The most likely family history is given by John David Sutton who wrote about William Berry in Braxton County in a "History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia".. This is the part of Virginia that became West Virginia. Sutton was a descendant of a prominent pioneer family there (they gave their family name to the county seat.) and his ancestors knew William Berry personally. "William Berry was the only son of William and Mary (Hagan) Berry—Of English extraction, William Berry was born in Virginia near tide-water in 1768. A sister, dying in childhood, being the only other child. The children were left fatherless early in life. William was educated for a sea captain, but did not like it, and on returning from a second voyage across the water, at the age of nineteen, deserted the ship on which his mother had placed him. Early in life, he married Miss Agnes Kitchen, sweetheart of his boyhood. Five sons, William, Fielding, James, Lewis and Benjamin, and two daughters, Mary and Emza, were born. All, save the last one named, married and reared large families. The wife of his youth having died, he married Miss Cynthia Triplett. Four sons, Thornton, Joel, Craven, Allen S. and Washington and three daughters, Agnes, Elizabeth and Lucinda S., were born. All married and had families. In the spring of 1818, William Berry emigrated from Loudoun County, Va., to what is now Braxton County, and settled on the O'Briens fork of Salt Lick Creek, a veritable wilderness. He was the first school "master" in Braxton county. Felix Sutton, Mrs. Anna Sutton Baxter, Christian Hyer, William Gibson and William Betts being among his pupils. He died at the age of 69 years, and his remains rest on an eminence on the farm of the late Col. Asa Squires, overlooking the valley of Salt Lick. We cannot say too much in praise of this old nobleman of the forest and the school room. His numerous progeny attest his character and virtues—he imparted to his race that energy, frugality and honesty which have marked their generations down to the present time. He came to a wilderness country where young men and women were growing up without any education advantages, and he gathered many of them around him and gave them the rudiments of an education which enabled them to transact business, fill important stations in life, and become useful as teachers to others. The influence of such a life will go on and on until the humble slab at his grave will have moldered into dust" (from "History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia" by John Davison Sutton, Sutton, WV. 1919, reprinted 19197 McClain Printing Co., Parsons WV, p. 350) He died at the age of 69 and he was buried in a family cemetery belonging to Col. Asa Squires, overlooking the valley of Salt Lick. (A grandson, James Washington Berry, had married Elizabeth Jane Squires) A glance at the large families of his children and grandchildren indicate how widespread the William Berry clan was in West Virginia.
According to the West Virginia History, Vol. 2, William was a farmer in Virginia who lived in Loudoun County. He married Agnes Kitchen on June 18, 1790 when he was 22 and she was 18. They had ten children: James born January 26, 1791; Polly born March 10, 1792, Louis, born December 12, 1794, Fielding born November 12, 1796, Benjamin born October 29, 1798, Emsey born December 26, 1800; William born December 1, 1802; Absalom born August 31, 1805; and twin daughters born October 1, 1809 who died and took their mother with them. Agnes Kitchen died November 20, 1809. Since pioneer families found women's labor essential, he remarried quickly. William married Cynthia Triplett on August 12, 1810. She was born October 17, 1787 in Loudon county making her 23 and he was 42. Their first child died in 1810. The rest were: Thornton born May 9, 1811, Joel born November 9, 1812, Craven born November 3, 1814, Agnes born January 11, 1817, Elizabeth Ann born July 19, 1819, Allen S. born August 28, 1821, Washington H. born June 17, 1824, Lucinda born December 1 1826 and a still-born child on March 7, 1820. William moved his large family to West Virginia in 1818. It was still a part of Virginia then and he moved to Braxton County where he had obtained two large tracts of land on Salt lick Creek in a "veritable wilderness". William Berry besides the two tracts of land he obtained on Salt Lick creek, also purchased 400 acres in 1840 from John Evans. William Berry was the first schoolteacher in Braxton county and had other jobs that were indispensable to a frontier community such as tanner and doctor. How did he have time for it all? First school only took place in the four months of winter when children's labor wasn't needed. Second he had raised up his own labor team with lots of sons to help clear the wilderness land and build log houses. His older sons were in their twenties when he moved to Braxton county. Third the jobs that he did do did not require credentials or special training on the frontier. Most families tanned their own leather, and doctoring meant learning basic first aid and the uses of the natural herbs that grew there. (According to a descendent, he was a tanner, and the large stone with which the bark was ground, may still be seen near the primitive tanner on Berry Fork (creek). He also practiced medicine using the simple formulas of his day.) However, it showed a civic mindedness, a warmth, and generosity that he included other children with his large brood in home schooling.
Life as a frontier farmer remained the main option for the children of Cynthia and William Berry. William and Cynthia's son Joel settled on a farm on Oil Creek in Braxton County. In 1850 he moved back to his father's place on O'Brien's Fork, Salt Lick near the little town of Heaters. He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Cummings. They had 11 children: William H., Ephraim H., Thornton J., Minerva A., Franklin, James W., Mariah Agnes, Sarah E., Granville M., Payton, and Joe Thaddeus. In the 1850 U.S. Census, Joel Berry and Elizabeth his wife have William age 15 whose occupation was listed as farm laborer and clearly he was no longer allowed schooling, Ephriam age 13, Thornton age 11, Minerva age 9, James W., age 7, Mariah Ann (really Agnes) age 4, Sarah age 3 and Granville age 1. Ten years later in the 1860 U.S. Census, the older children have left and James age 17, Mariah age 14, Sarah age 12, Granville age 11, and Joel L., age 6 live with Joel Berry and his wife Elizabeth. (the children all married: William H. married Caroline Dennison, Ephriam married 3 times, Thornton J. married Catherine Miller, Granville (Uncle jack) married Sally Hickman, J. Thad married Belle McElwaine then Lorena Cartwright, Minerva married George H. Morrison a lawyer, and Sally Berry married Fletcher Morrison, a physician. We know Thornton J. unlike his siblings had got an education in the public schools and "later entered the grocery business." The farm has prospered and Joel's land is valued at $2600 and his buildings at $860 above average for the area. This value was destroyed by the Civil War. In the 1870 U.S. Census the home and property are only worth $300 and personal property is with $680. Only sons Granville, age 20 and Joel age 16 both listed as farmers are living with them. By the 1880 U.S. census all the children had left home but Joel and Elizabeth both age 67 still lived at Salt Lick, Braxton County, West Virginia. Joel Berry died August 1, 1896.
The Civil War was a watershed event for the families. Mariah Agnes' brother Thornton joined the Confederate army "and served throughout the war, taking part in the battle of Gettysburg and many other engagements, and being wounded near Augusta, Georgia. He was captured at the battle of the Wilderness and confined in Fort Delaware and was later taken south and placed under the fire of the Southern gun boats for six weeks, and later taken back to Fort Delaware where he remained a prisoner to the end of the war." Thornton J. Berry joined the 9th Battalion, Virginia Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel George W. Hansborough commanding as a Corporal. This battalion was engaged in heavy fighting near Thornton's home. The Confederate forces wanted to hold onto the frontier area of their state while the Union forces wanted to gain control of the B & O Railroad and the road from Parkersburg to Staunton. Union forces under Brig. Gen. Joseph Reynolds advanced and drove in pickets of the 9th Virginia at the Greenbrier River camp (in what would be West Virginia), but the battle was a draw. Reynolds withdrew to Cheat Mountain and the Tygart River valley where he was attacked by Robert E. Lee in his first offensive of the war. The confederate attacks were uncoordinated and the Union forces (of only 300) hung on stubbornly. Lee withdrew and tried again against Laurel Mountain but called off the operation due to poor communication and lack of supplies. In December of 1861 confederate forces occupied the summit of Allegheny Mountain to defend the Staunton-Parkersburg Pike. A Union force attacked on December 13. Fighting continued for much of the morning as each side maneuvered. Finally the Union troops were repulsed, and they retreated to camps near Cheat Mountain leaving the Confederate forces in control at Camp Alleghany. During the spring of 1862 Thornton's 9th Division merged into the 25th Regiment Virginia Infantry. Thornton was made a 2nd Lieutenant in the 25th Virginia Infantry (Heck's regiment). Hecks' Regiment fought under Stonewall Jackson in May 1862 taking on Union General Fremont on the Parkersburg road. After severe fighting Fremont withdrew into western Virginia and Jackson marched against other Union columns threatening the Shenandoah Valley (the breadbasket of the confederacy). Heck's regiment helped Jackson defeat Union Armies piecemeal in a series of slashing attacks and flanking movements at Cross Keys and Port Republic. Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson then defeated a Union army under John Pope at Cedar Mountain with A.P. Hill providing the crucial counterattack. Thornton and his regiment then marched to Sharpsburg, Maryland and the bloodbath of the battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in American military history with over 23,000 casualties. When the Union army moved into Virginia, Thornton and his regiment poured murderous fire from Marye's Heights onto Burnside's Union Army during the first battle of Fredericksburg. Thornton was one of 280 soldiers of the 25th regiment that went with Lee to Gettysburg fighting there July 1-3, 1863. Twenty-five percent of those 280 were disabled there. That Thorton was wounded in Georgia suggests that the 25th Virginia Infantry was sent south to help defend Georgia from Rosecrans' army of the Cumberland before the battle of Chickamauga. He recovered and went back north to help General Lee and the army of Northern Virginia defend against Grant's offensive. Fighting was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods on May 5, 1864. Darkness halted the fighting, and both sides rushed forward reinforcements. At dawn on May 6, attacks were made along several fronts with both Union and Confederate actions achieving successes. The battle was a tactical draw. Grant, however, did not retreat as had the other Union generals before him. On May 7, the Federals
According to the West Virginia History, Vol. 2, William was a farmer in Virginia who lived in Loudoun County. He married Agnes Kitchen on June 18, 1790 when he was 22 and she was 18. They had ten children: James born January 26, 1791; Polly born March 10, 1792, Louis, born December 12, 1794, Fielding born November 12, 1796, Benjamin born October 29, 1798, Emsey born December 26, 1800; William born December 1, 1802; Absalom born August 31, 1805; and twin daughters born October 1, 1809 who died and took their mother with them. Agnes Kitchen died November 20, 1809. Since pioneer families found women's labor essential, he remarried quickly. William married Cynthia Triplett on August 12, 1810. She was born October 17, 1787 in Loudon county making her 23 and he was 42. Their first child died in 1810. The rest were: Thornton born May 9, 1811, Joel born November 9, 1812, Craven born November 3, 1814, Agnes born January 11, 1817, Elizabeth Ann born July 19, 1819, Allen S. born August 28, 1821, Washington H. born June 17, 1824, Lucinda born December 1 1826 and a still-born child on March 7, 1820. William moved his large family to West Virginia in 1818. It was still a part of Virginia then and he moved to Braxton County where he had obtained two large tracts of land on Salt lick Creek in a "veritable wilderness". William Berry besides the two tracts of land he obtained on Salt Lick creek, also purchased 400 acres in 1840 from John Evans. William Berry was the first schoolteacher in Braxton county and had other jobs that were indispensable to a frontier community such as tanner and doctor. How did he have time for it all? First school only took place in the four months of winter when children's labor wasn't needed. Second he had raised up his own labor team with lots of sons to help clear the wilderness land and build log houses. His older sons were in their twenties when he moved to Braxton county. Third the jobs that he did do did not require credentials or special training on the frontier. Most families tanned their own leather, and doctoring meant learning basic first aid and the uses of the natural herbs that grew there. (According to a descendent, he was a tanner, and the large stone with which the bark was ground, may still be seen near the primitive tanner on Berry Fork (creek). He also practiced medicine using the simple formulas of his day.) However, it showed a civic mindedness, a warmth, and generosity that he included other children with his large brood in home schooling.
Life as a frontier farmer remained the main option for the children of Cynthia and William Berry. William and Cynthia's son Joel settled on a farm on Oil Creek in Braxton County. In 1850 he moved back to his father's place on O'Brien's Fork, Salt Lick near the little town of Heaters. He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Cummings. They had 11 children: William H., Ephraim H., Thornton J., Minerva A., Franklin, James W., Mariah Agnes, Sarah E., Granville M., Payton, and Joe Thaddeus. In the 1850 U.S. Census, Joel Berry and Elizabeth his wife have William age 15 whose occupation was listed as farm laborer and clearly he was no longer allowed schooling, Ephriam age 13, Thornton age 11, Minerva age 9, James W., age 7, Mariah Ann (really Agnes) age 4, Sarah age 3 and Granville age 1. Ten years later in the 1860 U.S. Census, the older children have left and James age 17, Mariah age 14, Sarah age 12, Granville age 11, and Joel L., age 6 live with Joel Berry and his wife Elizabeth. (the children all married: William H. married Caroline Dennison, Ephriam married 3 times, Thornton J. married Catherine Miller, Granville (Uncle jack) married Sally Hickman, J. Thad married Belle McElwaine then Lorena Cartwright, Minerva married George H. Morrison a lawyer, and Sally Berry married Fletcher Morrison, a physician. We know Thornton J. unlike his siblings had got an education in the public schools and "later entered the grocery business." The farm has prospered and Joel's land is valued at $2600 and his buildings at $860 above average for the area. This value was destroyed by the Civil War. In the 1870 U.S. Census the home and property are only worth $300 and personal property is with $680. Only sons Granville, age 20 and Joel age 16 both listed as farmers are living with them. By the 1880 U.S. census all the children had left home but Joel and Elizabeth both age 67 still lived at Salt Lick, Braxton County, West Virginia. Joel Berry died August 1, 1896.
The Civil War was a watershed event for the families. Mariah Agnes' brother Thornton joined the Confederate army "and served throughout the war, taking part in the battle of Gettysburg and many other engagements, and being wounded near Augusta, Georgia. He was captured at the battle of the Wilderness and confined in Fort Delaware and was later taken south and placed under the fire of the Southern gun boats for six weeks, and later taken back to Fort Delaware where he remained a prisoner to the end of the war." Thornton J. Berry joined the 9th Battalion, Virginia Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel George W. Hansborough commanding as a Corporal. This battalion was engaged in heavy fighting near Thornton's home. The Confederate forces wanted to hold onto the frontier area of their state while the Union forces wanted to gain control of the B & O Railroad and the road from Parkersburg to Staunton. Union forces under Brig. Gen. Joseph Reynolds advanced and drove in pickets of the 9th Virginia at the Greenbrier River camp (in what would be West Virginia), but the battle was a draw. Reynolds withdrew to Cheat Mountain and the Tygart River valley where he was attacked by Robert E. Lee in his first offensive of the war. The confederate attacks were uncoordinated and the Union forces (of only 300) hung on stubbornly. Lee withdrew and tried again against Laurel Mountain but called off the operation due to poor communication and lack of supplies. In December of 1861 confederate forces occupied the summit of Allegheny Mountain to defend the Staunton-Parkersburg Pike. A Union force attacked on December 13. Fighting continued for much of the morning as each side maneuvered. Finally the Union troops were repulsed, and they retreated to camps near Cheat Mountain leaving the Confederate forces in control at Camp Alleghany. During the spring of 1862 Thornton's 9th Division merged into the 25th Regiment Virginia Infantry. Thornton was made a 2nd Lieutenant in the 25th Virginia Infantry (Heck's regiment). Hecks' Regiment fought under Stonewall Jackson in May 1862 taking on Union General Fremont on the Parkersburg road. After severe fighting Fremont withdrew into western Virginia and Jackson marched against other Union columns threatening the Shenandoah Valley (the breadbasket of the confederacy). Heck's regiment helped Jackson defeat Union Armies piecemeal in a series of slashing attacks and flanking movements at Cross Keys and Port Republic. Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson then defeated a Union army under John Pope at Cedar Mountain with A.P. Hill providing the crucial counterattack. Thornton and his regiment then marched to Sharpsburg, Maryland and the bloodbath of the battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in American military history with over 23,000 casualties. When the Union army moved into Virginia, Thornton and his regiment poured murderous fire from Marye's Heights onto Burnside's Union Army during the first battle of Fredericksburg. Thornton was one of 280 soldiers of the 25th regiment that went with Lee to Gettysburg fighting there July 1-3, 1863. Twenty-five percent of those 280 were disabled there. That Thorton was wounded in Georgia suggests that the 25th Virginia Infantry was sent south to help defend Georgia from Rosecrans' army of the Cumberland before the battle of Chickamauga. He recovered and went back north to help General Lee and the army of Northern Virginia defend against Grant's offensive. Fighting was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods on May 5, 1864. Darkness halted the fighting, and both sides rushed forward reinforcements. At dawn on May 6, attacks were made along several fronts with both Union and Confederate actions achieving successes. The battle was a tactical draw. Grant, however, did not retreat as had the other Union generals before him. On May 7, the Federals
The most likely family history is given by John David Sutton who wrote about William Berry in Braxton County in a "History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia".. This is the part of Virginia that became West Virginia. Sutton was a descendant of a prominent pioneer family there (they gave their family name to the county seat.) and his ancestors knew William Berry personally. "William Berry was the only son of William and Mary (Hagan) Berry—Of English extraction, William Berry was born in Virginia near tide-water in 1768. A sister, dying in childhood, being the only other child. The children were left fatherless early in life. William was educated for a sea captain, but did not like it, and on returning from a second voyage across the water, at the age of nineteen, deserted the ship on which his mother had placed him. Early in life, he married Miss Agnes Kitchen, sweetheart of his boyhood. Five sons, William, Fielding, James, Lewis and Benjamin, and two daughters, Mary and Emza, were born. All, save the last one named, married and reared large families. The wife of his youth having died, he married Miss Cynthia Triplett. Four sons, Thornton, Joel, Craven, Allen S. and Washington and three daughters, Agnes, Elizabeth and Lucinda S., were born. All married and had families. In the spring of 1818, William Berry emigrated from Loudoun County, Va., to what is now Braxton County, and settled on the O'Briens fork of Salt Lick Creek, a veritable wilderness. He was the first school "master" in Braxton county. Felix Sutton, Mrs. Anna Sutton Baxter, Christian Hyer, William Gibson and William Betts being among his pupils. He died at the age of 69 years, and his remains rest on an eminence on the farm of the late Col. Asa Squires, overlooking the valley of Salt Lick. We cannot say too much in praise of this old nobleman of the forest and the school room. His numerous progeny attest his character and virtues—he imparted to his race that energy, frugality and honesty which have marked their generations down to the present time. He came to a wilderness country where young men and women were growing up without any education advantages, and he gathered many of them around him and gave them the rudiments of an education which enabled them to transact business, fill important stations in life, and become useful as teachers to others. The influence of such a life will go on and on until the humble slab at his grave will have moldered into dust" (from "History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia" by John Davison Sutton, Sutton, WV. 1919, reprinted 19197 McClain Printing Co., Parsons WV, p. 350) He died at the age of 69 and he was buried in a family cemetery belonging to Col. Asa Squires, overlooking the valley of Salt Lick. (A grandson, James Washington Berry, had married Elizabeth Jane Squires) A glance at the large families of his children and grandchildren indicate how widespread the William Berry clan was in West Virginia.
According to the West Virginia History, Vol. 2, William was a farmer in Virginia who lived in Loudoun County. He married Agnes Kitchen on June 18, 1790 when he was 22 and she was 18. They had ten children: James born January 26, 1791; Polly born March 10, 1792, Louis, born December 12, 1794, Fielding born November 12, 1796, Benjamin born October 29, 1798, Emsey born December 26, 1800; William born December 1, 1802; Absalom born August 31, 1805; and twin daughters born October 1, 1809 who died and took their mother with them. Agnes Kitchen died November 20, 1809. Since pioneer families found women's labor essential, he remarried quickly. William married Cynthia Triplett on August 12, 1810. She was born October 17, 1787 in Loudon county making her 23 and he was 42. Their first child died in 1810. The rest were: Thornton born May 9, 1811, Joel born November 9, 1812, Craven born November 3, 1814, Agnes born January 11, 1817, Elizabeth Ann born July 19, 1819, Allen S. born August 28, 1821, Washington H. born June 17, 1824, Lucinda born December 1 1826 and a still-born child on March 7, 1820. William moved his large family to West Virginia in 1818. It was still a part of Virginia then and he moved to Braxton County where he had obtained two large tracts of land on Salt lick Creek in a "veritable wilderness". William Berry besides the two tracts of land he obtained on Salt Lick creek, also purchased 400 acres in 1840 from John Evans. William Berry was the first schoolteacher in Braxton county and had other jobs that were indispensable to a frontier community such as tanner and doctor. How did he have time for it all? First school only took place in the four months of winter when children's labor wasn't needed. Second he had raised up his own labor team with lots of sons to help clear the wilderness land and build log houses. His older sons were in their twenties when he moved to Braxton county. Third the jobs that he did do did not require credentials or special training on the frontier. Most families tanned their own leather, and doctoring meant learning basic first aid and the uses of the natural herbs that grew there. (According to a descendent, he was a tanner, and the large stone with which the bark was ground, may still be seen near the primitive tanner on Berry Fork (creek). He also practiced medicine using the simple formulas of his day.) However, it showed a civic mindedness, a warmth, and generosity that he included other children with his large brood in home schooling.
Life as a frontier farmer remained the main option for the children of Cynthia and William Berry. William and Cynthia's son Joel settled on a farm on Oil Creek in Braxton County. In 1850 he moved back to his father's place on O'Brien's Fork, Salt Lick near the little town of Heaters. He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Cummings. They had 11 children: William H., Ephraim H., Thornton J., Minerva A., Franklin, James W., Mariah Agnes, Sarah E., Granville M., Payton, and Joe Thaddeus. In the 1850 U.S. Census, Joel Berry and Elizabeth his wife have William age 15 whose occupation was listed as farm laborer and clearly he was no longer allowed schooling, Ephriam age 13, Thornton age 11, Minerva age 9, James W., age 7, Mariah Ann (really Agnes) age 4, Sarah age 3 and Granville age 1. Ten years later in the 1860 U.S. Census, the older children have left and James age 17, Mariah age 14, Sarah age 12, Granville age 11, and Joel L., age 6 live with Joel Berry and his wife Elizabeth. (the children all married: William H. married Caroline Dennison, Ephriam married 3 times, Thornton J. married Catherine Miller, Granville (Uncle jack) married Sally Hickman, J. Thad married Belle McElwaine then Lorena Cartwright, Minerva married George H. Morrison a lawyer, and Sally Berry married Fletcher Morrison, a physician. We know Thornton J. unlike his siblings had got an education in the public schools and "later entered the grocery business." The farm has prospered and Joel's land is valued at $2600 and his buildings at $860 above average for the area. This value was destroyed by the Civil War. In the 1870 U.S. Census the home and property are only worth $300 and personal property is with $680. Only sons Granville, age 20 and Joel age 16 both listed as farmers are living with them. By the 1880 U.S. census all the children had left home but Joel and Elizabeth both age 67 still lived at Salt Lick, Braxton County, West Virginia. Joel Berry died August 1, 1896.
The Civil War was a watershed event for the families. Mariah Agnes' brother Thornton joined the Confederate army "and served throughout the war, taking part in the battle of Gettysburg and many other engagements, and being wounded near Augusta, Georgia. He was captured at the battle of the Wilderness and confined in Fort Delaware and was later taken south and placed under the fire of the Southern gun boats for six weeks, and later taken back to Fort Delaware where he remained a prisoner to the end of the war." Thornton J. Berry joined the 9th Battalion, Virginia Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel George W. Hansborough commanding as a Corporal. This battalion was engaged in heavy fighting near Thornton's home. The Confederate forces wanted to hold onto the frontier area of their state while the Union forces wanted to gain control of the B & O Railroad and the road from Parkersburg to Staunton. Union forces under Brig. Gen. Joseph Reynolds advanced and drove in pickets of the 9th Virginia at the Greenbrier River camp (in what would be West Virginia), but the battle was a draw. Reynolds withdrew to Cheat Mountain and the Tygart River valley where he was attacked by Robert E. Lee in his first offensive of the war. The confederate attacks were uncoordinated and the Union forces (of only 300) hung on stubbornly. Lee withdrew and tried again against Laurel Mountain but called off the operation due to poor communication and lack of supplies. In December of 1861 confederate forces occupied the summit of Allegheny Mountain to defend the Staunton-Parkersburg Pike. A Union force attacked on December 13. Fighting continued for much of the morning as each side maneuvered. Finally the Union troops were repulsed, and they retreated to camps near Cheat Mountain leaving the Confederate forces in control at Camp Alleghany. During the spring of 1862 Thornton's 9th Division merged into the 25th Regiment Virginia Infantry. Thornton was made a 2nd Lieutenant in the 25th Virginia Infantry (Heck's regiment). Hecks' Regiment fought under Stonewall Jackson in May 1862 taking on Union General Fremont on the Parkersburg road. After severe fighting Fremont withdrew into western Virginia and Jackson marched against other Union columns threatening the Shenandoah Valley (the breadbasket of the confederacy). Heck's regiment helped Jackson defeat Union Armies piecemeal in a series of slashing attacks and flanking movements at Cross Keys and Port Republic. Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson then defeated a Union army under John Pope at Cedar Mountain with A.P. Hill providing the crucial counterattack. Thornton and his regiment then marched to Sharpsburg, Maryland and the bloodbath of the battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in American military history with over 23,000 casualties. When the Union army moved into Virginia, Thornton and his regiment poured murderous fire from Marye's Heights onto Burnside's Union Army during the first battle of Fredericksburg. Thornton was one of 280 soldiers of the 25th regiment that went with Lee to Gettysburg fighting there July 1-3, 1863. Twenty-five percent of those 280 were disabled there. That Thorton was wounded in Georgia suggests that the 25th Virginia Infantry was sent south to help defend Georgia from Rosecrans' army of the Cumberland before the battle of Chickamauga. He recovered and went back north to help General Lee and the army of Northern Virginia defend against Grant's offensive. Fighting was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods on May 5, 1864. Darkness halted the fighting, and both sides rushed forward reinforcements. At dawn on May 6, attacks were made along several fronts with both Union and Confederate actions achieving successes. The battle was a tactical draw. Grant, however, did not retreat as had the other Union generals before him. On May 7, the Federals
According to the West Virginia History, Vol. 2, William was a farmer in Virginia who lived in Loudoun County. He married Agnes Kitchen on June 18, 1790 when he was 22 and she was 18. They had ten children: James born January 26, 1791; Polly born March 10, 1792, Louis, born December 12, 1794, Fielding born November 12, 1796, Benjamin born October 29, 1798, Emsey born December 26, 1800; William born December 1, 1802; Absalom born August 31, 1805; and twin daughters born October 1, 1809 who died and took their mother with them. Agnes Kitchen died November 20, 1809. Since pioneer families found women's labor essential, he remarried quickly. William married Cynthia Triplett on August 12, 1810. She was born October 17, 1787 in Loudon county making her 23 and he was 42. Their first child died in 1810. The rest were: Thornton born May 9, 1811, Joel born November 9, 1812, Craven born November 3, 1814, Agnes born January 11, 1817, Elizabeth Ann born July 19, 1819, Allen S. born August 28, 1821, Washington H. born June 17, 1824, Lucinda born December 1 1826 and a still-born child on March 7, 1820. William moved his large family to West Virginia in 1818. It was still a part of Virginia then and he moved to Braxton County where he had obtained two large tracts of land on Salt lick Creek in a "veritable wilderness". William Berry besides the two tracts of land he obtained on Salt Lick creek, also purchased 400 acres in 1840 from John Evans. William Berry was the first schoolteacher in Braxton county and had other jobs that were indispensable to a frontier community such as tanner and doctor. How did he have time for it all? First school only took place in the four months of winter when children's labor wasn't needed. Second he had raised up his own labor team with lots of sons to help clear the wilderness land and build log houses. His older sons were in their twenties when he moved to Braxton county. Third the jobs that he did do did not require credentials or special training on the frontier. Most families tanned their own leather, and doctoring meant learning basic first aid and the uses of the natural herbs that grew there. (According to a descendent, he was a tanner, and the large stone with which the bark was ground, may still be seen near the primitive tanner on Berry Fork (creek). He also practiced medicine using the simple formulas of his day.) However, it showed a civic mindedness, a warmth, and generosity that he included other children with his large brood in home schooling.
Life as a frontier farmer remained the main option for the children of Cynthia and William Berry. William and Cynthia's son Joel settled on a farm on Oil Creek in Braxton County. In 1850 he moved back to his father's place on O'Brien's Fork, Salt Lick near the little town of Heaters. He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Cummings. They had 11 children: William H., Ephraim H., Thornton J., Minerva A., Franklin, James W., Mariah Agnes, Sarah E., Granville M., Payton, and Joe Thaddeus. In the 1850 U.S. Census, Joel Berry and Elizabeth his wife have William age 15 whose occupation was listed as farm laborer and clearly he was no longer allowed schooling, Ephriam age 13, Thornton age 11, Minerva age 9, James W., age 7, Mariah Ann (really Agnes) age 4, Sarah age 3 and Granville age 1. Ten years later in the 1860 U.S. Census, the older children have left and James age 17, Mariah age 14, Sarah age 12, Granville age 11, and Joel L., age 6 live with Joel Berry and his wife Elizabeth. (the children all married: William H. married Caroline Dennison, Ephriam married 3 times, Thornton J. married Catherine Miller, Granville (Uncle jack) married Sally Hickman, J. Thad married Belle McElwaine then Lorena Cartwright, Minerva married George H. Morrison a lawyer, and Sally Berry married Fletcher Morrison, a physician. We know Thornton J. unlike his siblings had got an education in the public schools and "later entered the grocery business." The farm has prospered and Joel's land is valued at $2600 and his buildings at $860 above average for the area. This value was destroyed by the Civil War. In the 1870 U.S. Census the home and property are only worth $300 and personal property is with $680. Only sons Granville, age 20 and Joel age 16 both listed as farmers are living with them. By the 1880 U.S. census all the children had left home but Joel and Elizabeth both age 67 still lived at Salt Lick, Braxton County, West Virginia. Joel Berry died August 1, 1896.
The Civil War was a watershed event for the families. Mariah Agnes' brother Thornton joined the Confederate army "and served throughout the war, taking part in the battle of Gettysburg and many other engagements, and being wounded near Augusta, Georgia. He was captured at the battle of the Wilderness and confined in Fort Delaware and was later taken south and placed under the fire of the Southern gun boats for six weeks, and later taken back to Fort Delaware where he remained a prisoner to the end of the war." Thornton J. Berry joined the 9th Battalion, Virginia Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel George W. Hansborough commanding as a Corporal. This battalion was engaged in heavy fighting near Thornton's home. The Confederate forces wanted to hold onto the frontier area of their state while the Union forces wanted to gain control of the B & O Railroad and the road from Parkersburg to Staunton. Union forces under Brig. Gen. Joseph Reynolds advanced and drove in pickets of the 9th Virginia at the Greenbrier River camp (in what would be West Virginia), but the battle was a draw. Reynolds withdrew to Cheat Mountain and the Tygart River valley where he was attacked by Robert E. Lee in his first offensive of the war. The confederate attacks were uncoordinated and the Union forces (of only 300) hung on stubbornly. Lee withdrew and tried again against Laurel Mountain but called off the operation due to poor communication and lack of supplies. In December of 1861 confederate forces occupied the summit of Allegheny Mountain to defend the Staunton-Parkersburg Pike. A Union force attacked on December 13. Fighting continued for much of the morning as each side maneuvered. Finally the Union troops were repulsed, and they retreated to camps near Cheat Mountain leaving the Confederate forces in control at Camp Alleghany. During the spring of 1862 Thornton's 9th Division merged into the 25th Regiment Virginia Infantry. Thornton was made a 2nd Lieutenant in the 25th Virginia Infantry (Heck's regiment). Hecks' Regiment fought under Stonewall Jackson in May 1862 taking on Union General Fremont on the Parkersburg road. After severe fighting Fremont withdrew into western Virginia and Jackson marched against other Union columns threatening the Shenandoah Valley (the breadbasket of the confederacy). Heck's regiment helped Jackson defeat Union Armies piecemeal in a series of slashing attacks and flanking movements at Cross Keys and Port Republic. Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson then defeated a Union army under John Pope at Cedar Mountain with A.P. Hill providing the crucial counterattack. Thornton and his regiment then marched to Sharpsburg, Maryland and the bloodbath of the battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in American military history with over 23,000 casualties. When the Union army moved into Virginia, Thornton and his regiment poured murderous fire from Marye's Heights onto Burnside's Union Army during the first battle of Fredericksburg. Thornton was one of 280 soldiers of the 25th regiment that went with Lee to Gettysburg fighting there July 1-3, 1863. Twenty-five percent of those 280 were disabled there. That Thorton was wounded in Georgia suggests that the 25th Virginia Infantry was sent south to help defend Georgia from Rosecrans' army of the Cumberland before the battle of Chickamauga. He recovered and went back north to help General Lee and the army of Northern Virginia defend against Grant's offensive. Fighting was fierce but inconclusive as both sides attempted to maneuver in the dense woods on May 5, 1864. Darkness halted the fighting, and both sides rushed forward reinforcements. At dawn on May 6, attacks were made along several fronts with both Union and Confederate actions achieving successes. The battle was a tactical draw. Grant, however, did not retreat as had the other Union generals before him. On May 7, the Federals
Family Members
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
