Another one of my husband’s family lines is Berry. The earliest I’ve found - and been able to
half-way document - is Richard Berry and Zaney Cunningham. They were married about 1796 or so in
Virginia - in what became Monongalia Co, West Virginia.
Their son was John H Berry, b abt 1799, Monongalia Co,
Virginia; his son John Alpheus Berry, b 1829 in Morgantown, Monongalia Co,
Virginia.
By 1850, John A had crossed the Ohio river to reside in
Monroe Co, Ohio, with his mother’s family.
There he met Deborah Jane Adamson and in 1854 they were married. Deborah was the youngest daughter of
Isabella, of the Woven Coverlet fame.
John A and Deborah had 9 children, the youngest of whom was
Eliza Berry.
Eliza Berry married a Strosnider - Wesley “Dock” Strosnider,
to be exact, in 1903. Eliza had been
living in Putnam Co, Missouri; Dock lived in Pottawatomie Co, Kansas.
Both the Berrys and the Strosniders occupied a large area of northwestern Virginia
in the early 1800s and are easily documented.
The Strosniders eventually moved west - straight on from West Virginia to Kansas,
according to the 1885 Kansas State Census.
Several years ago I had corresponded with Merrie Pinick, the
ultimate historian in Pottawatomie Co, Kansas.
Merrie has a page on RootsWeb that lists as much Pott Co history and
genealogy as she can locate in all sorts of records - "Havensville, Pottawatomie Co, Ks Area working database". She is a fine lady and I was very pleased to
spend the afternoon with her one very chilly day in March of that year, in the museum in
Havensville.
While I was able to find plenty of information about the
Strosniders, I found little additional material about the Berry family. They had been in Havensville, Pottawatomie Co,
and a little further east in Jackson Co, Kansas.
This photo has been in my husband’s family since it was
taken in April 13, 1903; it is the wedding photo of Eliza Berry and Wesley Strosnider.
Soon after their marriage, the couple came to Blackburn,
Pawnee Co, Oklahoma. Family tradition
says that Eliza gave birth to one stillborn child, then later died during another
childbirth.
I’ve not made a trip to Blackburn to look for Eliza’s grave,
nor have I been to the Oklahoma History Center to search newspapers for a death
notice for her. That’s on my to-do
list. This wedding picture is the only
photo I’ve seen of her.
I’m not sure about Wesley’s nickname of “Dock”, in that I’ve not
seen any written explanation. Some
researchers show it as “Doc”, as if shortened from Doctor, but Wesley is always
listed as a farmer and I can’t explain either form of his nickname. In my husband’s family, the spelling of his
nickname is consistently with the “k”.
About 1909 Wesley re-married, had five children, lived in
Oklahoma for many years, and died in 1946.
