Death: 54

Book Preview

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

To order just click order book – Order Book – Just $17.95

Books

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

"Our Berrys in Frontier America" A History of Robert & Elizabeth Cate Berry’s 10 children Updated and revised for 2015 By Benjamin Berry Henderson Sr. Paperback, 360 Pages Price: $23.00

Descendant Book Information

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Our ancestors home, Orange County, North Carolina

Robert Berry’s Descendant Book

Seven Generations Of Robert And Mary Williamson Berry’s Family

From 1620 through 1920.

JANUARY, 2 2015#

“SIX GENERATIONS OF ROBERT and ELIZABETH CATE BERRY’S FAMILY FROM 1730 TO 1920

Preface

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents | Chapter 1: Williamsons, Fosters, Berrys & Kemps →

Preface#

By Aaron Henderson

Sometime in the mid-2000s, my father asked me to come look at something. He had built a website — by himself, from scratch. It wasn’t berrytree.org yet. That would come later. It was a basic Web 1.0 site, plain and simple, but the idea and the heart were there from the very beginning. He wanted to share what he’d found with as many relatives as possible. It was a true passion project for him, and I could see it the moment he showed me.