Berry, Thomas S. (1841-1880)

BERRY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 11/1/2017 at 11:35:40

BERRY, THOMAS S. Rev., Indianola, President of Simpson Centenary College; was born in Cass county, Ill., in 1841; his early life was spent on a farm; he enlisted in the 114th Illinois Infantry during the late war, and was commissioned 1st Lieutenant of Company D; he was wounded at Guntown, Miss., and taken prisoner and held in the hands of the enemy eleven months; after his discharge from the army he attended Garrett Biblical Institute, at Evanston, Ill., and graduated in 1870; he also graduated at the Northwestern University, in the same place, in 1872; his first charge was at Carlisle in this county; he was for a time pastor of a church in Des Moines, and later in Indianola; in July, 1878, he was elected President of Simpson Centenary College, and under his leadership it has been eminently successful; President Berry has pursue his ministerial calling with untiring zeal, energy, and with a success which has earned for him no inferior rank among the clergy of the State; he is a man of strong sharp intellect, untiring ambition and an attractive speaker; the success that has crowned his efforts, and the prominence he has attained, while yet so young, is a monument which might satisfy an ordinary ambition; he married Miss Lou A. Van Eaton, a native of Cass county, Ill., in 1865; their family consists of two children: Hattie and Mary.
Source: History of Warren County, Iowa, containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, & etc., Union Historical Co.; Des Moines, IA, 1879, p.585 [According to the 1880 Mortality Schedule for Iowa, Thomas Berry, minister, died Feb 1880, residence, Indianola, from kidney disease, age 39, born Illinois]