Who were the parents of Mary Rainwater (wife of John Berry)?

Question

Does anyone have any information on John Berry Rainwater, b. 1820 in N.C.?  He was the son of Mary Rainwater and John Berry and he took his mother's maiden name as his last name, apparently according to old English custom.  Do you know who Mary Rainwater's parents were?         Terry Thurman

Answer 1

FamilySearch is our friend.

 

Here he is in 1880, still married to Mary.

John B. Rainwater United States Census, 1880	birth: 1821 North Carolina,​ United States residence: 1880 Fayetteville,​ Washington,​ Arkansas	spouse: Mary Rainwater children: Sarah J. Rainwater,​ Parlee Rainwater...     name: John B. Rainwater residence: Fayetteville, Washington, Arkansas birthdate: 1821 birthplace: North Carolina, United States relationship to head: Self spouse's name: Mary Rainwater spouse's birthplace: Tennessee, United States father's birthplace: North Carolina, United States mother's birthplace: North Carolina, United States race or color (expanded): White ethnicity (standardized): American gender: Male martial status: Married age (expanded): 59 years occupation: Lumber Dealer nara film number: T9-0059 page: 680 page character: B entry number: 1836

 

Answer 2

On your question about her parents; this is user-submitted and does not cite sources.  However, according to this, her maiden name was not Rainwater, but Kifer.  I personally never heard of such an old English custom and suspect Rainwater was, in fact, his name, with Berry being his middle name.

Pedigree Resource File at FamilySearch.org