Woodruff County, ARGenWeb

genealogy & history

Much of this article was originally written by a member of this family and has been brought to my attention by John: I ask only that you add an "Editor's Note" to Telford's byline, indicating that the article's historical narrative was authored by Ardis Berry and first appeared in 1973 in Rivers and Roads and Points In Between, the journal of the Woodruff County Historical Society". Ardis was a wife of Morgan Berry, who was a son of William Campbell Berry.

(7) The family of William Campbell Berry, Jr., came to Augusta as refugees from the carpetbaggers in Missouri. The family lived in Forsythe, MO. where Mr. Berry was born on January 1, 1856. His father, William Campbell Berry, Sr., was county clerk, but resigned to raise a cavalry unit for the Confederates during the War Between the States. He entered the service as a captain and advanced to the rank of Major.

When the Major returned to his home in Forsythe after the war, the carpetbaggers were in control and the family feared for his life. All their belongings were packed and they fled to Springfield. There the father left them and came to Arkansas alone, and the rest of the family prepared to follow him.

William Campbell Berry Jr., then nine years old, rode the lead horse, and the mother and two sisters, Ellen and Duffey, made the long and hazardous trip in a two-horse wagon and an ox cart. It took over a month to make the journey. Major Berry met the family at Chickasaw Crossing, and they settled in the same block where William C. lived at the time of his death. The Major entered the grocery business, which developed into a large furnishing enterprise.

William C. was schooled in Augusta in an old two-story building, where a man and his wife were the only teachers. He told the "Devil Gazette" that the hours were practically from daylight until dark, and "longer if you misbehaved." He told the young reporter that he remembered when the boys were bad the teacher put a bonnet on them and sent them to the schoolmaster to be "attended to." The girls who misbehaved were decked out in boys' caps and sent to the schoolmaster for lectures.

After he finished all the schooling he could obtain in Augusta, he was sent to a boys' school at Lacross, Arkansas.

He attended the University of Arkansas in the first year of its organization. It took a week to make the trip to Fayetteville. First there was a ride by boat to DeVall's Bluff then a train ride to Little Rock on the only railroad in the state. There was another boat trip from Little Rock to Van Buren, and the week's journey was completed by stagecoach from Van Buren to Fayetteville. During his young manhood, dancing was the chief form of entertainment. Some of the greatest fun was dancing on the excursion cotton boats on the White River. "They crowned queens in those days, too," he said as he proudly told of a tournament of horses which he won and so was allowed to crown the lady of his choice as queen. She was Miss Permelia Ann "Speedy" Wilkerson, whom he later married on September 28, 1879. That night he and his queen led the grand march at the ball, but only after her mother saw to it that she had complied with all the wishes of the tournament directors.

When the Gazette reporter asked him what had been the most fun in his younger days, Mr. Berry said, "Dancing in all round dances, quadrilles, or any other type. But I always had a lot of fun and I am glad I did. I still like to see a boy with a lot of life about him."

He remembered a spot which was then at the edge of town and was known as "The Gourd Field." Here gourds for the whole town were grown. Dippers were made of the smaller ones, and the larger ones became lard and soap buckets.

In 1943 only one man was still in Augusta who was there when Mr. Berry first came. He was Bill Moore, a black, three years younger than W.C., and they often met on a street corner and reminisced about long ago experiences. At that time, only four houses were still standing in Augusta which had been there when the Berrys arrived. The town had first been built on the river front, but because the banks washed so badly, the business houses were moved to what is now Second Street.

Epidemics, fires and floods all visited Augusta during his lifetime. One of the worst calamities was the yellow fever epidemic. A steamboat, The Ruth, captained by Milt Harry, came up the river from Memphis and brought the scourge to Augusta. The boat docked at Taylor's Bay for six weeks while the crew was sick and many died. It also took some citizens of the town.

William Campbell Berry Jr. entered business in Augusta about 1877. He retired, but still walked to the store, managed by his son, every day until a short time before his death on March 1, 1946 at the age of 90.

On September 28, 1879, he and his queen, Permelia Ann "Speedy" Wilkerson, were married and started housekeeping in a one-room log home, and a kitchen with a dirt floor. Later a two-story house was built on the same lot. That house burned in 1927, and the present house was built. They lived all their married life on the same lot, and the home is still in a Berry name.

Permelia Ann "Speedy" Wilkerson was born in Woodruff County October 10, 1856, the daughter of William and Matilda Kelly Wilkerson, whose other four children were Ella, Mary, Anne and Berry Wilkerson. Permelia Ann "Speedy" Wilkerson Berry died June 24, 1936, years after her marriage. William Campbell Berry Jr. died March 1, 1946. Both are buried in Augusta Memorial Park Cemetery with other members of the family.

They were the parents of ten children; (8) Morgan Berry 1892-1986 who married first Unknown and second to Ardis Ellen Werner, (II) William Crisman 1880-1958 who married Emily D., (III) Infant son, "Little Brother" 1881-1882, (IV) Douglas 1883-1972 who never married, (V) Etta 1885-1937, (VI) Luther C. 1888-1968 who married Mary J., (VII) Lottie 1889-1952 who married Conner R. Stacy, (VIII) Zada 1895-1970 who married first Ernest Grogan and second Mr. Gish, (IX) Hazel 1898-1961 who never married, (X) Horace Hamilton Berry 1900-1972 who never married.