ISRAEL P. BERRY

View Portrait of Israel P. Berry

Israel P. Berry is a veteran of the Civil war and a self-made man whose diligence and determination constituted the chief force in the success which he has achieved as the years have gone by. In the early days he worked as a farm laborer by the month and is today the owner of a valuable property. He was born in Morgan county, Ohio, February 14, 1839, and was therefore a young man of twenty-one years when, in the spring of 1860, he came to Iowa. His parents were William and Martha (Pearson) Berry, the former born in Loudoun county, Virginia, and the latter near Barnesville, Belmont county, Ohio. The father started for Iowa in company with two companions and all three died of cholera while on the way, the father’s death occurring April 2, 1854, when he was fifty-two years of age. The mother came to Iowa in 1866 and died January 26, 1894, in her eighty-fourth year.

In their family were thirteen children, nine of whom reached years of maturity. Jane is the wife of John Worrel, of Iowa township. Benjamin, who was a wagonmaker by trade, was killed while digging a well in Ohio. He had expected to enlist for service in the Union army on the day that he was killed. He was married and left a family. William, who removed to Kansas in1871, died in that state, leaving a family. Mary Emsey is the wife of David Scott of Morgan county, Ohio. Martha Ann married A. J. McKittrick and both died in Wisconsin. Israel is the next of the family. Caroline is the wife of John W. Lewis, of Atalissa, Iowa. Eunice died unmarried. James Madison, who completes the family, was born in Morgan county, Ohio, September 10, 1850, and in 1866 came to Cedar county with his widowed mother. For a short time they lived with his brother-in-law, John Worrel, in Iowa township, after which he worked by the month as a farm hand for fifteen or twenty years. He then rented land and later purchased one hundred and forty-five acres on section 33, Iowa township, constituting a well improved property upon which he resided until 1906, when he removed to Springdale and educated his children. He was married, December 25, 1894, to Margaret Minsch, who was born in this county, September 18, 1867, a daughter of John and Mary (Gephart) Minsch, natives of Pennsylvania, who are now living in Oklahoma. Unto Mr. and Mrs. James M. Berry were born five children, Lucille, Robert, Irene, Fern and Margaret.

Israel P. Berry, whose name introduces this review, spent his youthful days in the usual manner of farm lads. His early advantages were few and with a desire to improve his financial condition he came to Iowa in 1860 and was employed at farm labor until his enlistment for service in the Civil war on the 19th of September, 1861. He became a member of Company D, Eleventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and took part in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth and Iuka. At the last place he was taken ill and was sent to the hospital at Corinth. After four days he was transferred to the hospital at Columbus, Kentucky, and was later in the hospital at Jefferson Barracks for about a month. At the end of that time he was sent to Quincy, Illinois, and was honorably discharged December 11, 1862. Returning to Ohio, he there remained in a state of convalescence until 1864, when he again enlisted, joining the One Hundred and Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he was connected until the regiment was mustered out August 10, 1864. Whenever his health permitted he was in active duty and made a creditable military record.

After being mustered out Mr. Berry remained in Ohio until 1865, when he again came to Cedar county, Iowa, where he has since lived. For a year he cultivated a rented farm and then removed to Henry Grove, where he carried on farming for two years. He afterward worked at farm labor in the employ of others for several years but now lives retired. He owns a comfortable home in Springdale and also has a pension. The family has been represented continuously in this county for forty-four years and Mr. Berry is widely known.