David Berg died Sept 7 1916,and is buried next to his wife Sarah E. Travers

On March 15 1877, Wayne Co. Press THE GRAND JURY-personal sketches of its members. David Berg of Mt Erie,came to to Wayne sixteen years ago from Pennsylvania. He is now 44 years old,married,the father of eight children.A farmer.uses tobacco but opposes the liquor trade.He is a greenback Republican and a Methodist.

He served in Co. D. 87th.Inf. ILL. Vol. He enlisted Aug.13/1862 and was discharged on June 16th. 1865. He enlisted after the death of his first wife Elizabeth Neisly, leaving his three young children with his mother. When he returned from the war he married for the second time to Sarah Ellen Travers a young neighbor girl. They were married for 15 years and had a total of seven children.She died on Dec.21st.1880, and his mother died the same year leaving him with his children by both marriages to raise. He remarried to a widow Mrs Mary Jane McCleary who had three children of her own still living at home. She had been married to Phillip E. Daniels. David and Mary had three more children of which only one survived.

"David Samuel Berg" The middle name Samuel does not appear on any legal documents or in his military and pension records. Descendants of his oldest son who live in Oklahoma have given this name. The name is family tradition and is probably correct. His death certificate gives H. as middle initial but is incorrect.

"David was born in Saltlick Township,Fayette County,PA. While still an infant Samuel and Susan Berg took their children including David and settled in Green TWP. Clark County Ohio where David grew to manhood. About 1856 David married Elizabeth Ann Neisley in Clark County,Ohio. They had two sons, Samuel Lewis and William Henry Berg. Most of the Berg families migrated again to Wayne county,IL. in the summer of 1860.It must have been a very difficult journey by wagon,crossing the rivers on flat boats or by ferries. David's wife Elizabeth was expecting her third child during this trip. Little Emma J. Berg was born 11Oct/1860 north of Mt. Erie,IL. It is possible that no doctor was attending the mother. David's pension file gives her death date as 1861."

"David S. Berg enlisted in Co.D 87 Mtd.ILL.Vol. in Aug.1862 leaving his three little children with his mother and his sister Susan, he just walked off across the field one day soon after being ill with pneumonia. He paid his sister Susan to care for the children. His mother Susan spoke no english although the older children had attended schools in Ohio and were well educated for that time. David kept a diary telling about his fighting days. He took part in the siege of Vicksburg and the Red River expedition. He tells about making camp, sometimes in cornfields whereever they could. One day he drew a horse to ride and finding the mount to be blind, he traded it for a good horse. His diary is long. It is a common story among the families that when David returned home in 1865 his children did not recognize him. Also his brother Marion who was twelve years old did not know him."