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Before Ireland

The origins of my Berry family before Ireland are unresolved and current knowledge is based on unsubstantiated family legend. The current status of my ongoing investigation of this issue is summarised below and any input or suggestions would be most welcome.

The first Berry of the Broadwood/Eglish family line for whom there is documentary evidence is Thomas Berry who settled in Knockerville, Westmeath in the Parish of Killucan, Ireland. His origin is unknown; his d.o.b. but would have been c.1670. He was still alive in 1728. Either his brother or father was a John Berry who was supposedly disinherited by John Berry of Middleton, Wales for marrying a Roman Catholic – a Miss Sweetman. ‘Middleton’ persisted as a family name over several generations in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, so seems to have been significant and its supposed origin seems likely to have some factual basis.

Family legend also asserts descent from the Berry family of Berrynarbor, Devon and the arms of two members of my Irish Berry family have incorporated the ‘or three bars gu’, of that family, one since at least 1750.

The location of "Middleton" is problematic. However, there is a village called Middleton (near present-day Rhossili) a few miles from Oxwhich on the Gower Peninsular, Glamorgan, South Wales and I have the following evidence of property interests of the Berry family of Berrynarbor over several generations on the Gower Peninsular:- (i) a John Berry is mentioned as a beneficiary in the will made by Griffith Vosse on 13 Nov 1615 at Oxwhich (ii) Anne Berry, of Berrynarbor born c.1520, married Griffith ap Owen (Bowen) of Oxwhich; (iii)There is reference in 1632 to “ landes of Richard Bery esquier called Wester slade [Slade] …. in y pa’ish and manor of Oxw’ch”. The extent of the freehold was about 60 acres (iv) There are counterparts of two leases, one made in 1671 the other 1691, both for 99 years, by John Berrie, of Berrinerbert, Devon for a messuage named Slade or Lymslade at Oxwich. These were made in the event of the death of the present tenant, Philip Bowen (son of Anne Berry); (iv) There are records of payment of 9d p.a. by John Berry esquire from 1682 up to the end of the century for a freehold tenement called wester Slade (present Western Slade) in the manor of Oxwhich; (v) There is a record in 1705 of an assignment in trust, at the direction of Thomas Berrie of Berrynarbor, esq, of messuages, lands etc, in Berrynarbor, Martinhoe, Combe Martin, Langtree, Goodleigh, Exeter, Alphington, Dittisham in Devon and Oxenmuch ?(Oxwich), Glamorgan; (vii) there is still a farm called Berry on the Gower Peninsular, although I am unaware of any evidence of members of the Berry family having lived there and the origin of the name is unknown; (viii) the parish register for Penrice (next to Oxwhich) contains reference to a Jackett Beerey, buried 26 March 1656 and to Jenkin Beerey, buried 18 May 1656. This could possibly be Jaquette Berrie, Anne Berry’s sister, or Jackett Berye b. 9 April 1625 at Swimbridge, Devon.

Based on “The Visitations of Devonshire” the branch of the Berrynarbor Berry family that appears to correspond to that associated with the Gower Peninsular is shown below. People thought possibly to be those mentioned above are shown in red font.

1. Egline Bury m c. 1525	Nicholas = Berry = of Berrynarbor s.1 (c. 1499-1565)	2. Elizabeth Bowden
Agnes Berry = John Strowbridge 1555	Margaret Berry =1..William Way = 2. ? Baker	Jane Berry* = 1. Edward Hensley = 2. John Bury	Nicholas Berry s.3 (d. 1619) n.i
Margery Berry = George Blake	Elizabeth Berry = Walter Popham	John Berry s.2 n.i.	Humphry Berry s.1 n.i. =1. Margery Moore =2. Jane Lambert
Thomas Berry s.5 (c.1532)	Richard Berry of Berrynarbor s.4 (c. 1530) = Catherine Lambert	Anne Berry = Griffith Owen son Philip Bowen (c1545-c1603)	Juliana Berry = 1. Richard Gay 2. John Peard	Jaquette Berry = David Maxwell
Lewis Berry s.6 (c. 1534)
	*Humphry Berry s.1 (c.1584-1619) = Prudence Coffyn	Nicholas Berry s.2 (c. 1586) n.i.	Richard Berry s.3 * (c. 1588) = 1. Mary Kirkham =2. Dorothy Turville	Grace Berry (c. 1580) = John Coffyn (1602)
William Berry s.7 (c. 1536)	Katherine Berry d.1 (c.1614) = Nicholas Borlase Mary Berry d.2 Grace Berry d.3 = Henry Turville Prudence Berry d..4 Nicolas Berry s.1 Nicolas Berry s.2 George Berry s.3 Richard Berry s.4 (1613-1620)
		Katherine Berry * See refs. to ownership of land at Slade, Oxwhich	John Berry (c. 1618-c.1705) = Catherine ? (cousin of Sir Thomas Berry of Northam)	See counterpart of lease made in 1671 by JohnBerrie of Berrynarbor
			Thomas Berry (c.1648-1708) = Henrica ?	See assignment of trust by Thomas Berrie 1705
			Dorothy Berry = Francis Kirkham

Neither of the two John Berrys above appears to be a candidate for the legendry John Berry of Middleton, because the John Berry mentioned in Griffith Vosse’s 1615 will is probably Anne Berry’s brother who, according to “The Visitations” had no issue. The other John Berry b. c.1618. had a son, Thomas, but he did not go to Ireland.

Because documentary evidence directly linking my Irish ancestors and their antecedents may no longer exist, I decided to try and trace a living male Berry with a documented link to the Berrynarbor family in order to compare his y-chromosome DNA with mine. However, as the Berrynarbor family apparently went extinct in the male line with the death of Thomas Berry in 1708, I had to rely on what appears to be a cadet branch of the Berrynarbor family that lived in nearby Swimbridge. With the assistance of Leonard Smith of Porthcawl, this was finally successful and Donald Berry, with a pedigree in the Swimbridge family that can be traced to at least c. 1560, recently tested with the Berry Family DNA Project. However, instead of matching my I1a haplotype, Donald’s haplotype is R1b1 (see link below for full results – participants #60 & #103). The conclusion to be drawn from this is that either my family is not descended from the Berrynarbor family, or that the Swimbridge line is not a cadet branch of the Berrynarbor family and there are two distinct and unrelated Berry families in Devon. I hope that as more Berrys with a known (documented) ancestry in the UK do DNA tests, our knowledge of the deep origins of the various families bearing the Berry name will become clearer.

(I have extensive data on Devon Berrys which I am happy to share with anyone interested).

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~langolier/BerryDNA/dna_home.html

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