CAROLINA 1730-1810

GENERATION I: HENRY BERRY

Henry O. Berry (or Henry O'Berry) received several land grants in south-central North Carolina, including one in what is now Robeson County, NC) in 1750.¹  Lumbee Indian tribal records identify his as a Lumbee Indian named Henry O. Berry.  Nevertheless, his direct male descendants are all R1b1b2 Y-DNA haplotype, meaning that Henry's direct male ancestors were Anglo-Saxon.  This strongly suggests that Englishmen mixed with the Lumbee Indians (as, their tribal lore has it, did the Lost Colonists at Roanoke, which included a Henry Berry and Richard Berry).

Henry had one son, Andrew (more about him below).  Four male descendants of Andrew are a Y-DNA match to members of the Mississippi Berry Family.²

 

Many secondary sources refer to Henry Berry as a Lumbee Indian.  Examples:

From http://www.unc.edu/~mmaynor/religious/baptists.html :

That some Indians of Robeson County were already familiar with the tenets of Christianity is evidenced by a hymn written by Priscilla Berry Lowrie before 1776. Priscilla Berry, the Indian granddaughter of Henry Berry, a survivor of the "Lost Colony of Roanoke," had married the James Lowrie who obtained a land grant for over one thousand acres. According to family tradition, the Lowrie's were a devout family before migrating from Pamlico Sound to present-day Robeson County.

From Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony, Hamilton McMillan (1888):

http://www.webroots.org/library/usahist/va/swrlc000.html

There was found located on the waters of Lumber River, a large tribe of Indians, speaking English, tilling the soil, owning slaves and practicing many of the arts of civilized life. They occupied the country as far West as the Pee Dee, but their principal seat was on the Lumber, extending along that river for twenty miles. They held their lands in common and land titles only became known on the approach of white men The first grant of land to any of this tribe, of which there is written evidence in existence, was made by King George the Second in 1732, to Henry Berry and James Lowrie, two leading men of the tribe, and was located on the Lowrie Swamp, East of Lumber River in present county of Robeson in North Carolina. A subsequent grant was made to James Lowrie in 1738. According to tradition there were deeds of land of older date, described as "White" deeds and "Smith" deeds, but no trace of their existence can be found at this date.

Many of these people at a later period purchased their lands from persons who obtained large patents from the King.

Occasional bands of immigrants arrived on the Lumber River from ancient settlements towards the East, while others moved West towards the Pee Dee, Catawba and French Broad rivers. These people were hospitable, and friendly relations were established between them and their white neighbors Subsequent to the coming of white settlers a portion of the tribe went North towards the Great Lakes and some of their descendants can be found at this time in Canada, West of Lake Ontario. Another emigration occurred at a later date and the emigrants became incorporated with a tribe then located near Lake Michigan. Many families, described as white people, emigrated towards the Alleghany mountains and there are many families in Western North Carolina at this time, who are claimed by the tribe in Robeson County, as descendants of the lost English colonists, who had preserved their purity of blood to that degree that they could not be distinguished from white people. These Indians built great roads connecting the distant settlements with their principal seat on the Lumbee, as the Lumber river was then called. One of the great roads constructed by them can be traced from a point on Lumber river for twenty miles to an old settlement near the mouth of Heart's Creek, now Cross Creek. Another great highway still bearing the name of the "Lowrie Road" and used at this day as a public road, extends from the town of Fayetteville, through Cumberland and Robeson counties, in a Southwest direction towards an ancient Croatan settlement on the Pee Dee.

James Lowrie, previously mentioned as one of the grantees in the deed made by George the Second, and recognized as a chief man of his tribe, is described as an Indian who married Priscilla Berry, a sister of Henry Berry, the other grantee mentioned. James Lowrie, was a descendant of James Lowrie of Chesapeake, who married a Croatan woman in Virginia. (as Eastern North Carolina is still designated by the tribe) and became the progenitor of all the Lowries belonging to this tribe. According to the prevalent tradition respecting this family, the men were intellectual and ambitious, and, as a chronicler of the tribe described them, became "leaders among men." Many persons distinguished in the annals of North Carolina are claimed as descended from the original James Lowrie of Chesapeake. "You will find the name of James Lowrie," remarked the chronicler, "wherever you find a Lowrie family."

Henry Berry, the grantee previously mentioned, was a lineal descendant of the English colonist, Henry Berry, who was left on Roanoke Island in 1587.

 

GENERATION II: ANDREW BERRY

Andrew Berry is estimated to have been born about 1720.  In 1774 he married Ann (Nancy) Smith (b. 1743), daughter of John Smith and Jane Fore Smith.  By 1735, Andrew was identified as part of the 'English Colony' at Sandy Bluff on Big Pee Dee in South Carolina (present day Marion County, but originally Liberty in the old Georgetown District).  Descendants of Andrew Berry remained in Marion County, South Carolina for many generations.  

The best primary source is The History of Marion County by W.W. Sellers (1902).  Mr. Sellers conducted extensive interviews with residents of Marion Co., SC to gather local geneological data.  He cites Fama Tart, grand-daughter of Andrew, for his information about the Berry family.  An excerpt is here: http://sciway3.net/proctor/marion/history/settlers/Settler_Berry.html

 

GENERATION III

Andrew had five sons (Henry, Stephen, John, Samuel, Andrew) and four daughters.  Most of them and their descendants remained in Sandy Bluff and were leading citizens there.  There are some known gravesites of this generation in that area.   Discussion of Henry and Stephen is here: http://sciway3.net/proctor/marion/history/settlers/Settler_Berry.html

Four of their descendants are members of the Berry DNA Project, and have matched Y-DNA with members of the Mississippi Berry Family. 

 

GENERATION V: HENRY BERRY LOWRY

Henry O. Berry had a relative, Priscilla, who married the son of James Lowry (another Lumbee Indian who received a land grant adjacent to Henry). They had a grandson, Henry Berry Lowry, a notorious Civil-War era outlaw.  He is idolized in the tribe for his defiance of racsim and oppression by the Civil-War era society and local government.  and has many buildings dedicated to him. His actual house has been moved to the site of a park named “Strike the Wind” where there is an amphitheater showing the history and actions of Henry Berry Lowry. His family and “gang” were all killed but he escaped through the swamps in 1872 and was never seen again.  A good book on the subject is Dial, Adolph L., and David K. Eliades. The only land I know: A history of the Lumbee Indians.