BERRY, Wm. Henry (1849-1923)

BERRY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 5/13/2020 at 10:25:52

William Henry Berry
(October 23, 1849 – March 25, 1923)

Funeral Services For Senator Berry Largely Attended
Community Pauses To Do Honor To The Memory Of Its Distinguished And Respected Dead
Thursday at two-thirty o’clock the business houses closed and the ordinary pursuits of life were suspended in Indianola, while the community turned out en masse to do honor to the memory of ex-state Senator W. H. Berry. The funeral services which were conducted at the Methodist Episcopal church were marked by a simplicity and dignity which was very impressive. A mixed quartette sang “Rock of Ages” and “Nearer My God to Thee” while the reading of the scriptures and the offering of a short prayer were by Rev. Dr. Holmes who also delivered a short eulogy based on his own personal knowledge of his departed friend. Rev. Dr. Hamilton then spoke of the long years of service the deceased had given to Simpson College, following which Judge J. H. Henderson, paid tribute to the memory of his former business partner and friend of more than fifty years standing, a friendship beginning at the time when Mr. Berry entered his office as a law student, and continuing uninterrupted through the following years down to the present time. The activities of Senator Berry in the legislature and later on the board of parole, were commented upon in a short eulogy delivered by Hon. A. B. Funk who was closely associated with Mr. Berry in the state legislature and also as a member of the board of parole. Senator A. V. Proudfoot read a set of resolutions offered by the members of the local bar. Dr. Holmes also read a set of resolutions passed by the board of trustees of Simpson College.
Following is the obituary:
William Henry Berry was born in Cass County, Illinois, about five miles south of the town of Virginia, October 23, 1849. He was the son of Benjamin Carleton and Isabel VanEaton Berry, his father a native of the state of Virginia and his mother a native of Ohio. He was the oldest of a family of five children. In the summer of 1862 his father enlisted in company ?, 114th Illinois infantry, of which he was the captain and William, at the age of twelve, was left with the mother to management of a quarter section Illinois farm. In the spring of 1867 his parents came to Iowa. William with his brother Joseph, who died recently, and W. C. Wilson, late of this county, drove through in a wagon while the remainder of the family came on the train. They lived in Des Moines until Captain Berry had bought the farm north of Indianola, now occupied by Joseph Malone, and erected a home which they occupied early in the winter. At the beginning of the fall term, 1867, Mr. Berry entered Simpson Centenary College and graduated with the class of 1872. Soon after graduation he entered the office of J. H. Henderson to begin the reading of law and was admitted to the bar in August, 1873. Mr. Henderson immediately took him into a partnership which continued until 1885 when the senior partner was elected a judge of the district court. The partnership was re-established in the fall of 1895 when Mr. Berry was elected to the Iowa state senate and continued until 1901 when Judge Henderson again withdrew to enter a partnership with his son, F. P. Henderson. The bonds of friendship and confidence between Henderson and Berry during those years of business association has grown stronger as the years have passed. In 1902 he formed a partnership with J. O. Watson which continued until 1906 and was reformed in 1911, continuing until its dissolution in 1920. In the last named year he took into partnership W. W. Ripper, who had been associated with him in the office for nineteen years, and this partnership continued until the time of his death. In 1899, in company with G. A. Worth, D. H. Nutting, G. W. Parsons, T. D. Swan and C. C. Reynolds, he organized the Worth Savings Bank, becoming its president and continuing in that relation until the time of his death.
May 12th, 1875, he was united in marriage to Alice M. Barker, who had graduated in the same class with him in college and who was a daughter of M. R. Barker, one of Indianola’s pioneer merchants. To this union was born one child, Don L. Berry. He was a man of rugged health with a promise of very long life, but was almost fatally injured in a runaway accident July 14th, 1919, after which his vigor seemed to be impaired, although recovery was apparently complete with the exception of an injury to the right arm. Since that time he had sustained a number of physical shocks, partially due, no doubt, to his inability to shield himself properly with the use of only one arm. Early in December a fall which at the time seemed insignificant to him must have, as we see things now, caused a strain upon the heart. His decline in physical strength was noticeable thereafter. Late in January and early in February he began to suffer noticeably from impaired heart action and on the sixth day of February entered the Methodist Hospital in Des Moines for treatment. After ten days’ rest and attention he seemed very much improved and returned to his home and to his work. He had been feeling some indisposition on Friday, March 23rd, and retired very early that evening, but on Saturday morning felt much improved and went down town earlier than usual. On Sunday he seemed pretty well, but asked his physician, Dr. W. M. Park, for a consultation on Sunday afternoon. The consultation began in Dr. Park’s office about three o’clock and continued for about an hour and a quarter when he left the doctor’s office to go to his own office across the street, saying that he would return in a short time. Dr. Park was not alarmed at some little time elapsing as it was Mr. Berry’s frequent custom to stop and talk a little while with friends whom he might meet. When he had not returned after forty-five minutes, Dr. Park went in search of him and found him at the door of his office at the end of the hallway entrance to the Worth Savings Bank where he had fallen after having inserted the key in the door to go into his office.
He leaves beside his wife, son and daughter-in-law, a sister, Mrs. Mary E. Hunt, and a brother, F. C. Berry of Emmett, Idaho, and three grandchildren, Thomas, Martha and Alice Berry. His brother, J. V. Berry of Emmett, Idaho, died February 6th, Martha B. Hunt, died in 1899. Mr. Berry was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church from boyhood. He was closely identified with its activities throughout his life in Indianola. A teacher of a Bible class for some years until his election to the superintendency of the Sunday School. He served in the latter office for thirty years. For a long period of time he was a trustee of the church. He was also a trustee of the college for twenty-nine years; president of the board during the latter part of the time.