First Name Littleberry

Question

I have some family members with the First name Littleberry. I have been trying to tie this name to some unknown wives. Thinking maybe this was a wife's maiden name. I have also found reference to a village of Littleberry in England. While surfing descendants  tagsb I have found Littleberry as a last name and found, Lanes, Wheelers Wheavers and others who bear this name on wikitree . If you have any info on why any of your family with Littleberry have that name could you share it with me please? Thanks Trudy.

Comments

Hi Trudy, I tagged the question with littleberry so that if anyone does happen to follow that surname they are more likely to see your question :)  I'm intrigued too! It's an interesting surname.

---

Thanks Eowyn, it should have occurred to me to tag it. DUH !

---

This name has just caught my attention too.  I have no answers for you but rather would like to discuss an issue I'm having making a connection between people with this name.

 

Looking on this page of descendants you'll find five people named Littleberry.

 

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Crew-Descendants-30

 

That confirms that the name is common in the Crew/Crews family, and therein lies my concern.  You'll note that the first Littleberry in this long list is Littleberry Crew born 1762.  I've just traced the ancestry of some Crews relatives of mine back to a Littleberry Crews born in 1776  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crews-1512   Both were born in Virginia and both came west, one to Ohio and one to Kentucky.  I've been beating my head against this wall all afternoon, trying to find any kind of connection between them.  People on Family Search have entered connecting names, but they don't pass some of my basic screening criteria for credibility.  There are other examples of people named Crews going from Charles City/Henrico Virginia to Kentucky at the same time - notably a David Milton Crews  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crews-629 who could easily have been an uncle of the 1776 Littleberry, but there's no visible connection. 

 

My gut feeling says that 'Where there's smoke there's fire'.  Unfortunately the smoke seems to be too thick to find the fire in this case.

 

---

This is just a guess, but I just came upon an article about British surnames that are disappearing (https://blog.myheritage.com/2011/04/rare-british-surnames/).

It referenced one name with the “berry” component:  Berrycloth (English)

This location name is from the place called ‘Barrowclough’ near Halifax in West Yorkshire. The derivation of the place name is from the Old English pre 7th Century ‘beara’, meaning grove, or wood; and “cloh” (a ravine or steep slope). Locational names were distributed around the country when those who bore the name moved from their original homes and went to live or work in another town or village, becoming known as ‘Berrycloth’.“

Since surnames often became given names that were passed down, I wonder if “Woods” could be the original meaning.

I have many Littleberrys and Greenberrys in my tree; perhaps these originally meant “Littlewood” and “Greenwood”?

---

This is just a guess, but I just came upon an article about British surnames that are disappearing (https://blog.myheritage.com/2011/04/rare-british-surnames/).

It referenced one name with the “berry” component:  Berrycloth (English)

This location name is from the place called ‘Barrowclough’ near Halifax in West Yorkshire. The derivation of the place name is from the Old English pre 7th Century ‘beara’, meaning grove, or wood; and “cloh” (a ravine or steep slope). Locational names were distributed around the country when those who bore the name moved from their original homes and went to live or work in another town or village, becoming known as ‘Berrycloth’.“

Since surnames often became given names that were passed down, I wonder if “Woods” could be the original meaning.

I have many Littleberrys and Greenberrys in my tree; perhaps these originally meant “Littlewood” and “Greenwood”?

---

I too have some first name Littleberry in my Jenkins line. Littleberry Jenkins b. 1768 Prince Edward Co. VA d. 1850. He was the son of William Jenkins and Elizabeth Ford.

---

Just did a quick search and there are over 400 profiles on WikiTree with a first name of Littleberry ... most in the southern states of the US.

Answer 1

Hi Trudy, This is a great question.

Littleberry, sometimes Little Berry or Berry, was a fairly common name in the mostly southern United States in the 1800s.  Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp is a famous example.  I also know about Littleberry Overby and Littleberry Earp.  If you search for firstname Littleberry with no surname, you will find 117 Littleberrys here on WikiTree.  

Comments

Thank you Kitty. have a hunch it might help me find a wife of one of my anscestor s. But I usually find someone I am not looking for while not finding who I am looking for. That's the hunt , I guess.

---

Hey Kitty  I just looked at this question again. I'm tracking  Littleberrys in my father's , fathers line and found that Littleberry Overbe you listed above is a 17 cousin ( according to the relationship finder) on my father's mother's side. And the world gets smaller. Thanks.

Answer 2

While doing research on my ancestors I found a Littleberry Basham in my linage. He was married to Mary Basham. You can go on familysearch.org and find out a bit more if you still are wondering. I noticed you posted this two years ago.

Comments

Yes I did JD. But every week I continue the search. I have over 600 Littleberries. Thank you I will check it out. I found very interesting people. But nothing I hoped to find. It's alot of fun. So thank You very much.

Answer 3

My 7xgrandfather was a Littleberry Hicks bn NC in 1765 his son also named Littleberry and 2 grandsons the last in the family called Littleberry died in 2012 in VA. My 6xgrandfather called a son Greenberry but that was easy as he was named after General Greenberry who was famous in the early 1800's.

The family came from England as far as I know but they had been in USA for over 50 years before Littleberry was bn.

So its a real mystery.

Good luck

Comments

Thank You Rick.  That could very well explain a Greenberry in my Roach family.

Answer 4

Littleberry Champion Buckelew is my great grandfather. He also named one of his sons Littleberry Champion Jr. I don't know if he's the right one and I'm new here so you could try Buckelew-67 and see. I've been working on him myself and have sources that I can't put in with this tablet, but have a computer coming! If he's the one, I'll soon have more info. :)