KSGenWeb Digital Library Biographical Sketch of Alexander Berry Doniphan County, Kansas

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The following transcription is from a 750 page book titled "Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas, dated 1900.  These have been diligently transcribed and generously contributed by Penny R. Harrell, please give her a very big Thank You for her hard work!

Alexander Berry.

The name which heads this sketch belonged to one of Doniphan county's early pioneers whose death was the result of exposure in the army during the civil war.  Alexander Berry was born in Tenn., in 1820, and died in Doniphan county, Kansas, April 13, 1865.  Francis P. Berry, his father, was a native of Ireland, born March 5, 1788, who settled in Tennessee in which state he was married.

He served in the War of 1812.  From Tennessee he moved to Illinois and finally died in that state, near Alton.  After his death his widow moved to Missouri, where she passed the remainder of her life.  Alexander Berry accompanied his parents to Illinois and to Missouri, and remained in Missouri until 1857, when he came to Kansas and located in Doniphan county.

Here Mr. Berry pre-empted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land upon which he and his family settled and went earnestly to work to make a home and improve a farm, and were progressing in the work when the great civil war came on, and he and his two sons left the farm to join the Union ranks and fight for the protection of the national honor.

Mrs. Berry, like many other brave women, remained on their claim, and with the aid of the other children, carried on the farming as well as she could; and after the war and the death of her husband she continued on the farm and remained on it until her death.  It is now well improved and highly cultivated, among the improvements being an apple orchard of forty acres containing no less than two thousand trees.

The youngest son, John, resided with his mother and had charge of the operation.  It was in 1861, at the very beginning of the war, that Alexander Berry enrolled his name among the Kansas volunteers.  He was a member of Company A, Thirteenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, of which regiment Colonel Bowen was in command.

After a faithful service of two and a half years Mr. Berry received a surgeon's certificate of disability, and was honorably discharged and mustered out of service.  During his service he has been commissioned second lieutenant and has participated in the battle of Prairie Grove and several smaller engagements. His two sons who were in the army were Francis and William.  Each served three years and at the end of that time were honorably discharged.

Mr. Berry was married, in 1841, in Missouri, to Miss Phoebe Birchfield, who was born in Taney county, Missouri, February 8, 1835, and died January 6, 1900.  She was a daughter of John and Rebecca (Hamilton) Birchfield.  After their marriage they settled on a farm not farm from Springfield, Missouri, where they resided until 1857, when, as already stated, they came to Doniphan county, Kansas, and established the present home in Center township.

Mrs. Berry's grandchildren now number forty.  She died January 6, 1900.  One son, William, is deceased. The living members of her family are as follows: Margaret, now Mrs. William Privett; Delia M., who became the wife of E. Monroe; Hester, the wife of Myron Steele; Anna B., the wife of Eugene Brown, son of Justice Brown of Troy; Francis, a farmer; Chesley H. and John.

John Berry, who as above stated conducts the home farm, is an enterprising, up to date young farmer, and a member of the Masonic order. He is identified with Troy Lodge, No. 55, A. F. & A. M., and Troy Chapter, No. 16, R. A. M.

Last update: Saturday, January 17, 2004 15:38:12

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