I've found the WFT CD that contains the William Coffey Berry Biographical Account
of the Berry Family. Interesting reading! I wonder where the original document
is now? Has anyone checked to find out who submitted this info to WFT?
Jack
From WFT, Vol. 7, Tree No. 4132:
William Coffee Berry was the illigitimate son of Rice Coffee and Elizabeth Fields
Berry. She was the widow of a Revolutionary War soldier who had died of rheumatic
fever. She then moved down to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where a brother &
sister had married into the Coffee family. Rice Coffee refused (or couldn't)
marry Elizabeth, but apparently did acknowledge that William, and later Mary, were
his. Elizabeth gave both his name and her married name to both children.
William was an Elder in the Refugee Baptist Church in Henderson County, North
Carolina in 1850 ..and also became a literal refugee later in June of 1863 when
he, his second wife and teenage daughter had to flee their home ahead of advancing
Yankee troops.
In 1870 at Avery's Creek, North Carolina, when he was 74, he wrote out a detailed
account of the family's history, from which many of the facts in this total
computer file were drawn. Here is that account, deciphered as best was possible,
given the condition of the document and his handwriting:
A BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BERRY FAMILY
By William Coffee Berry January 30, 1870
Richard Fields married Elizabeth Murrel, the sister of Drury Murrel ...all natives
of Amherst County, Virginia. After marriage, Mr. Fields settled in Albemarle
County, Virginia where Mrs. Fields became the mother of four children: Thomas,
Joel, Elizabeth and Sarah. Mr. Fields died and his widow married a second time.
Her second marriage was to John Gilliam, by whom she became the mother of three
sons: Epaphroditus, Cornelius and John. Thomas (Fields), her oldest son, married
Elizabeth Coffee and emigrated to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where he lived to
an advanced age and died, leaving a large and respectable family behind him.
Joel (Fields) died in the 21st year of his age and left no decendants. Sarah
(Fields) married Thomas Coffee. They emigrated shortly after the close of the
Revolution to N.C. and settled in Wilkes County. She became the mother of nine
children, seven sons and two daughters. Her second son, Reuben, was a
distinguished Baptist clergyman. He emigrated with his family and two of his
younger brothers and their families to the state of Indiana, and settled in Monroe
County near Bloomington, where all those brothers have since died.
Reuben, (along with) Lewis and Larkin Epaphroditus Gilliam, emigrated from
Virginia to Wilkes County, North Carolina .... and married Sally Israel, daughter
of Michael Israel, and moved with his family to Clay County, Missouri, where he
has since died. He was a local Methodist preacher. Cornelius Gilliam married a
Miss Wood and moved to Kentucky, where he accumulated a handsome property and died
without any children. John Gilliam (Jr. ?) married, lived and died in Virginia.
Elizabeth Fields married Bradley Berry of Albemarle County, Virginia, by whom she
became the mother of a son and called his name Franklin. After his birth his
mother, Elizabeth Berry, moved with her infant son Franklin to Wilkes County, N.C.
...where she became the mother of Mary and William, the avowed and acknowledged
offspring of Rice Coffee.
(Several lines here were erased or obliterated by someone who couldn't stand the
idea of this ancestor being illigitimate. It was likely Ruth Parker, who was the
custodian of this document in 1971. Her qualification as a DAR would be in
question if she could not trace a direct bloodline back to a Revolutionary War
soldier, and being a DAR was very important to her. She even gives her DAR
registration number, 489910, along with her signature.)
When William C. Berry was in his 13th year (circa 1809), his mother moved with
Mary and William to Buncombe County, N.C., where she lived until her death. This
aforesaid Elizabeth Berry was born March 12th, 1755 and deceased on Monday, May
24th, 1824. Mary was born February 5th, 1789 and was married in February 1810 to
Mr. David Rodgers, by whom she became the mother of nine children: Three sons and
six daughters. Named as follows: (Sarah), Fawniah, Hugh, Mary, Jane, Robert,
Elizabeth Emily, Margaret Minerva and David. The oldest was born December 16,
1811 and the youngest January 21, 1830. All are still living at the present date,
1870. Mary Rodgers, their mother, died April 21, 1857. She lived beloved and
died lamented.
The three sons, Hugh, Robert and David and five of their sisters are living in
Jackson County, N.C. and all are in easy circumstances. The other sister, Mary,
married Mr. Jason Chasteaux. They are settled on Toccoa River, Fanning County,
Georgia and are in affluent circumstances.
William C. Berry was born October 19th, 1796, and on the 30th day of April, 1816,
was married to Miss Letticia Woody, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Woody, by whom
he became the father of 12 children, six sons and six daughters: Thomas F,
Elizabeth, Mary, William M.C., Larkin M., Mariah Louisa, Lewis Franklin, Sarah
Elviry Emily, Martha Ann, Ephriam Moor, Joseph Manning, and Letticia Minerva June.
Thomas F. was born February 2nd, 1817 and died July 18th, 1878. Elizabeth was
born October 29th, 1818. She married William Bishop of Spartanburg, South
Carolina May 16th, 1844, and became the mother of nine children, five sons and
four daughters. She departed this life on April 1st, 1864, aged 46 years, 5
months, 2 days. Mary Berry was born March 22nd, 1820, and was married to James
B. Sutton (?) January 13th, 1842. She became the mother of ten children, two of
which died in infancy. She lived to see six grandchildren and died November 22nd,
1869, aged 49 years and 8 months.
William M.C. Berry was born February 27th, 1822 and was married to Clarisa
Williams, daughter of Frederic & Martha Elizabeth Williams of Spartanburg, S.C.,
by whom he became the father of four children, two sons and two daughters. He yet
lives and recently visited his aged father, who now resides in Jackson County,
N.C. at the close of the year 1869.
Larkin M. Berry was born April 12th, 1824 and professed religion in his 13th
year. He became a preacher in the Baptist denomination at age 17, and was
ordained to the work of the gospel ministry December 24th, 1848. He has attained
the character of an able, popular, efficient preacher. He married Miss Martha
Bishop of Spartanburg May 16th, 1844 and became the father of four children, three
sons and one daughter. He located himself and his family in the city of Lacon,
Illinois in the spring of 1869 where he now lives on January 30th, 1870.
Mariah Louisa was born April 10th, 1826 and married John Bishop of Spartanburg,
S.C. on August 31st, 1848, by whom she became the mother of seven children, four
sons and three daughters. Her husband, John Bishop, died near Richmond in the
Confederate army in the spring of 1864. She is now living in Jackson County, N.C.
in 1870.
Lewis Franklin Berry was born May 25th, 1828 and found the baptist church at
Boiling Springs, Spartanburg, in October 1844. He married Sarah Lewis of
Spartanburg, by whom he became the father of seven children, five sons and two
daughters. He emigrated to Morgan County, Alabama and settled three miles north
of Summerville (?). ...professed to be a preacher of the gospel.
Sarah Elviry Emily Berry was born March 1st, 1830 and married John Crook, Jr. She
died December 28th, 1865, aged 34 years, 9 months, 27 days. She left but one
child behind to perpetuate her name.
Martha Ann was born May 3rd, 1832 and died on Friday, July 5th, 1834
Ephriam M. Berry was born August 9th, 1834 and professed religion on October 27th,
1850, and was baptized into the fellowship of the Refugee Baptist Church in
Henderson County, N.C. He married Miss Matilda Jenkins in the spring of 1853.
His wife, Matilda, lived seven months after their marriage and died of consumption
on Monday, December 24th, 1853. In the year 1863, said E.M. Berry emigrated to
the northwest ...located himself in the state of Indiana, where he has attained
some degree of notariety as an M.D. and an Eldership in the Christian Church.
Joseph M. Berry was born December 11th, 1837, made profession of the christian
religion October 26th, 1850, and was baptized into the fellowship of the Refugee
Baptist Church in Henderson County, N.C. on Friday, November 8th, by his father,
Elder William C. Berry. After the death of his mother, Joseph M. located in
Greenville, S.C. where he married Susannah Owens, by whom he became the father of
one child, a daughter born January 1st, 1861. In the spring of 1863, he emigrated
to the northwest, locating at Bedford, Indiana. He became a student of the high
school at that place and has since attained to high distinction and notariety as a
scholar and a clergyman in the Christian Church.
Letticia Minerva June Berry, the youngest of her father's family, was born March
4th, 1840 and professed religion October 25th, 1850, and was baptized into the
fellowship of the Refugee Baptist Church in Henderson County, N.C. on Friday,
November 8th, 1850 by her brother, Elder Larkin M. Berry. She remained at home
with her parents until her mother's death, and she was then placed under the care
& control of her Aunt Mary Rodgers. After the death of Mrs. Rodgers, Minerva
returned to her father, who married Miss Charlotte Osbourn, daughter of Jermiah &
Ann Osbourn. She remained with her father and stepmother until June 23rd, 1863,
when all were driven to the necessity of leaving home as refugees to seek a
destination of safety in the state of South Carolina. Minerva then went to East
Tennessee, where she was still living when last heard from by the writer, her
father and her mother (____).
Letticia Woody was married April 30th, 1846 and died April 14th, 1855, aged 56
years, 10 months, 22 days. She had lived many long years a pious and exemplary
christian life, and died in the full triumphs of the christian faith. Jonathan
Woody, her father, was the son of William Woody, a native of England. He married
Sarah Persel, an Elnglish lady. They immigrated from England and settled on the
Potomac River in the state of Virginia, where Jonathan was born. After his birth,
the family moved to South Carolina where Jonathan married Mary Lovel, by whom he
became the father of eight children, four sons & four daughters. Three died in
infancy. Their father, Jonathan Woody, moved when nearly 100 years of age to the
state of Iowa, and died at his youngest son's place, Berry Woody. Jonathan Woody
had three brothers and four sisters: William, Talton, James, Elizabeth, Nancy,
Sarah and Mary.
William married a Miss Watkins. Nancy married John Slaton. Sarah married Abner
Norrce and Mary married John Davice, nicknamed "Jack of Diamonds". William
Woody, brother of Jonathan, had 13 children, nine sons and four daughters: John,
Talton, William, Killis, Silas, Nicholas, David, Joseph, Washington, Nancy,
Elizabeth, Kizzias (Polly) and Mary. Nancy married William Miller. Elizabeth
married John Gasperson. Polly married a Mr. Cook.
NOTE: William C. Berry wrote this account for his son, Joseph M. Berry,
who carried it to Oklahoma, where it passed to Joseph's daughter, Lillie Belle
Berry Clark in 1917. In 1951, Lillie entrusted it to Ruth Hope Parker Lessley,
her neice whom she had raised from infancy. Ruth is the daughter of Laura Berry
Parker, Lillie's sister, who died in 1907. In January, 1971, Ruth lived in
Paducah, Kentucky.
--
_________________________________________________________________
Visit Coffey Cousins' Clearinghouse @
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/6233/coffeycousins.html
Visit Jack's House @
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/6233/index.html
My ICQ Page
http://wwp.mirabilis.com/4603575
_________________________________________________________________