John D. Berry
John D. Berry served in the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry from January 11, 1864 to December 9, 1864. He was born in about 1822 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He had a colored complexion and stood five foot, nine inches.1 At about 42 years old, he enlisted into the United States Colored Troops in Somerville, Somerset County, Massachusetts by Mr. Thomas Cunningham.2 John enlisted in Camp Meigs, Readville, Suffolk County, Massachusetts as a private; he served for three years as first a private, a corporal, and then a sergeant.3 In his military service, he became riddled with chronic rheumatism.4 Thus, on November 25, 1864, he was given a "certificate of disability for discharge" and was treated at Point Lookout, Maryland .5 There is no known information detailing his life before the civil war. On December 21, 1864, he filed for a pension and declared an increase in his pension pay to $8 per month.6
During his life, he married two times. He first married Anna Odessa Loylor and conceived son, Charles S., (1843), and daughter, Mary, (1855).7 On September 21, 1893, he married second wife, Margaret E. Thompson, in Penn Yan, New York.8 He did not father any children with Margaret, but she stated in Deposition "A" in "Berry, John D - Age 42, Year: 1864 - 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored)", that he married Anna Loylor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; two of the children had already passed away.9 Margaret also mentioned in the deposition that John was born and grew up in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.10 She noted that his residences changed from Harrisburg to Williamsport and then to New York. In the "1880 United States Federal Census for John D. Berry", John was living in Watkins, Schuyler, New York in dwelling number 95.11 According to a newspaper clipping in the Carlisle Evening Herald, John D. Berry died at 78 years old on North Pitt Street from "dropsy, rheumatism, and asthma".12 Dropsy is another name for the current disease, edema.13 He attended and was a member of West street A.M.E. Zion Church.14 The news clipping from the Carlisle Evening Herald claims that a year before his death, he resided in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with his wife, Margaret.15 He is buried in Lincoln Cemetery Memorial Park with other renowned U.S. Colored Troops. His burial card in the Report for Veterans' Registration Record states he was buried in Section A-1 Grave 6 and was a part of the G.A.R.16 He had a marble tombstone. 17
1. U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for John D Berry, 2012.
2. U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for John D Berry, 2012.
3. U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for John D Berry, 2012.
4. U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for John D Berry, 2012.
5. Berry, John D - Age 42, Year: 1864 - 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavaly, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry.
6. Berry, John D - Age 42, Year: 1864 - 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavaly, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry.
7. U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for John D Berry, 2012.
8. U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for John D Berry, 2012.
9. Berry, John D - Age 42, Year: 1864 - 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavaly, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry.
10. Berry, John D - Age 42, Year: 1864 - 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavaly, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry.
11. 1880 United States Federal Census for John D Berry, 284D.
12. "Obituary", Carlisle Evening Herald, 4.
13. Dropsy. In Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online.
14. "Obituary", Carlisle Evening Herald, 4.
15. "Obituary", Carlisle Evening Herald, 4.
16. Howe, E., 34.
17. Howe, E., 34.
Bibliography:
Dropsy. In Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: USA, n.d. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/illnesses-ailments-disease....
1870 United States Federal Census for John D Berry. Ancestry.com. Pg. 491B. Ancestry: USA, 2009. ancestrylibrary.com/interactive/7163/4677085.
1880 United States Federal Census for John D Berry. Ancestry.com. Pg. 284D. Ancestry: USA, 2010. ancestrylibrary.com/interactive/6742/4243474.
Howe, E. Report for Veterans' Registration Record. Cumberland County Historical Society: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1934.
"Obituary." Carlisle Evening Herald, May 11, 1899. https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping.
Berry, John D - Age 42, Year: 1864 - 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavaly, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry.[Textual Records]. National Archives at Washington, D.C., Record Group 94; (ARC identifier 38924226) at www.archives.gov, June 1. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/38924226
U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s to Current for John D Berry. Ancestry. Find A Grave: USA, 2012. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130192853.