John H. Berryhill was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1815. He was the son of John and Eliza (Hughes) Berryhill. His ancestors were patriots in the Revolutionary cause. His father was a prominent wholesale merchant in the Quaker city, but removed from there to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when John was three years of age. Mr. Berryhill graduated with high honors from Washington College, Pennsylvania, in the class of 1835. He then read law with G. W. Harris, a prominent lawyer of Harrisburg, whose father founded the town which bears his name. Mr. Berryhill was admitted to the bar in 1838, and practiced law in the Pennsylvania courts until 1864. During this time he held many positions of trust, and during the earlier years of his practice he took an active part in politics. In November, 1836, he was appointed, by Governor Ritner, captain of the Seventh Company of the Ninety-eighth Regular Militia of Pennsylvania, and was made aid- de-camp to Governor Johnston in 1848, with the rank of lieutenantcolonel. He was president of the Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Company during the War of the Rebellion and was in the telegraph office when Lee's army reached Hagerstown on its way to Chambersburg, with Harrisburg as its ultimate destination. A dispatch was received from Lee, directed to a friend in Harrisburg, asking how many Union troops were in that city. Mr. Berryhill answered: "McClellan's army, seventy thousand strong" --a pardonable fiction under the circumstances. This diplomatic action of Mr. Berryhill undoubtedly had much to do with saving Harrisburg from attack and possible capture.
As a recreation from his labors Mr. Berryhill used to delight in the chase, and frequently made trips to the West on hunting excursions. He became much impressed with the West as a place of residence, and when he decided to give up the practice of law he removed to Davenport, Iowa, and made the city his home the remainder of his life.
He was married, March 2, 1854, to Miss Caroline Jaudon Smith, daughter of Wade T. and Elizabeth (Jaudon) Smith of Philadelphia. Her ancestors were Huguenots, of noble birth, who were exiled to this country at the time of the French persecution. They came to Berks County, Pennsylvania, afterward removing to Philadelphia, where the grandfather of Mrs. Berryhill opened and for many years conducted a select private school for finishing the education of young ladies who desired to progress further with their studies than the average academy of that period could carry them. Mr. Berryhill's mother was a graduate of this school. After his removal to Davenport Mr. Berryhill gave up the practice of law and devoted his attention to investments and financial matters. He was for many years vice-president of the Davenport National Bank, and was interested in other financial enterprises. He was a man of fine physical appearance, and of excellent mental culture. Always a student he kept himself abreast of the times, and with the leisure his later years afforded, he had ample time to devote to his favorite pastime of reading. He was very domestic in his tastes, and thoroughly devoted to his family. Generous to a fault, in his death the poor of Davenport lost one of their best and most munificent friends. Although his life was a very active one, and his business career brought him into intimate relationship with men of the world, he was by temperament devotional, and was always a religious man. He was for twenty-five years vestryman of St. Stephen's Church in Harrisburg, and for many years warden of Trinity Church in Davenport. As a result of his sagacity and untiring application to business in the prime of his life, he was possessed of an ample competence in his declining years, and it may be truly said of him that he used his wealth for no selfish ends. All worthy charities found in him a cordial supporter, and his private donations were frequently known only to himself, not even the recipients themselves in many instances being aware of the source of the relief that came to them so opportunely.
An able lawyer, a successful financier, a ready and fluent speaker, a consistent member of the church, a loving and devoted husband and father, he presented a worthy and exalted example of the highest type of our American citizenship. He died March 3, 1880.
BIOGRAPHIES