Berry, Baxter B.

Born: 1807-XX-XX Tennessee

Died: 1891-12-02 California

Flourished: Sangamon County, Illinois

Berry was a Black Hawk War veteran, farmer, carpenter, and a justice of the peace. He lived in Sangamon County, Illinois as early as 1831, when he enlisted in the Illinois militia to fight in the Black Hawk War. He served as a private in 1831, enrolled again in 1832 as a first sergeant, and received a commission as sergeant major soon afterward. In October 1832, Berry married Elizabeth Cannon, with whom he would have at least seven children. In 1838, he purchased approximately ninety acres of land in Fulton County, where he and his family were living in 1840. Sometime before 1850, the family moved to Mahaska County, Iowa, where Baxter was employed as a carpenter and owned $1,300 in real property. By 1860, the family had relocated to Marin County, California, where Baxter was farming and owned a personal estate valued at $4,370.

Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Menard County, 68:94; Fulton County, 696:81, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Ellen M. Whitney, comp., The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832: Illinois Volunteers, vol. 35 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970), 1:92, 355, 555; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 20 October 1832, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Sixth Census of the United States (1840), Fulton County, IL, 346; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Mahaska County, IA, 161; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Marin County, CA, 71; Santa Cruz Daily Sentinel (CA), 5 December 1891, 2:5; Gravestone, Sebastopol Memorial Lawn Cemetery, Sebastopol, CA.