A.1.d. George Berry
George Berry was born about 1766 in Augusta County, Virginia, and can be traced, primarily through tax and census records, for a period of 29 years from 1786 to 1815. Other than the sketchy information provided by these legal footprints, very little else is known about his life. He appears to have gotten married sometime between 1794 and 1800, more likely closer to 1794, but the identity of his wife is completely unknown. They had at least six children, but other than knowing that they were all born in Augusta County, Virginia, precious little information has been found for them. The date and place that George Berry and his wife passed away are also unknown. About the only definitive statement that can be made on the subject is that George Berry passed away sometime after 1815, which is the last time he appeared in Augusta County records. |
Timeline of George Berry
~1765 |
Birth of George Berry, Jr |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
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1789501 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
27 Mar. 1790501 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
24 May 1791501 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
21 Mar. 1792501 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
13 Mar. 1793501 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
9 July 1794501 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
1795501 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists 12 horses |
20 Jan. 1796400 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Deed Book 29, pages 105-106 George Berry
Sen (Seal) Signed sealed and
acknowledged |
1 Apr 1796502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
20 Sept 179621 |
Augusta County, Virginia,
Order Book No. 24, page 66 |
17 January 179721 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Order Book No. 24, page 97 |
1797502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
7 Apr 1798502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
1799502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
|
1801502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
14 May 1802502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
8 April 1803202 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Will Book 9, page 375 |
12 May 1803502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
Augusta County, Virginia
Will Book 9, page 315 |
|
13 June 1804502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
27 November 1804202 |
Augusta County, Virginia Will Book 9 At a court cont.d & held for
the said county |
1 May 1805502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
26 May 1806502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
8 June 1807502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
3 April 1809502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
7 April 1810502 |
Augusta County, Virginia
Personal Property Tax Lists |
1810503 |
Federal Census Augusta County,
Virginia |
181521 |
Circuit Court Records, Section “I” Judgements, page
199 |
Analysis of the Timeline
That George Berry, Jr. was born sometime between 1766 and 1767 can be determined indirectly from Augusta County, Virginia personal property tax records for both George Jr. and his father, George Berry, Sr. In 1786, the latter Berry was recorded as having two white males under the age of 21 living in his household. According to his will, George Berry, Sr. had a total of nine children, but only six are known by name – three daughters and three sons. Two of the sons, William and John, most likely the oldest ones, are well documented through primary source records. Both were over 25 years old in 1786, and, thus, were definitely not the two males in the 1786 tax record. Based on tax data for subsequent years, one of these young males is probably George Berry, Jr., but the identity of the other one is not known – probably another brother. If one of these males is, indeed, George Berry, Jr., then 1766 can be calculated as being a minimum date for his birth. From 1788 through 1795 there are two white males over the age of 21 in George Berry, Sr.’s household, one, of whom, is obviously George Berry, Sr. Beginning in 1788 for William Berry and in 1790 for John Berry, these two older sons of George Berry Sr. can be documented as living in Fayette County, Virginia, so neither of them were the males recorded in their father’s household during the 1788 through 1795 time period. Assuming that it was, indeed, George Jr., then he was at least 21 years old by 1788, placing an upper limit on his birth date as 1767. What really confirms the interpretation that the second 21 year old male in the household is George Berry, Jr., however, are three facts. One, the second male disappears from George Berry Sr.’s household after 1795. Two, In 1796 George Berry Sr. sells an interest in his property to his son, George Berry, Jr. and three, beginning in 1796, George Berry, Jr. is taxed in his own household. It seems apparent, then, that George Berry, Jr. was living with his parents until sometime in 1795. Shortly after that he acquired property in his own name, and was taxed in his own household. Furthermore, as will be shown below, he also got married about this time. The entirety of this data seems to clearly point to George Berry, Jr. as being the second male in George Berry, Sr.’s household from 1788 through 1795.
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George Berry Jr.’s birthplace can be determined with a fairly high degree of certainty. In the summer of 1755, George Sr. purchased 149 acres of land along the Middle Branch of the Shenandoah River along the western side of the Beverley Grant from his father, the elder James Berry, who had originally purchased the land from Robert Campbell, an original Beverley Grant purchaser. For the next 45 years, from 1756 through 1801, George Sr. was taxed on that land and the 80 acre addition he purchased in 1775. It was here that George Sr. and his wife, Agnes (Hall) Berry, raised their nine children. George Berry, Jr., obviously, grew up on this family farm, and, no doubt, married a daughter of one of the local Scotch-Irish landowners. As noted above, George Jr. purchased a share of the original homestead in 1796, which probably indicates that he was the oldest son remaining in the area at the time. His two older brothers, William and James, had moved to Kentucky years several years before. Although no marriage records have been found, federal census records show that George Jr. and his wife were living in Augusta County, Virginia with a family of four sons and three daughters by 1810. The oldest three children were born sometime between 1794 and 1800, suggesting that George got married not long before 1794 when he was about 28 years old. As noted above, it is interesting to note that it was only a few years later, in 1796, that George acquired his own plot of land from his father’s holdings. The fact that George Jr. ended up getting the plantation in his father’s will further supports the notion that he was, indeed, the oldest son remaining in Augusta County.
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In early 1796, a few years after he got married, George Jr. entered into a land contract with his father in which the younger Berry assumed ownership of a part of the family plantation. Apparently, George Jr. was already living on the southeast side of the creek, probably since he had gotten married, and since his father stipulated that he could build his own house, it seems that young George was living in an existing house – possibly the homestead of the now deceased elder James Berry. The contract said that neither party could sell without the express permission of the other party, and that the son would inherit all of the land if he was still living there when the old man died.
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In the fall of 1796 George Berry, Jr. was appointed to the rank of captain of the 2nd battalion of the 32nd militia regiment of the Augusta County militia following the resignation from that position of one of his neighbors, John McCutcheon. Having been granted the rank of captain in 1796 suggests that George had been a rank and file member of the Augusta County militia for some time already. By early 1797 his new rank was approved. Tax records record him as Captain George Berry until 1807 when he was promoted to the rank of major. From 1796 through 1801 young George was always referred to as George Berry Jr. in the tax records in order to differentiate him from his father, who was listed as George Berry, Sr. In 1802 his Father is absent from the records and Captain George Berry is listed without the Jr. reference. This suggests that his father was in failing health, and, possibly, was no longer considered to be a taxable male. His will was presented to the Augusta court in the spring of 1803, which indicates that he had passed away either in late 1802 or early 1803. In his father’s will, it was stipulated that George Jr. was to inherit the plantation along the Middle Branch of the Shenandoah River. As an interesting side note, George Berry, Sr. last appears in Augusta County tax records in 1801. Up until that time both George Berrys were listed in the tax roles and differentiated by the junior and senior designation. After his father passed away in late 1802 or early 1803, young George was no longer referred to as George Berry Jr.
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Once
George Jr. became established in his own household, the tax records
documented his life through the lense of his taxable property in Augusta
County. Such property included land, horses and African slaves, and the
latter two items reveal some interesting information. From a comparison
of the number of slaves and horses that George Berry owned from 1796
through 1810, depicted in Table XXV, one of the first things that
stands out is the sudden increase in both “holdings” in 1802. In that
year he went from owning one African slave over the age of 16 to three,
and from six horses to ten. His taxable slaves and horses remained at or
near these levels for the remainder of the time period covered by the
tax data. When George Jr.’s father passed away in late 1802 or early
1803, he had stipulated that three slaves, Sambo, Rood and Lip (?) be
distributed among his children, and if any disputes arose, he designated
the outline of an arbitration panel. He also noted that two horses, one
being a mare, were also to be distributed in the same manner. From the
sudden increase in George Jr.’s slaves and horses, it would appear that
he received the lions share of these items. With one of the horses being
a mare, it is quite possible that there was some natural increase in the
number of these animals. |
Table XXV
George Berry, Jr.'s Taxable Property 1796 - 1810
Year | Slaves > 16 | Slaves < 16 | Horses |
1796 | 1 | 3 | |
1797 | 1 | 5 | |
1798 | 5 | ||
1799 | 5 | ||
1800 | 5 | ||
1801 | 1 | 6 | |
1802 | 3 | 10 | |
1803 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
1804 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
1805 | 2 | 9 | |
1806 | 3 | 9 | |
1807 | 3 | 9 | |
1808 | 3 | 10 | |
1809 | 3 | 7 |
Based on the primary source records that have been found so far, there
seems to be a sudden disappearance of George Berry from Augusta County
records after 1810, but possibly as late as 1815. Several possibilities
can explain this phenomenon. It could be that not all of the available
records for George Berry, Jr. have been located at this time. There are
also two other explanations. He appears to be missing from the 1820
Augusta County federal census records, and this could mean either that
he had passed away by that time or he had moved from the area. Since he
would only have been about 54 years old in 1820, the latter possibility
seems more likely. |
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