John Berry Jr (1836 - 1921)

Born 26 Jun 1836 in Williamson County, Texas

Ancestors

Husband of Hixa Jane (Donnell) Berry — married 27 Jun 1858 in Williamson County, Texas, USA

Descendants

Died 12 Mar 1921 at age 84 in Gonzales County, Texas

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Biography

John Berry Jr is known to be an Indian fighter, Confederate Veteran and Early Texas Pioneer.

When JOHN BERRY was born on June 26, 1836, in Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas, his father, John, was 50 and his mother, Hannah, was 23.

He married HIXA/Hixey/Hixsey JANE DONNELL on May 23, 1855 in Williamson County, Texas and they had nine children together.

Children of Hixey and John Berry Jr.:

• Margaret E "Maggie" Berry (1865-1901)
• Elizabeth Lenore "Lizzie" Berry (1866-1942)
• Nealy Fletcher Berry (1868-1952)
• Modellar Joseph Berry (1871-1951)
• Irene Jane "Rena" Berry (1872-1955)
• Henrietta Lemons Berry (1876-1965)
• Virginia devore Berry (1882-1943)
• Emanuel Woodson Berry (1884-1947)
• Jesse Noble Berry (1887-1957)

His family played a roll in the making of Texas from forming counties and towns, to defending the land and populating the area.

According to the pension application, John served about 3 years in Company B, 30th Regiment, Texas Calvary. He was enlisted July 1, 1862 at Camp McCulloch. Galveston had fallen into Union hands in October, 1862, having been abandoned by Confederate forces due to a naval blockade of the port. Troops under the command of General John B Magruder made a combined naval and land attack on the ten Union ships in the bay and on the 42nd Massachusetts regiment encamped on the city wharf. Lacking gunboats, Magruder's men brought in two steamers from nearby rivers, and fitted them out as armorclads with the aid of cotton bales in lieu of plate. Filled with some of Texas' best sharpshooters, fresh form the frontier, the ersatz gunboats attacked the Federal vessels at daybreak on January 1.... Only one of the Magruder's ships was sunk in the encounter, and the other Federal ships abandoned the blockade, leaving Galveston once more in southern control. Two first cousins of John and Emanuel Berry also took part in the battle of Galveston. They were Cornelius and Barney Hampshire, sons of Jane Devore Hampshire, Hannah Berry's sister.

One of his eight brother's who also fought in the war, Joe Berry, was killed in the Mier Expedition. He also lost his brother-in-law, Wiley H. Donnell at the Battle of Yellow Bayou in Louisiana on May 18, 1864. He was 24 years old.

But it wasn't over for John... after the war, on July 4, 1865, John and several other men were involved in a fight with Indians on the Frio River. The story is told in detail in the Texas State Historical Association Quarterly for October, 1897. John and the group fought with the Indians for an hour and a half until one of them, Ed Burleson, killed both the chief and the house he was riding and the Indians fled. Three of the eleven white men (who fought against 36 Indians) were killed and five were injured. Although John wasn't one of the injured, it has been reported he had two arrows shot through his leather leggings into his horse. He was unable to dismount until afte rthe arrows were extracted. He was a man who never declined to take part in a fight." Marshall Jackson says that this was only one of several encounters with Indians in which John had a part.

He inherited land when his father died in 1866 and moved to Williamson County. He sold 100 acres to John Compton in October 1868 and 116 acres in March 1869 to C. C. Donavan. He doesn't appear on the 1870 census but reappears in the 1880 Census for Williamson, Texas, USA and the 1900 Census for Justice Precinct 3, Uvalde, Texas as renting and working as a Day Laborer.

In 1904 John Berry fell from a wagon causing a dislocated hip and resulting rheumatism. From then on, John was unable to walk without crutches. This didn't stop him or even slow him down in working to provide or even traveling to see family. Relatives remember him having his crutches on the seat next to him going from family member to family member.

In 1905 he applied for a pension due Texas veterans who had honorably served in the Confederate Army and from this application we learn that John and Jane Berry had fallen on hard times. He stated that he could not do any work as the result of his fall and his only property was two horses worth $140, one wagon very old and worn worth about $15 two feather beds, a cook-stove, and some small kitchen utensils. He said that in 1904 the family harvested five bales of cotton but in 1905 only two bales of cotton. This small crop was their only source of income and Jane had no property of her own. The pension was approved although we don't know how much it was. In a letter written to his sister Catherine A. Berry Jackson on October 16, 1915, John said "Times is tight here; they cut my pension to ten dollars, so I have no money, but am doing alright, I have plenty to eat." At this time he was staying with his daughter Henrietta Berry Kelley and her husband Will. John would travel from place to place visiting his children in a small black buggy with his crutches on the seat beside him.

It is also said that he would not eat chicken or eggs as he did not see them as "fit for human consumption".

His wife, Hixey, passed on the way between Bandera and Yancey while visiting family with their son, Emanuel and his wife, Elizabeth (daughter of George D and Adaline K Mitchell). She is buried somewhere between Bandera and Yancey per family stories; sadly, her grave has been lost in time.

He departed this life on March 12, 1921, in Gonzales, Texas, at the age of 84, and it is reported he was buried in Harwood Cemetery in Gonzales County, Texas but his grave has not yet been located there.

Sources

• Death Certificate
• Marriage Bond
• Pension Application
• 1850 Census for Milam and Williamson Williamson County Texas
• Family Genealogy Book from 1990's
• Book titled "John Berry and His Children" by Jack Pope