James Tate Berry

James T. Berry  2nd Lieut.  Co. I, 26th MO Inf 

James T. Berry was a brother to Sgt. Robert M. Berry.

The information noted below for James Tate Berry came from various sources, but predominately from his Civil War veteran's pension papers and from the Bruce Bell web page for James Tate Berry: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/e/l/Bruce-Bell/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0460.html .  Additional sources are noted.

Born in Missouri on March 14, 1833.

1853 graduated from Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri.  Alumni Directories, Reeves Library, Westminster College, Fulton, MO 65251

Married Alida Winston Mar. 26, 1856.

1858 was residing in Linn, Mo. when according to an affidavit dated March 17, 1885, was treated for about 2 month by Dr. D. H. Waters for �enseiphelas� (erysipelas see below) of the right arm.

Oct. 26, 1860 son John C. Berry born in Osage county, Missouri.

Sept. 14, 1861 enlisted as a private in company I of the 26^th Missouri infantry while residing at Linn in Osage county, Missouri.

Jan. 1, 1862 promoted to 1^st sergeant.

Jan. 9, 1862 mustered at Chamois, Mo., by Lieut. William M. Wherry.

May 1,1862 promoted to 2^nd Lieut.

May 26, 1862 commissioned 2^nd Lieut.

Jan. 8, 1863 promoted 1^st Lieut.

Jan. 26, 1863 commissioned 1^st Lieut.

Feb. 6, 1863 promoted to regimental quartermaster.

Feb. 20, 1863 commissioned regimental quartermaster while stationed in Memphis, Tenn.

Nov. 11, 1864 For several days while stationed in Cartersville, Georgia, Lt. James Berry had been working on papers for the regiment in preparation for joining General William Sherman and his army on their march to the sea.  He had just received the marching order to leave the next day and went to the regimental headquarters located on the second floor of a building.  The headquarters was accessed by an outside stairway, which ended on a second floor porch.  He entered a door on the porch which lead to the Adjutant�s office and read the order.  He left the office and was discussing it with Capt. James M. Dennis and Capt. John T. Crowe when the railing collapsed and he and Captain Crowe fell about 15 feet to the ground breaking his right clavicle and seriously injuring his right eye.  Berry was initially treated by the asst. regimental surgeon, Dr. Charles F. Barnett, and Dr. Mohr, the surgeon of the 10^th Iowa, then acting as the brigade surgeon.  He was placed in a box car of a train and accompanied by a nurse was sent to a hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn.  He arrived in Chattanooga on Nov. 12 and was assigned to Hospital No. 1 where he remained until Dec. 30 or 31, 1864.  He then went to St. Louis where he was mustered out on Jan. 12, 1865, because he�d reached the end of his service.

Jan. 30, 1866, filed for veterans pension due to injury sustained in his fall on Nov. 11, 1864.  Was residing in Chamois, Osage county, Mo.

Appointed government surveyor in 1872 and moved to Washington Territory, Lewis county, residing in Chehalis.

Nov. 12, 1873, surgeons examination at Olympia, Wash.  Height 5�10�; weight 180; age 40.

Sept. 14, 1875, surgeons examination at Olympia, Wash.  Height 5�10�; weight 170; age 42.  Weakness of arm, which gave him pain at night.  Has trouble reading with both eyes and has difficulty seeing at distances.  Surgeon rated him to receive $8.50 for disability.  Was otherwise in good physical condition.

March 7, 1888, surgeons examination at Seattle, Wash.:  height 5�9�; weight 190; age 55.  Examination revealed that his left arm had wasted and scarred from �erysipelas.�  Berry stated that his eyesight is getting worse making it difficult to do surveying work.  He has some dizziness and sees double in his right eye.  Doctor observed that his right clavicle is less pronounced than the left one.

erysipelas - acute infection of the skin characterized by a sharply demarcated, shiny red swelling, accompanied by high fever and a feeling of general illness. The causative agent is the hemolytic streptococcus, which often enters the body through a break in the skin. Erysipelas affects the skin of the face so frequently that when it strikes other parts of the body, it may often be misdiagnosed. Bacteremia (blood poisoning) and pneumonia are the most common complications. Erysipelas is a highly contagious disease that was formerly dangerous to life; however, it can now be quickly controlled by antibiotic therapy.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright �1994, 1995 Columbia University Press.

Died May 29, 1891 in Portland, OR. He was buried in Ferncrest Cem., Chehalis, Lewis county, WA.

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~walcgs/
Hunt, Herbert and Floyd C. Kaylor.  Washington: West of the Cascades.  Vol. II.  Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1917.  p. 603-604.

     JOHN C. BERRY:  In pioneer days John C. Berry became identified with the interests of the northwest and he took an important part in the development of this region.  His life was devoted to civil engineering and he was serving as city engineer of Central [sic], Washington, at the time of his death, which occurred June 8, 1917.
     Mr. Berry was born in Osage county, Missouri, on the 26th of October, 1860, and was a son of James T. and Alida (Winston) Berry, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. The father was a small boy when taken by his parents to Missouri, in which state he made his home for many years.  He too was a civil engineer by profession.  During the dark days of the Civil war he enlisted as a private in Company I, Twenty-sixth Volunteer Infantry, but was later promoted to captain of his company, and he participated in a number of very important engagements, including the battles of Iuka, Corinth, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, and Island No. 10.  He was also present at the fall of Vicksburg and remained in the service for four years.  He was twice slightly wounded and sustained such serious injuries by being thrown from his horse that he was finally discharged a short time before the surrender of General Lee.  Being appointed a government surveyor, he came to the state of Washington in 1872 and located and surveyed about seventy-five townships here and in Oregon, making his home in the meantime on a farm near Chehalis.  Later he removed to that city, where for ten years he was local land agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad.  His well spent life was ended in 1892 and his wife died about 1887.  In their family were three children, of whom the only daughter was the oldest.
     John C. Berry, the second in order of birth, attended the public schools of Missouri.  His knowledge of civil engineering was largely acquired under the able direction of his father, who was a graduate of Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri.  On starting out in life for himself, our subject followed civil engineering, principally in the service of the railroads on the Pacific coast in the northwest, but at his death was filling the position of the city engineer of Centralia, to which he was appointed in February, 1916.
     In 1884, Mr. Berry was married near Centralia to Miss Anna Zenkner, a stepdaughter of Joseph Schimek, who was a well known farmer of that locality.  To this union were born three children: Tate, who is now serving as game warden in Lewis county; Alida Anna, the wife of Schulyer Davis, a carpenter of Centralia; and Nellie, who is now a senior in the high school of Centralia.      After casting his first vote Mr. Berry always supported the republican party and he served as county surveyor of Lewis county for one term in territorial days.  He was an Episcopalian in religious faith and was a member of the Masonic order and the Commercial Club of Centralia.  He was a prominent representative of his profession and in the discharge of his duties he gained a very wide acquaintance west of the Cascades.  All who knew him held him in the highest esteem and those who knew him best were his closest friends.  For almost forty-five years he lived in western Washington and therefore witnessed almost its entire development for when he came to Lewis county its largest precinct contained only sixty and there were only three hundred voters in the county at that time.