William Berry

~1742/1743¹²	*Esther (Berry) McCord Family Record* Birth of Mary ‘Mollie’ Berry either in Pennsylvania or Augusta County, Virginia
~1770¹²	*Esther McCord Family Bible* Mary ‘Mollie’ Berry married James Trimble Estimated marriage date presuming Mary to have been age 20.
16 Dec. 1798¹²⁰	*Washington County, Virginia, Will Book 2, pages 209-210* In the name of god amen, the sixteenth of December one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight. I, Thomas Berry, of the County of Washington and State of Virginia, being weak in body but sound in mind and knowing that all flesh must yield to death when it shall please god to call, I do hereby make constitute and ordain and declare this to be my last Will and Testament in manner and form following revolking and anuling by these present all and every testement or testaments will or wills heretofore by me made and declare either by word or writing and this to be taken only for my last will and testament and none other and now for the settling my temperate estate and such goods and chattals and debts as it pleased god for above my deserts to bestow on me. I do order, give and dispose the same in manner and form following, And first I do will that all my just debts be paid within convenient time after my decease by my executors hereafter named and seconded, I do give and bequeath to my well beloved wife Esther the third part of all the moveable Estate except the negros as I have left her the third part of the price of my land already. I do leave to my son George a negro named Adam and all my wearing apparel and George is to give to my daughter Rebeckah fifty dollars. I do also leave to my daughter Esther a negro girl named Phili to her and her heirs and if the girl has any children they are to go to Esther and her heirs, also my negro woman named Tawney I do allow her to be free and I leave her a milch cow. I also leave to my son John, four dollars. I also leave the rest of my estate to my children hereafter named, son James, son Thomas, my daughter in law Mary Berry, wife to son William deceased, my daughter Mary, my daughter Barbara, daughter Rebeckah, my daughter Elizabeth, my daughter Susannah, my son Francis to be equally divided among them. I also leave to my grandson Thomas Dryden my best saddle. I also will that David Dryden and Samuel McChesney and David Lowry shall be my Executors given under my hand and seal this sixteenth of December 1798. Witnesses present Jonathan Dryden Thomas Berry LS (?) William Palmer

Analysis of the Timeline

The birth date of Mary “Mollie” Berry is estimated to have taken place sometime between 1742 and 1743 based on firm estimates of the birth dates of her three older siblings and a well documented family record that identifies her birth order in the family. Her parents were Thomas Berry Sr. and his first wife ? (unknown first name) Buchanan. From the time they got married, it appears that her parents had children at regular intervals, almost on an annual basis. If they continued this regular succession of births after their first three children, then their next child, Mollie, would have been born about 1742 or 1743 and William, who followed Mollie in the birth sequence, would have been born in 1743 or 1744. Sometime after William’s birth, however, Mollie’s mother must have passed away, since all of her remaining siblings were products of her father’s second marriage, according to the family history records of Esther (Berry) McCord. Based on the fact that the whereabouts of her parents at the time of her birth is not known, the only near certainty that be noted about her birth place is that it was probably either someplace in Pennsylvania or Augusta County, Virginia.^{12,545,685,1177}