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THE BERRYMAN FAMILY
Two brothers by the name of Berryman emigrated with their families from England to America in 1654. They settled on the Potomac River in the Virginia colony. They were living in Westmoreland Co. Va. in 1670.
One was named John Berryman (born 1625 -- died 1687). He was married to a Miss Tucker. One of their children was named Benjamin, who married Elizabeth Newton in 1708. Ben died August 4, 1729; Elizabeth Newton Berryman died Feb. 1763. They had 23 children but I have the names of only 12; James T.; Elizabeth; Maximilian; Newton; Henry; Benjamin; Rose; Annie; Sarah; Frances; John; and William who was born in 1713. He married Rebecca Vowels (1729-1772). They were large slave owners. They reared their family in Westmoreland Co., Va. William died March 11, 1784.
They had 13 children; two daughters were born to them, Rose and Elizabeth, but they evidently died young or unmarried. The eleven boys were; Benjamin (1744); William Jr. (1747); Henry (1751); Newton (1753); who married an Alice --; a son John Reynelds Berryman born April 1, 1801 -- died 1837, a West Point graduate, lived in Palmyra, Mo.; Waters (1756); John Monroe (1758) had a large family. One daughter was named Mary. His youngest son was named Andrew, who married a granddaughter of G. B. Berryman Sr., her name was Ailzey --; Gerrard Blackstone (1761-1847); Thomas (1763); Frank (1765) had a large family, all were rich. Josias
(1769) had children all born in Hartford, Ky.; Winfred (1771).
This same Gerard Blackstone Berryman (7th son of Wm.) was born Aug. 9th, 1761, Westmoreland Co., Va. Died Oct. 1847, buried in Bethel cemetery, Hartford, Ky. He married Oct. 21, 1790 to Ailzey Quesenbury Robinson, born of English parents, in 1770. She died Nov. 11, 1837 in Hartford, Ky. Their children were Elizabeth Harris, Josias; Margaret Nall; G. Blackstone Jr.; Nancy Moreman; Fannie Nalle; John; Thomas; Jerome; Ailzey Chinn; Elvira Taylor.
Their oldest daughter, Elizabeth Berryman was born in Westmoreland county, Va. She was married in Kentucky to a Mr. Harris. They had three sons. The oldest was named Richard Harris. The second was Dr. Nathan B. Harris who married Matilda Baird, the daughter of Moses Baird and Mary Arnett.
They had three children. One was named Mary E. Harris who married James Kennedy on May 13, 1858. A very interesting fact in connection this marriage of Dr. N. B. Harris and Matilda Baird, is that Matilda Baird Harris later married Judge James C. Berryman, whose father was related to Gerard Blackstone Berryman Sr. (the father-in-law of Matilda’s first mother-in-law).
Elizabeth Berryman Harris had another son named Zachariah Harris who married his cousin, Fannie (the daughter of Josias and Jane Berryman). They had a son Zack Jr., who married Mellissa Pease, the daughter of Marvin Pease and Flavia Billings.
Josias Berryman (the second child of Gerrard B. and Ailzey Quesenbury was born in Westmoreland Co., Va. He married Jane Eidson of Virginia, probably Bedford Co. To them were born 7 children: Ailzey; James Gerard (of whom we wrote last week); John Newton; Richard; Fannie; Elizabeth and Henry who died when a small boy. The others came to Madison county, with their father in 1827.
I quote the following from the diary of Rev. Jerome C. Berryman, who was the youngest brother of Josias Berryman.
"On the 8th of August 1828, I left my much loved home to join the Methodist itinerancy in the wilds of Missouri . . . .In those days the convenience of rail road travel was unknown in the west, so in company with my brother, Blackstone (this brother located in Wayne county and reared a family) the trip to Missouri was made on horse back. Crossing the Ohio river at Shawneetown we made our way through the state of Illinois to the old town of Kaskaskia. Here crossing the Mississippi in an old fashioned flatboat, we found ourselves in what was called the “Big Field” which covered perhaps more than a thousand acres of the richest bottom land. It was cultivated exclusively in corn by the French residents of the oldest town in Missouri, Ste. Genevieve.
“Through this field our road ran a distance of several miles up the river to the town. Here we found entertainment for the night, and the following day proceeded to Mine La Motte. At this place we found our oldest brother, Josias Berryman, engaged in smelting lead, as well as butchering and furnishing other miners with beef. My brother, Thomas, also was temporarily assisting, but shortly after our arrival returned to Ky. (Later he returned to Belleview valley where he reared a large family). We found at Kaskaskia and Ste. Genevieve people of out own complexion speaking to us in a language that we understood not. At the mines we found hundreds of men -- many of them French -- working like gophers, away down in deep shafts and drifts, for hidden wealth. Furthermore we saw these same French laborers hauling their mineral in rude carts, to which were hitched oxen, the yoke strapped in front of their horns. In some instances the carts were drawn by two ponies one before the other, and the traces by which these French ponies drew their loads were tugs made of ox-hides untanned. The lead made here at that time was smelted in rudely constructed furnaces of two kinds. One was called the log-furnace and the other was run with charcoal. After the lead was run into bars it was carted to Ste. Genevieve in the manner above describe. These same mines, though they had been worked right along from the earliest settlement of the country, are still valuable and are extensively operated by modern methods.
“Among the French families of this region with whom I have had pleasant acquaintance, and whose many good traits I admire are the Tally, Pratte, DeGuire, Janis and Bogy families of Fredericktown and Ste. Genevieve; The Desloge family of Potosi and the Choteau, Pratte and Labeaume families of St. Louis.
“Among them might be singled out men and women to whom southeast Missouri is much indebted for what it is now, materially and socially.
“Some of their ancestors brought with them from France a high type of social and intellectual culture, and it continues in large measure with their descendents to this day. But, like the Jews, they are not even yet entirely free from clannishness. This is wholly due to two facts -- an inborn pride of blood and an equally strong passion, the inherited devotion to their special form of religion.
Besides these, the French have not much admiration for English or German blood, both kinds running through American veins.
“Returning to my introduction to Missouri. After partaking with real zest of a miner’s supper at my brother’s cabin, we -- my brother and myself -- went over to a neighboring cabin where some one was discoursing soul inspiring music on a violin.
“My father was a good violinist and many a happy hour had I enjoyed when a child while he drew the rosined bow across his instrument for the entertainment of his family and himself”.
“The music of that evening awoke in me such filial recollections of my parents and the home of my childhood, and such a feeling of piety toward my heavenly father, that if I had any previous scruples about instrumental music, they left me then and there. I had never seen a Frenchman until now; I had no prejudice against that nationality -- I was named for two of them -- but from what little I knew then of the religious school in which the people of that nation were educated, my views were not favorable. But in the person of the man who so charmed me with music, here was not only a veritable Frenchman but a died-in-the-woed Catholic. He knew we were Protestants, perhaps learned that I was a preacher, and yet his bearing was that of a Christian gentleman toward gentleman. It was my privilege in after years to become well acquainted with Paul Deguire -- that was his name -- and a man of more sterling principles is rarely found. It has so happened that a son of his married a niece of mine, and is now an office holder in my own church. He is a very successful business man. Christians, “Let us love one another”. (This son was Michael Deguire, who was born November 5, 1837. He married on December 19, 1861, Elizabeth Jane Blanton who was the daughter of Ailzey Berryman and Benjamin Blanton. We will give more time to this family later.)
“Josias Berryman resided with his family about 18 miles from the mining camp then called Stout’s settlement, now Arcadia valley. His home and farm embraces the grounds now covered by the village of Arcadia. The valley, and a branch of the St. Francois river running through it, took the name form the first settler there, Ephriam Stout. Josias Berryman bought the Pre-emption right of settlement from him. The lands of that neighborhood were not yet brought into the market -- the government with-holding them as mineral lands. In traveling to Stout’s settlement from the mines, the road, such as it was, traversed a very hilly and rocky stretch of uninhabited country. It brought the traveler into the settlement finally over the largest hill of all - a mountain indeed, several hundred feet high. Through this mountain Stout’s creek debouches from the valley through the most romantic canyon called by the settlers “The Shutin”, an appropriate designation as I first saw it. Its walls are of solid porphry and almost perpendicular . . . A wagon road has been cut into the mountain’s rocky ribs on the north side of the shutin. This has long been the public road between Arcadia Valley and Fredericktown.
“Very shortly after my arrival in Missouri, a camp meeting was held in what was called new Tennessee, Ste. Geneieve Co. I attended in company with my brother Josias -- where I first met Rev. John W. York, who was then pastor of Saline and St. Francois circuits. That fall he was married to Miss Mary Collied near Fredericktown. They moved to Illinois; in after years went to Oregon . . . Among the citizens living in New Tennessee were the Hollomans, Pattersons, Counts and Rev. John McFarland. The last was a man possessed of very good natural abilities, and did a good work for his part of the state as a citizen as well as a minister; he left the savor of a good name.”
“Dr. McCrery was our family physician. His wife was a sister of Wayman Crow, St. Louis, and Henry Crow of St. Francois county and John Crow of Hartford, Ky. Wayman Crow and a nephew, Phecian McCrery, emigrated to St. Louis and as partners engaged in mercantile business, under the name “Crow, McCrery and Hargandine.” (The latter had married a daughter of Dr. McCrery.)
“Another name is Rev. Samuel Thompson, one of the most useful ministers in Southeast Missouri. About 1826 he married a daughter of William Cravens Esq., who was a farmer in good circumstances on the bank of the St. Francois river near the line of Madison and Wayne Counties.” (You will remember that James McFadden married Eleanor Cravens -- and their, Margaret, was the wife of James Gerard Berryman). “I cannot pass these early recollections without mention of some of the prominent families who impressed themselves upon my memory and from whom I received much kindness and encouragement. They were the McFaddens, Logans, Pettits, Bettisses, Pawers, and Mathews of Wayne county; the numerous connections of Bollingers, Sitzes, Whiteners, Whitworths, Whites and Youngs of Madison county; the Abernathys, Farrars, Eddlemans of Perry county; and the Murphys, Walkers and Clays of St. Francois county. These were among the earliest settlers of the counties named, and their descendants still remain there. Near Potosi were the families of wealth and influence, the Perrys, McIlvains, Dunklins, and McGreadys and Brickeys.”
Since the family of Josias and Jane Berryman is such a large one, we will deal with it next week. You will find the names of the following families intermarried: Deguire, Christoph, Nifong, Blanton, Kinkaid, Freeland, Sharp, Polk, Gregory, Lanpher, Moreman, Watts, McFadden, Rayburn, Shy, Stepp, Mathews, Harris, Pease, Fox, Hill, Schwaner, Hawn, Calloway, Gregory and others. Two of Josias’ sisters married men by the name of Nall and Nalle who played a part in the history of several counties in Southeast Missouri.
John Richard Berryman was born on the 23rd, of January 1846. He is the son on James Gerard Berryman and Margaret Lamb McFadden. The Berrymans and McFaddens were two of the most prominent families in the early history of this section of Missouri.
The next time you drive out of town toward highway 61, after you cross the bridge over Saline Creek you are treading “sacred ground” as far as “Uncle Dick” is concerned. All of this land from the creek to the highway on both sides belonged to his grandfather, James McFadden. He moved here from Virginia by way of Wayne County, bringing several children. I have no record of the death of his first wife. But the third wedding recorded in this county is that of James McFadden and his second wife Eleanor Cravens (the widow of a Mr. Shaver) August 31, 1819. James McFadden had a large home south of the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks between the shoe factory and the highway “Y” near a spring. This doubtless was the home of Madam Chavalier whose “hog pen” on the creek played a part in the marking of the original town. This very large two storied frame house was moved to the present site of the N. B. Graham brick by Jas. McFadden. Slightly to the north and east of the McFadden house was the family burial ground. Uncle Dick says that many bodies were placed there. In fact his father was buried there. Some were later moved to the “Methodist grave yard” because everyone thought that it was securely tied in title for “burial” purposes only. There was at that time a log church and school on the same lot. We know this place now as the Nazarene church property at Franklin Ave., and Spring Branch.
When Margaret McFadden became the bride of James Gerard Berryman her father deeded to her the large house southeast of his own. We know the place as Bruce Holmes field or “Parson Allen’s”. The spring that you see in the field which has been enclosed with a concrete wall not far from the highway on the east was just west of the Berryman’s big kitchen. There was a runway to the big house, a 40 foot log structure, very large chimneys and an upstairs. This faced the south. Uncle Dick thinks that the house was at least thirty years old or more when his parents got it, as he remembers one of the earliest recollections is of the shingles, which the grandmother said had been on there forty years.
James Gerard Berryman and Margaret had two sons, James McFadden Berryman, who was born January 22, 1844 and John Richard Berryman, who was born January 23, 1846. In November of the next year, 1847, the father died. He had been born on October the 9th, 1818, the son of Josias and Jane Berryman of Arcadia Valley at that time a part of Madison Co.
When Dick and James were old enough to go to school they were sent to the home of a family named Cain, who lived in a large log house across the creek on Benjamin Shell spring branch (which as nearly as I can figure to date, is probably the site of the Democrat News office and very likely the old home of Theodore F. Tong.) Uncle Dick thinks that he has never in his life seen as cranky an old maid as this first teacher. She had not only soured on mankind, but humanity in general. His next teacher was Merrida Berryman, a son of Judge J. C. Berryman. This school was held in the log school house mentioned above, on Spring branch and Franklin ave. Farming was almost all the occupation that J. R. Berryman ever tried. At one time he decided to go into the blacksmith and wagon business with Benjamin Kemper. They had their shop where the Watts store building is located on South Main street north of the post office. He soon sold his interest to Dr. Gosney for $250. The love bug had bitten him and Minerva Addie, the daughter of Judge Bill Maze, became his bride on the 15th of October 1868, the service being performed by Burdette O. Allen. To this union were born two sons. Charley Richard was born July 1, 1869 and James William was born May 26, 1872. He lived only about two years.
Addie Maze Berryman died, and on the 10th of January 1875, John Richard married Zilla Agnes, the daughter of Calvin and Lovicy (Lance) Murray. Calvin Murray was the son of Edward and Clarimond Murray. Lovicy Lance was the daughter of Ar. Lance and Leaner Simrell. The following children were born to the second marriage of J. R. Berryman:
Cora Bell Berryman, who married William Harry Gale Nov. 14, 1894.
Henry Franklin Berryman, married Blanche Rhodes Dec. 7, 1904.
John Richard Berryman, married Maude E. Whitener Aug. 6, 1911. He is in a hospital in Denver, Colorado.
Benton Edgar Berryman, married first Mary Ellen Carter Jan. 23, 1903. His second wife is Mrs. Eva Claywell Thomason, whose son Clay married Mrs. W. H. Gale’s daughter, Retta Gale.
Nelly Lovica Berryman married John McCafferey (he was buried last week).
Twin boys were born and died within a few hours on December 6, 1887.
Lottie Alice Berryman married Walter Marlowe on May 28, 1919. They have a son, Ivan. They live in Detroit, Mich.
Lillie Myrtle Berryman married Clarence Gale. Their daughter married Robert Beard of Buffalo, New York. Clarence Gale is visiting them now, and some little bird told Myrtle that he is surely seeing the sights. Do you suppose his visit had anything to do with the Niagara Bridge falling down? Faye and Robert have the reputation of being very lovely host and hostess. I am told that they promised him plenty of excitement if he would come to visit them.
Clayton Marvin Berryman married Sidonia Boettcher.
Ethel Elizabeth is the youngest member. She has recently divorced her husband, Arch Williams.
Charlie Richard Berryman, of the first marriage, married Bessie O’Bannon and they live in Texas.
The brick house where the Clarence Gale family live was purchased by J. R. Berryman from his father-in-law, Wm. Maze. The house was built by Duncan Arnett, father of Bob, and Nehemiah Johnson just after they had completed the brick house now owned by the Belkens on west main city limits.
Since the death of his wife, Mr. Berryman has divided his time among the children. He is in excellent health, and mentally active and a genuine southern gentleman. During the civil war he was a confederate soldier, being shot through the thumb and two fingers during a fight on the west fork of the Osage river. Jim Anthony was the oldest man in his company. He acted as doctor for many of them. The company doctor wanted to cut Berryman’s hand off, as it had turned black well up onto the arm, but Jim Anthony treated it successfully. Uncle Dick said that Bill DeGuire was his pardner through this part of the war. Bill Anthony, Capt. Chas. Polk, John Morgan and Dr. Geo. R. Hill were together for some time. Morgan was told to care for some wounded soldiers and was captured and put in prison in Alton, Illinois and died there. The tales from this prison make you realize what war is. Some of the soldiers from here that were with Uncle Dick at times during the war were Dr. Nifong; Henry Stevenson; Sam, Jim and Bill Anthony; John Spivy; George Bruce; Joe DeGuire; Harry Cox; Bill DeGuire; Dick Thompson; Jim Berryman; Bob Kelly; Ancil Mathews; Lige and Miles Mouser; Francis Tidwell; Jack and Miles Richards; Dave and Fayette Caruthers; Milt Arnett; Bob Buford; Felix Maze; Mart Hawkins; Fee Gregory; Rufus Baird; Dick and Ned Williams; Charlie Villars; Dock Ninder; Kale Shetley; Dan and Tom O’Bannon; George and John Hill; Gus Gregoire; Frank Stevens; Fult Sloss; Billy Tucker; Bill Rasor; Dave Tripp; Elios Barron; and others whose names had just slipped his mind. John Vinson was taken prisoner in the Alton prison but was put in as cook so made out better than many of the others who were captured.
On a scouting trip that Uncle Dick was sent upon near the camp on red River across from Texas, he came upon an Indian chief with a white wife. Dinner had just been prepared, turkey, if you please! So Uncle Dick accepted a goodly portion of it (they had been 23 days without bread or salt). While they were eating he learned that the girl was a school teacher from Ste. Genevieve and was well acquainted with many in his company, also, she knew the Farmer family of Fredericktown. The day of the battle at Fredericktown J. R. was just returning to Fredericktown over the old Bloomfield road with some horses when he heard the firing. He turned back in the woods and hid.
Uncle Dick’s brother, James McFadden Berryman, born Jan. 22, 1844 married Mary Elizabeth Murray Dec. 4, 1873. She was the daughter of Calvin and Lovicy (Lance) Murray and a sister to Uncle Dick’s second wife. Their children are:
Margaret Zelia Berryman (Mrs. Charles McNally) married Nov. 22, 1892.
Richard Henry Berryman born Feb. 17, 1876, died the next year on Oct. 20.
James William Berryman married Kate Manard and they have one son and two
daughters.
Samuel Simeral Berryman never married.
Joseph Calvin Berryman married Flora Thomasson May 14, 1918.
Twin daughters, Hattie Cora, Married first George Presgrove and then John Brown of near Salem, Mo. Mattie Sonora, born May 12, 1888 and died the next March. Emma Lillian died at six months of age. Lovicy Marie (Lola) Berryman married Richard Wulfert, son of Julius and Mary Elizabeth Hart, August 27, 1902. They have three sons and two daughters. Claude Oscar Berryman died at the age of 10. Annie ono Berryman married Hugh Phelps, who was the R. R. agent at the time, November 6, 1918.
James McFadden Berryman bought out all of the heirs of his grand mother and took over the farm, now part of the Cobalt. The old brick two story house near the track and creek was his home until he sold to the mining people. Then he moved north of town where Joe Berryman now lives.
Margaret McFadden Berryman in 1850 married John McBride, an Eastern Yankee with whom she lived a short time and then separated. She then spent most of her time with her son, Dick.
Through the courtesy of John Berryman of Poplar Bluff I have a copy of the oldest Berryman Bible found in this part of the country. It belonged to William Berryman Sr., who was born in 1713 and reared a family of eleven boys, all born in Westmoreland county, Va. He died March 11, 1784.
Benjamin Berryman born 1744.
William Berryman Jr., born 1747.
Henry Berryman born 1751.
Newton Berryman born 1753.
Waters Berryman born 1756.
John Monroe Berryman born 1758.
Gerard Blackstone Berryman born 1761, died 1840 at Hartford, Ky.
Thomas Berryman born 1763.
Francis Berryman born 1765.
Josias Berryman born 1769.
Winfred Berryman born 1771.
In the early days of Mine La Motte, Josias and Gerard Blackstone Berryman Jr., were in partnership in the mining business, but later G. B. Berryman Jr. moved to Wayne county where he reared a family.
Gerard Blackstone Berryman Jr., was the fourth child of Gerard B. Berryman Sr., and Ailzey Quesenbury. He was born in Westmoreland county, Va., and married Malinda Brown. He died in Wayne county about 1852, as his estate was settled at that time. His son, Jeremiah F. Berryman was the Administrator.
Malinda and G. B. Berryman had the following children: Thomas Gerard, “Jerry” F., Margaret, Ann and Malinda.
Thomas Gerard Berryman was married twice. His first wife was Dolly Kelly, who had four children: Annie Berryman, who died in California. Richard “Dick” Berryman, who married Margaret Twidwell in St. Louis. I understand they had two children, but I do not know their names. Lizzie Berryman, who married Newton Meadows. They have four or five children. Pricilla Catherine Berryman married Joshua Allen. Their children were named Billy, Ella May, Levi, Clarence, Joe and Dolly Allen.
After the death of Dolly Kelly, Tom Berryman married Mary Spangler, who had been born in Georgia. She had a sister, Elizabeth Spangler, who was the second wife of Alexander Austin DeGuire of Fredericktown. She had a sister Belle, and two brothers, John and William Spangler. I am told that they were reared on what was known as the “Lutes” farm in Wayne county.
Mary Spangler Berryman became the mother of the following twelve children:
Emma Jane Berryman who died young.
Margaret Frances Berryman married James Henry Wilson, who was in the civil war. Lucy Belle Berryman died young.
Eva Berryman married “Fayett” Sutton. She died at the birth of her first child.
Delia Berryman married George Karn. They have five children; Aleene Karn, Esther Karn, Minnie Karn married Charlie Jeffrey. They have a daughter, Hazel; Lizzie Karn married Chester Worley and they have two girls, Mary Louise and Helen. Mary Ann Karn married Ernest Darden and they have a daughter, Betty Jean.
Sally Berryman, the next child of Tom & Mary Berryman, died at the age of 12 years.
Laura Mae Berryman married Dr. Horton of St. Louis.
Nettie Parlee Berryman married Sherman Gehring. They had three children. Mable Gehring married Phanton White. Their daughter is named Shirley Ann White. Raymond Gehring married Thelma Bells of Piedmont, Mo. They have three children; Billy Gehring, and twin daughters, Mary Marie and Margie Lee Gehring. Ted Gehring married Perman Lovelace. They have one child named Teddy Joe.
Lula Gladys Berryman, daughter of Tom and Mary Berryman, married her cousin, Bill Spangler. They have a son in Little Rock, Ark., a daughter, Dorothy Spangler, who married a Mr. Freeman of Desoto. Their third child was Blanche Spangler. The fourth was Owen Spangler and the fifth is Mary Ann Spangler.
Agnes Ellen was the next child of Mary and Tom Berryman. She married R. L. Miller. Their daughter is Elsie Lee Miller.
Hattie Berryman married Leonard Hickson of Patterson. They had four children; Woodrow, Mary, Cathleen and Robert Hickson.
The 12th child of Mary and Tom Berryman died very young.
Jeremiah F. Berryman was the second child of Gerard B. Berryman and Ailzey Quesenbury. He married Mary Stevens and they had six children:
Eliza Berryman was their oldest child. She married George Webster of Piedmont.
Angeline Berryman married Jude Dugdale.
Paralee Berryman married George Wakefield.
John Berryman married a Cora Fitz as his first wife. His second wife is in Texas, where
they live now.
Flora May Berryman married Luther Letteral.
Gillie Berryman married and lives in Illinois.
The third child of Gerard Blackstone Berryman Jr., was named Margaret Berryman, who married a son of Peter and Susan Calloway of Madison county, whose name was Price Calloway. Price had a brother, Powell Calloway, who married Elizabeth Berryman, Margaret’s cousin. Price and Margaret Calloway had four children; Pres Calloway and Samuel Calloway of Texas, Billie Zack Calloway and Jane Calloway.
Ann Berryman was the fourth child of G. B. Berryman. She married a William Hancock. They had a son, Robert, and a daughter, Molly.
Malinda Berryman was the fifth child of Gerard Blackstone Berryman Jr. She married a Mr. John Orr and lived in New Jersey. They had three daughters, Fannie, Florence and Nannie Orr.
Gerard B. Berryman died in Wayne county, Mo. His wife, Malinda Brown Berryman died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John Orr in New Jersey.
In attempting to review the lives of the Berryman family, the writer does so with all humility, knowing that whatever is said will be far short of what should be said. Way back in the vicinity of Bardstown in Nelson county, Kentucky, lived a man by the name of Gerard Blackstone Berryman and his wife, -- Ailzey Quesenbury. This man was a farmer and both he and his wife were born in Kentucky and grew up in the staunch traditions of the Blue Grass State. It is not necessary to know people to know that they were fine people for we have two evidences in the two fine boys that they raised and sent to Missouri. On June 6th, 1794 was born Josias Berryman and on February 22, 1810 was born Calvin (Jerome) Berryman. These boys grew up in the home of their parents, receiving good educations that their parents strove to give them.
In 1828 these two boys came to Missouri and Jerome, who had studied for the ministry, was taken on trial by the conference and was given a circuit comprised of seventeen counties with Farmington as his headquarters. In 1831 he married Miss Sarah C. Cessna and in 1833 he was sent to the Kickapoo Indian Mission and he remained there for fifteen years. His home was fifty miles west of Kansas City and it was there that two of his six children died as did his wife. The little family lie buried where he labored so long. One son, Hon. John W. Berryman was born there in 1839 and returned to Missouri with his father in 1853 when the father was chosen pastor of the Centenary Church in St. Louis. Before returning to the state where he was to spend the remainder of his life, he married in 1847, Mrs. M. K. Wells, a widow who was a sister of the Hon. H. S. Watts, famous as “Rough and Ready Watts”. Watts was unflinching in his devotion to his work, his blunt honesty, his ready wit and his love for his brother-in-law were always an inspiration and help to Rev. Berryman. Many revivals will be remembered by the older citizens of the county when these two militant “Soldiers” of the Lord put all they had into trying to lead the back-sliders into the fold.
In the year 1847 Rev. Berryman founded the Arcadia College, and for twenty years he had charge of that institution, which was eventually moved to Fredericktown and became our beloved Marvin College, where many of our townspeople received their education. Rev. Berryman was not only a master preacher but he was one of the outstanding organizers of the early Methodist church. We owe a debt of gratitude to the heroic pioneer preachers for the great amount of work they accomplished in this part of the state. At the time when frontier conditions prevailed these men had to face the perils and hardships of the wilderness in discharging the duties which rested upon them.
These early preachers taught and preached in every community with very little compensation. They fostered education and the Arcadia College and the Belleview Institute were started and maintained by Rev. Berryman and his collegues and some way the money was found to maintain them until the state provided educational facilities for higher learning.
Rev. Berryman was a fine figure of a man, over six feet tall and built in proportion, with broad shoulders and erect carriage. His massive head and rugged face showed the power that was behind his soul. His heavy, but kindly voice could be easily be heard in every part of any hall where he spoke and it carried conviction to the hearts of all who heard him. The church needs today men of the calibre of Rev. Berryman and Rev. Watts, men who will fight to keep the church where these men put it.
For twenty years Rev. Berryman was on the retired list of the Methodist Church and he answered the summons in 1906.
Josias Berryman, the other brother settled in what was later Iron county. His farm included what is now Arcadia and it was part of his land upon which Arcadia College was founded. Josias married Jane Eidson. Their children were; James G., Richard, John Newton, Elizabeth (Mrs. Powell Calloway), Ailzey (Mrs. Benjamin Blanton) and Fanny (Mrs. Zacharias Harris).
The Hon. John W. Berryman, son of Rev. Jerome Berryman, married in 1866 Laura A., daughter of Elijah B. and Sarah (Powell) Mathews. During the civil war he became Captain of Company B, of the First Missouri Volunteers in the Confederate army.
The History of Arcadia College
Rev. Jerome Calvin Berryman, who for 14 years had been connected with the Indian Mission school (near Leavenworth, Kansas) then know as the “Shawnee Manual Labor School”, decided to make a change in his location.
His beloved wife, Sarah Culbertson-Cessna Berryman died July 28, 1846, leaving him with four children, Gerard Quesenbury, Emily Green, John Wesley and Elizabeth Cessna Berryman.
Rev. J. C. Berryman and his brother, Josias Berryman, were large land owners in Madison county. They planned to open a boarding school in Arcadia Valley. After selecting the site of the present Arcadia College they began the building of the school. However, the first year 1846, Col. Cyrus Russell gave Rev. Berryman the use of his private brick school house, which is still standing in Russellville. Professor and Mrs. Asbury C. Farnum came to the valley with the Berrymans from the Indian Mission, where they had been for three years teaching. In November, 1847, the new “Arcadia High School” building was completed and the second year of school was held in the new building. That fall Mr. Hinchey, the artist of the valley, painted a picture of the College.
On the 22nd day of November, 1847, Rev. J. C. Berryman married Mrs. Margaret Magdalene (Watts) Wells, who became his most efficient matron for the College.
In the fourth year the faculty was composed of the following people; Rev. J. C. Berryman, principal; Mrs. Berryman, matron; Asbury C. Farnum, Geo. W. Farrar, Walter B. Trumbull, Miss E. E. Barringer, Miss Emily G. Berryman and Miss Sally A. Wells.
The Conference Board was made up of Rev. W. Browning, Rev. E. B. Headlee, and Rev. M. Arrington.
In 1858 the college was sold to Prof. Farnum (the Berrymans going to Fayette, Mo.) The faculty for 1859 included Asbury C. Farnum and his wife, Lucy J. Farnum; Rev. Walter B. Trumbull; Wm. Leonard Faber; Wm. S. Relfe; Susan A. Hull; Henrietta B. Leonard; Sarah A. Wells and Eliza F. Nalle.
At the beginning of the war in 1861, the college was closed and the buildings were used as hospitals. Arcadia Valley was a base for Union soldiers.
In 1863 Gen. Clinton B. Fisk insisted that the school be opened. The property reverted to Rev. Berryman by a deed of trust, he left his farm in the Caledonia neighborhood, and re-opened the school.
On the first day of July, 1867, he sold the property to Peter Dilts, esq., because of the ill health of his wife and returned to the farm; but Mrs. Berryman died on Sept. 6, 1867
To quote the words of Claude Russell, of Bourbon, Mo., who attended Arcadia College at the time of “Reconstruction”; “After the War the school never did regain the patronage it had before.” After Rev. Berryman retired, others took time at trying to make a go of it, but weren’t able to make it a paying proposition. He gave the school up to a Mr. Lucas from the Cook Settlement in St. Francois county. Mr. And Mrs. Lucas and their three daughters remained there for a short time. Then Gen. L. M. Lewis took over the management with Prof. Jones teaching under him. Later the school was sold to a stock company and in 1875 Prof. C. O. Jones purchased it.
In 1870 a four storied brick building was erected (this burned in 1917) the faculty at that time was: Rev. L. M. Lewis, president, professor of Mathematics and Moral Philosophy; Prof. Chas. C. Jones B. A. Ancient Language; Prof. Marshall Arnold, Preparatory Department and Adjunct Professor of Mathematics; Mrs. Lizzie C. (Berryman) Peel, Instrumental and Vocal music; Nellie Fitzbaugh, Primary Department; Mrs. M. A? Lewis, Matron. There were 115 pupils enrolled that year.
In September 1877 the Arcadia College was sold to the Catholics. Father Hennessy, who was the pastor of Iron Mountain, then a flourishing mining place, at the time, saw in this sale an excellent opportunity to establish a Catholic Church and school in that section so highly favored by nature. He pleaded the cause with Vicar General Muehlaiepen, and they both encouraged Rev. Mother Johanna, then Superior of the Ursuline Community, to purchase the buildings and the grounds.
Capt. B. Zwarts of Ironton met the first faculty in September, 1877 which was composed of the following people: Rev. Mother Johanna, Mother Seraphine, Mother Rose, Mother Benedict, Sister Monica, Sister Xavier, and a postulant, Miss Florence Meyers, who later became a nun.
During the Assembly at Arcadia, I took my history Hobby class to the famous old Spring house on the old College grounds and the only living member of the faculty of 1877, Mother Benedict, talked at length to the class in an interesting manner of her first experiences at Arcadia.
Mrs. J. W. Andrews
[MB note: On my copy there is handwritten in ink, the name Martha Borders, at the top of the first page. She is probably the daughter of Rose Ann Berryman (b. Jun. 11, 1857 - Barren Co. KY d. Sept 2, 1917 Minco, OK) and Henry Borders. They married July 1, 1877 - Barren Co. KY, moving first to Nebraska, then in 1895, to Enid, Oklahoma.
Rose Ann Berryman's line is John, Benjamin, Maximilian, Benjamin, William and John Monroe Berryman. This is the same as my line, which continues; William Benjamin, Frank and Noble Berryman.]
[Retyped from a badly faded copy of a typewritten manuscript. I do not know the date the manuscript was written or if there were more pages. I would appreciate any information. MB]
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