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Profile last modified 9 Jul 2023 | Created 4 Mar 2018

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Biography

John Berry was a Tennessean.

John Berry was born in October 8, 1797 and he died May 7 1886 in Carter County, Tennessee. He first married Rhoda Adams on January 25, 1818. He married his second wife Gemima Poland on July 22, 1824. He married his third wife Margaret McKinney on August 10, 1837. All his marriages were in Carter County, Tennessee. Margaret McKinney was born on September 19, 1817 and died on January 26, 1900. Margaret was the daughter of Samuel McKinney and Catherine Grindstaff. [1]

The following information about John Berry, Margaret McKinney, and their family comes from the book "Jeremiah and Alexander Clark of North Carolina" published in 1997. The story follows with the author's (Robert Bradley Clark) permission.

"John Berry ... married Rhoda Adams on January 25, 1818, in Carter County. A few years later he married Gemina Poland on July 22, 1824, also in Carter County. Next, John married Margaret McKinney on August 10, 1837, in Carter County, and all their children were born there.

The children of John Berry and Margaret McKinney were Katherine, Samuel, Matilda, Sarah Ann, Margaret, Emeline, James, John Wesley, David, and Robert. Their son Samuel served in the Civil War as a Corporal in Company A of the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry. Their daughter Katherine married Isaac N. Taylor who served in the Civil War as a blacksmith for Company M of the 8th Tennessee Cavalry Volunteers.

John Wesley Berry, son of John and Margaret Berry, was born on January 30, 1852, and died on February 24, 1921. John Wesley was called “Wes”. Wes married Emaline Banks and they lived in a log cabin along the Simerly Creek Road connecting Unicoi to Hampton. They operated a small dry goods store alongside the road. In 1907, the property was sold to their son-in-law Newton Clark and his wife Sarah Berry. Later the land and store became the property of Arthur Clark and his wife Nola Tolley. Arthur was the son of Newton and Sarah. The children of Wes Berry and Emaline Banks were Sarah, Samuel, John, Margaret, Julia, Jane, and Mary Berry.

Six of the seven Wes Berry children married into the Clark family... All of the Clarks were from the James Wilburn Clark and Suzanne Lusk family of nearby Clarktown. Newton and Sarah Berry Clark eventually lived along the Simerly Creek Road. Dave and Jane Berry Clark made their home in the Fairview area. Samuel Berry had seven wives and was considered to be quite a character. One of the wives was from the Clark family. Two of the children of Sam Berry also married into the Clark family - Martha Berry married Andrew Clark and Wesley C. Berry married Charlotte Clark." [2]

Life During the Civil War

A story of about John Berry, Margaret McKinney, and their family during the Civil War comes from the book "Jeremiah and Alexander Clark of North Carolina" published in 1997. The story follows with the author's (Robert Bradley Clark) permission.

"During the Civil War, many civilians would travel from North Carolina through the mountains of Carter County on up into Kentucky... Dan Ellis, a scout and a Captain in the 13th Tennessee Cavalry (USA), led many groups of men to Tennessee and Kentucky to join the Federal army. This was a type of underground railroad - one that Southern men traveled to enlist in the Federal army. There was a large reward on the head of Dan Ellis.

On one occasion in November of 1863, John Bryant was leading a group of fifty-seven men from Wilkes County, North Carolina, to join Union forces... On the 19th of November, they had stopped at the home of Dr. David Bell up in Limestone Cove. The path up Limestone Cove led to a safe area where the men could rest and be fed. Dr. Bell’s home was situated in a valley with mountains all around. It was a most beautiful location.

Meanwhile, Colonel Vincent A. Witcher of Virginia and his Confederate cavalry had intentions of overhauling Carter and Johnson counties. When the Federal troops retreated from the area in September this made the task easy for this fast-moving cavalry of 400 men. Witcher’s men were noted for being cold and reckless. They consorted with some of the local men who were Confederates in the Buffalo and Greasy Cove area. They killed several Unionists in the area then headed for Limestone Cove. As they rode up the cove ahead of them was the house of David Bell.

The scene that followed was a brutal nightmare. As the Witcher cavalry approached, the men at the David Bell home scattered in all directions heading for the woods and the mountains. The soldiers also scattered as they chased the men. The following are the words of Daniel Ellis as he described that gruesome scene.

'The first man who I shall mention as being killed was Calvin Cartrel. He was shot in the breast; and as he lay upon the ground, writhing in terrible agony of pain, he begged them not to kill him; but seeing that they were determined to take his life, he requested them to allow him a little time to pray. They abruptly denied his request, and at once commenced beating him with the butts of their guns until they knocked his brains out, and then thrust their bayonets through his lifeless body.' [3]

John Sparks, Wiley Royal, Elijah Gentry, Jacob Lyons, B. Blackburn, and Preston Pruett were chased across the valley and brutally killed. Ellis described this horrible scene in some detail and the acts committed on these men were unthinkable. Most of the men escaped into the nearby woods. Soon the soldiers returned to the house and proceeded to shoot James Bell, an old bachelor well over the conscript age and brother to David Bell. Then the men

'laid his head upon a rock. They then took another rock and beat his brains out with it; and not being yet content, they got rocks and threw them upon his body. Mrs. Bell, seeing they were going to murder her brother-in-law, went out and commenced interceding for him. Two of the ruffians approached her, and began to punch her with their guns, drove her back to the house...' [4]

Mrs. Bell and one of her daughters were witnesses to many of these atrocities. Years later, this writer (Robert Bradley Clark) had the honor of hearing this same story told by Judge Walter Garland of Unicoi County, Tennessee. Judge Garland heard the story directly from his grandmother, the girl who looked on as they beat her Uncle’s brains out on a large rock in the field near their home. Judge Garland was still visibly moved by the memory of that tragic day.

[When visiting with Judge Garland, I learned he was researching and working on a book about the Limestone Cove massacre. He was one of the motivating forces behind the creation of the Unicoi County, Tennessee Historical Society. He was retired and the years were racing by. He never completed the book.]

After the brutal work was finished at the Bell home the soldiers rode away toward upper Limestone Cove to continue their killing spree. They soon happen on a man named Commodore Slone, age fifty-six, and killed him. On their way to the Doe River, they came upon the house of William McKinney where they found a man by the name of William Bird. He was killed. Witcher continued his ride on to Elizabethton where he bragged he had killed twenty-one Union men. A great number were also wounded that day.

WOODBY HILL MASSACRE

John Berry and his wife Margaret McKinney Berry lived in an old log cabin on Woodby Hill. John would typically hideout on nearby Stone Mountain. By the time of the war, John was in his 60s. Their son, John Wesley, was nine years old when the war started. He would take the horses and hide them in the dense laurel thickets up on the mountain. It was his job to tend the horses. Like many a poor mountain boy, young John had no shoes. He would faithfully feed and water the horses, no matter the weather. When young John walked through the snow on those cold winter days he probably thought he was going to freeze to death. Sometimes he would come across a place where wild hogs had slept up in the woods. Occasionally, the ground was still warm if the hogs had recently been there.

After Colonel Witcher’s men finished their work at the David Bell home they passed through upper Limestone Cove and by Woodby Hill. Seven men were killed on Woodby Hill just down from the site of the present-day Woodby Hill church. Some of the victims either had their heads smashed in or were beheaded. [Eleven-year-old John Wesley Berry was out in the field and witnessed the slaughter from a distance.] This site was a couple of miles from the Bell home...

Margaret McKinney Berry heard the gunfire just over the hill. She came out and fussed at the soldiers for their horrible acts. She wanted to give the dead men a proper burial but the soldiers would not allow it. Margaret was known to be a spirited redhead with a bit of Irish in her. She was not afraid to speak her mind to those cold, heartless soldiers. She wrapped the bodies and built a log fence around them so the wild hogs would not eat the bodies. They were later buried in a mass grave on Woodby Hill. This grave became a big “sinkhole” which was still noticeable over 100 years later. Margaret McKinney Berry was the great-great-great-grandmother of this writer (Robert Bradley Clark born 1950).

The site of the massacre on Woodby Hill was always an area of mysterious fear. Children would never dare walk near the site after dark. There were all kinds of frightening tales about that hill. When it was dark, some claimed to see lights coming from there. Others claimed to see headless people walking about up there... Net Berry spoke of this haunting place.

She said when she was a little girl every stick looked like a “bugger” when she walked by that field. Even as an 82-year-old lady in 1995 she shook with fear when talking of the place. The war still had a chilling effect 130 years later." [5]

Net Berry learned the stories of the Civil War from John Wesley Berry, her father, John Wesley Berry, her grandfather, and others in the area. She lived within a couple of miles from the site of the Woodby Hill Massacre until her passing. Her grandfather was the eleven-year-old son of John and Margaret McKinney Berry who was out in the field watching in terror as the soldiers brutalized the Unionists.

Net heard stories, again and again, of the cruel Confederate cavalry. How they smashed open the heads of these poor men and how their brains spilled out. She heard about them floundering like chickens with their heads cut off as they died. Robert Bradley Clark (born 1950) is the author of the stories about John Wesley Berry, Margaret McKinney Berry, John Berry, and the Civil War. He, along with his father Robert Clark and brother Bruce Clark, visited with Net Berry and other family members many times regarding these stories. Each person confirmed the tragic tale of horror. Some others who kept this story alive were Violet Carver, Nola Tolley Clark, and Bertha Tolley Woodby. It was a rare privilege to be able to connect with people who connected directly with those who experienced that aweful time.

Sources

↑ Steve C. Garvin, "054 John and Margaret McKinney Berry," in Carter County Tennessee and Its People (1796-1993), Margaret Ellis Sepello, Editor (Marceline, Missouri: Walsworth Publishing Company, 1993), pages 210-211.

↑ Clark, Robert Bradley. Jeremiah and Alexander Clark of North Carolina. West Des Moines, Iowa: 1997. Page 91.

↑ Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis. Pages 329-330.

↑ Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis. Page 331.

↑ Clark, Robert Bradley. Jeremiah and Alexander Clark of North Carolina. West Des Moines, Iowa: 1997. Pages 84-86.

See also:

Ellis, Daniel. Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis, The Great Union Guide of East Tennessee for a Period of Nearly Four Years During the Great Southern Rebellion. Johnson City Tennessee: The Overmountain Press, 1989. (Original Copyright, Harper & Brothers, 1867).

1840 United States Federal Census. Year: 1840; Census Place: Carter, Tennessee; Roll: 518; Page: 171; Family History Library Film: 0024542.

1850 United States Federal Census. Year: 1850; Census Place: District 6, Carter, Tennessee; Roll: 873; Page: 204B.

1860 United States Federal Census. Year: 1860; Census Place: Division 2, Carter, Tennessee; Page: 448.

1880 United States Federal Census. Year: 1880; Census Place: District 4, Washington, Tennessee; Roll: 1284; Page: 472A; Enumeration District: 030.

Tennessee, Death Records, 1908-1958. Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, Tennessee; Tennessee Death Records, 1908-1958; Roll Number: 123. Death record for son J. W. Berry (John Wesley Berry). States his parents were John Berry and Margaret McKinney.

Tennessee, Marriage Records, 1780-2002. Tennessee State Library and Archives; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002. Marriage record for John Berry and Margaret McKinney. Marriage Date: 10 Aug 1837. Marriage Place: Carter County, Tennessee, USA.

Tennessee, Deaths and Burials Index, 1874-1955. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. FHL Film Number: 1299727. J W Berry. Born abt 1852. Death date 24 Feb 1921. Death Place: 3, Carter, Tennessee. Father's Name: John Berry. Mother's Mame: Marge Mc Kinney.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10702987/john-berry : accessed 05 October 2021), memorial page for John Berry (8 Oct 1797–7 May 1886), Find a Grave Memorial ID 10702987, citing Berry Cemetery, Hampton, Carter County, Tennessee, USA; Maintained by D. Brown Love (contributor 46781225).