William Berry (abt. 1743 - 1781)

Born about 1743 in Augusta County, Virginia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 6 Mar 1781 at about age 38 in Whitzell's Mill, Guilford County, North Carolina

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Biography

William Berry, the son of Thomas Berry Sr. and Rebecca (Buchanan) Berry was born about 1743 in Augusta County, Virginia. He died 6 Mar 1781 (aged 37–38) in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. Burial details are unknown.^[1]

Research Notes

William Berry Find a Grave Bio
William Berry was born about 1743 or 1744 on his parent’s farm, which was situated in the upper reaches of a tributary of the North Fork of the James River within the Borden Tract in Augusta County, Virginia. No documentation exists for any specific events that may have occurred to him during his childhood, but indirect evidence makes it clear that he grew up in a rural frontier environment on the outer fringes of British colonization in the mountains of Virginia. Things were quickly changing for these English colonists, though, and during the late 60s and early 70s (the 1760s and 1770s) political winds favored westward expansion of these frontier English settlements that had previously been geographically confined by French North American colonial claims. William’s father, Thomas Berry Senior, had been born in Northern Ireland in 1718 and migrated to the American colonies, probably through Pennsylvania with his father, the elder James Berry, during the 30s and 40s. During the 60s, after the passing of his father, the elder James Berry, and in response to the ever changing geopolitical climate, Thomas Sr. gradually divested himself of his Augusta County land holdings and moved again. By 1770 he had moved his family to the Holston River valley in southwestern Virginia, and the direct documentary evidence for his son William Berry begins during this period.

William Berry participated in some of the military campaigns that affected the frontier settlements of North Carolina and Virginia during the Revolutionary War. Extensive documentation of the participants in the Battle of Point Pleasant which took place in the fall of 1774 indicate that William Berry definitely did not serve in any of the militia units involved in that battle, but he certainly could have served in Battle of Long Island Flats in the summer of 1776, the subsequent punitive campaign against the Cherokee tribes led by Col. Christian later that year, and other militia deployments against the Cherokee and Shawnee and the King’s Mountain battle in the fall of 1780. The only definitive information about his military service comes from a Revolutionary War pension application made by a fellow soldier, Thomas McSpadden, who served in the same militia company as William in early 1781. In the application Thomas McSpadden noted that his militia company, under the overall command of Col. Campbell and the same unit he had served with in the King’s Mountain Campaign where he served with William’s brother James Berry (although the relationship between William and James was not stated), was called up again a few months later in the spring of 1781. By that time the company was led by Captain James Montgomery, replacing Capt. Edmondson who had been killed the previous fall at the King’s Mountain battle. Since Thomas McSpadden had served in the same company in the fall of 1780 and William Berry was a member of his 1781 company a few months later, it seems logical to presume that William Berry could also have served in the King’s Mountain battle the previous fall. Unfortuantely, there is no documentation to support this theory. In his pension statement Thomas McSpadden noted that the company was involved in a skirmish at Whitsell’s Mill on the Haw River in North Carolina, while pursuing General Cornwallis’ troops, and William Berry was killed as the men retreated in the face of superior firepower.

William Berry (~1743-1781) heroically gave up his life for his country on the 6th of March 1781 in a delaying action, about two hundred miles from home in Guilford County, North Carolina in a small skirmish on Reedy Fork Creek, a tributary of the Haw River, near Whitsell’s Mill.

William Berry, son of Thomas Berry 1718 and brother of James 1740, was born in 1743/44. In early 1781 William Berry’s militia unit was drafted, and as he prepared for deployment, most likely like many other soldiers in his unit, he wrote out his will, outlining a dimly perceived future existence for his family without his presence. On his short deployment the worst case war time scenario for any soldier came true, so the world that William Berry briefly sketched out in his will after his exit from the world stage materialized.

His pregnant wife became a widow, and spent the rest of her life raising their family, two boys and two girls, on the homestead that William Berry had staked out as a young man. Their oldest son Thomas, probably about eight years old at the time, became the “owner” of the original settlement as well as the additional pre-emption acreage. Quite obviously, his mother ran the show, but eventually Thomas came of age and continued to live on the land that his father had so briefly occupied. It was a family farm, and probably pretty close to a subsistence lifestyle. The widowed Mary (McSpadden) Berry never remarried, and eventually turned the farm over to her youngest son, William, who had been born a few months after the death of his father. After the 1810 census all traces of Mary Berry, the widow, disappear, and a few years later her youngest son, William, sold his land and moved elsewhere. Mary must have passed away, moved on with one of her sons or went to live with one of her daughters. Unfortunately, the historical record is silent on the matter, so the date and place of her death is unknown, as well as her final resting place.

(William Berry, son of Thomas Berry [Sr] can be proved to have been killed on 6 March 1781 at the 'Skirmish at Weitzell's Mill” by the 29 September 1832 affidavit of Thomas

Research Notes

Unclassified: Media: email attachment Abbreviation: BIBLE - BERRY, Thomas b 1718 family from Vass 20120909 Title: "McCORD GENEALOGY from Scotland to Edgar Co, 1600s to 1900s" dated 7 March 1978, [Transcription made July/August 2001 by David W. Hinde, Roscoe IL, Author: Barbara Louise McCord Carter Publication: email from Carol Vass to PPH, 9 Sep 2012 Date: 10 Sep 2012 Note: "Louise McIntyre sent Florence Fancher the copy of the Berry/McCord bible page explaining that 'The earliest personal record I have of our Berrys is a document which was copied in the early 1880's from a McCord Bible. A cousin of my mother's, Annettie Coolley, had gone to Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, to atend a Teacher's Institute. She was quite young and it had been arranged for her to stay with this McCord family because of their Berry relationship (somewhat distant but recognized)." This letter and the transcription of the
bible record is on deposit in the Leslie Dryden Genealogy Collection, Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture at Salisbury State University, Salisbury, MD. Notebook labled: "DRYDEN, Shenandoah IV", pages 79, 85-96.

"Carol Vass Notes: Esther Berry was a daughter of Thomas Berry [Sr] (who died in 1799 in Washington Co, Virginia). Esther was married to David McCord 8 Dec 1795 in Washington Co, VA. The transcription of the children of Thomas Berry [Sr] by both of his wives, is a second hand copy of one of the bible pages of Esther Berry and her husband David McCord. Research into the area of the Paris, Edgar Co, IL where Louise McIntyre said that the copy was obtained " by her 'mother's cousin', indicates that the bible record was probably in the hands of Thomas McCord who died in Paris, Il in 1886. Thomas McCord was the second son of Esther; Berry/David McCord."^[2]

Notes from external profile

"Carol Vass Note: The 'Copy of a Prior Transcription of Esther Berry McCord Bible Page' shows Thomas Berry [Sr]'s son William Berry with the notation was killed at the Battle of Gilford 1778. It is not known to me when that notation was made. It appears on Louise McIntyre's 1880 era copy, so it was either made by someone in Esther's family, or Esther herself. William Berry was NOT killed at the Battle of Guilford. F[ur]thermore, The 'Battle of Guilford Courthouse[,]' as it is commonly called[,] did not begin until 15 March 1781 in Guilford County, North Carolina[,] and is a rather famous event of the American Revolution in the southern part of the United States. A lesser known prelude to the 'Battle of Guilford Courthouse' occur[r]ed on 6 March 1781 and is known as the 'Skirmish at Weitzell's Mill". [Sometimes called the 'battle at ...', with Weitzell often being spelled Whitzell or some other variation.] William Berry, son of Thomas Berry [Sr] can be proved to have been killed at the 'Skirmish at Weitell's Mill" by the 29 September 1832 affadavit of Thomas McSpadden:

"'..... he went out again under Col. Campbell in that company commanded by Capt. James Montgomery for Capt. Edmondson his former Capt. was killed at the battle of Kings Mountain -- he was in a skirmish with the British at Whitsels Mills on the waters of the Haw River. We had not sufficient strength to give the enemy a battle, but as we retreated we fired upon our pursuers, some men were killed, William Berry of his company was killed -- we retreated until we joined the main army, under Gen.l Green, if he recollects rightly.'
"It seem[s] likely that the notation that her half brother, William Berry was killed at the Battle of Gilford 1778. was most likely Esther (Berry) McCord's slightly flawed memory. She was born in 1770, so would have been 11 in 1781. She married David McCord in 1795 when she was 25 which is the logical time she would have started her own [B]ible. It seems most likely that Esther remember that her brother, William, was killed 'around' the time of the 'Battle of Guilford Courthouse' and forgot the exact year of that battle."^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185423621/william-berry
2. ↑ Edgar County Genealogy Library, Paris, Illinois. Address: Edgar County Genealogy Library, Paris, Illinois. Name: Edgar County Genealogy Library, Paris, Illinois. Note: (in McCORD file). Thomas Berry [Sr] & (1) _____ Buchanan & (2) Esther Ward and their children, p2.
3. ↑ Source: #S31 Thomas Berry [Sr] & (1) _____ Buchanan & (2) Esther Ward an d their children, p2.

• Thomas Berry b1718IR>us1740's m a BUCHANAN and a WARD Author: Loughlin, Marie Publication: #235 4/19/1998 15:20:48 Call Number: 234 of 3176
• P_McC_McCHESNEY_Susan_Berry Ancestors Author: Hickin, Patricia Prickett, compiler Publication: Winchester, VA 20121016 Date: 16 Oct 2012

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Berry-2699 was created through the import of McChesney_Susan Berry m Abram McConnell.ged on Oct 16, 2012 by Patricia Hickin.