John Salmon Berry and Christopher (Newdick) Berry.

I am delighted to be able to advise of more information for the Berry Family Tree. This in turn extends my database to open other research lines, for which I find blogging an extremely useful tool.

The subjects are:
John Salmon Berry “foster-brother” of John Christmas Underwood aka Christopher Christmas Berry, born Norfolk Street, Lynn, Norfolk, February, 1817 – died Bridlington, Yorkshire East Riding, England, 1880 and
Christopher Newdick Berry aka Christopher Newdick, son of Christopher Christmas Berry, born 8 December 1821, Kings Lynn, Norfolk – died 23 December 1868, Somerville, Massachusetts, USA).

1. John Salmon Berry.

John was the youngest of the five children in the family of Christopher and Elisabeth Salmon Berry, where the oldest, Christopher Christmas Berry, my 2x great-grandfather, had been adopted/fostered. Christopher Christmas was Baptised (in fact for the third time with different names for each) Christopher Christmas Berry on 14 January 1803. Technically all members of this family are unrelated to descendants of Christopher Christmas Berry. John does not share the same bloodline as Christopher Christmas.

Please see  my Feature Story: “The Three Lives of Christopher Christmas UNDERWOOD/BERRY” Part One: “Norfolk, England 1796 – 1837” for explanation of the rather complicated situation related to Christopher Christmas’ surnames.

John Salmon Berry married Alice Leek , born 1815, Bridlington Quay, Yorkshire, England and headed a family comprising:

Sarah Berry,   b. Abt 1839, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
Elizabeth Berry,   b. Abt 1840, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
Ann Berry,   c. 10 Apr 1842
Ann Berry,   b. 12 Nov 1843, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
Jane Berry,   b. Abt 1845, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
William Berry,   b. Abt 1848, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
Alice Berry,   b. Abt 1850, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England ,   d. Abt Apr 1852, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
Eliza Berry,   b. 1855, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
Emma Berry,   b. 1858, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England
Mary Berry,   b. 1858, Flamborough, Yorkshire, England.

In the absence of a bloodline I do not intend, at this stage anyway, to further my research.

2. Christopher Newdick Berry.

The data obtained in relation to Christopher Newdick Berry is my first positive result from an Ancestry DNA Test. The match is with a David Hoppel through Gedmatch, but I have not as yet been able to establish communication with him. David Hoppel is the 4th great-grandson of Christopher Christmas Berry. His 2nd great grandparents are Mary A Berry, daughter of Christopher Berry (Newdick) and David B Brown,

Christopher Berry was the first-born child of Christopher Christmas Berry (John Christmas Underwood) and Elizabeth Newdick. He was born 8 December 1821, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England and Baptised 11 December at St Margaret, Kings Lynn – Parish Register, No 964, Page 121. No Father was named and the record reads: “Son of Elisabeth Newdick”.

Christopher’s father married Elisabeth Newdick as “Christopher Christmas Underwood” on 6 June 1822, St Nicholas, Kings Lynn – Parish Register page 171, number 512, and from that date records show him as “Christopher-Newdick Berry” which was the format later used for the forenames of his siblings:

James-Newdick Berry,   b. 13 Aug 1823, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England
Edmund-Newdick Berry,   b. 11 May 1825, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England ,   bur. 22 Jul 1826, St Margaret, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England
Elisabeth-Newdick Berry,   b. 02 Feb 1827, S Clough Lane, Lynn, Norfolk, England ,   bur. 23 Nov 1887, Lynn, Norfolk, England
William-Newdick Berry,   b. 05 Aug 1833, S Clough Lane, Lynn ,   bur. 18 Jul 1834, St Margaret, Kings Lynn
Edward-Newdick Berry,   b. 1830,   bur. 14 Apr 1832, St Margaret, Kings Lynn, Norfolk
Sarah Berry,   b. 1829, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England, bur. 18 Apr 1832, St Margaret, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England.

Christopher Berry, Junior proceeded in life, apparently with two exceptions, his Baptism and Marriage, using the name Christopher Berry. His Death Record shows “Christopher C” as forenames. The “C’ could very well be for “Christmas” but I cannot find any record that substantiates this.

My research from the point of his birth had hit the proverbial “brick wall” which after extreme perseverance and several months of ” try this, try that” I finally found an answer. Simply that our Christopher married using his Baptismal surname “Newdick”. Ironically this mirrors the action of his Father who used his first baptismal surname “Underwood” for his marriage to Elisabeth Newdick in 1822.

With that resolved I was able to ascertain his wife Charlotte’s surname – “Follan”. There are several variations of the spelling but discovery of the Marriage Notice in the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 30 April 1842 confirms “Follan” as correct.

Again a “brick wall” hampered progress in ascertaining details of the births of his three children, Mary ASarah and Robert J, You will note that Mary Ann’s surname was given as “Newdick” for her Baptism, but with “Berry” used following that event. The only birth place verification I can find for Sarah and Robert J. is “England” found in USA Federal Census records.

Also I have been unable to trace details of the family’s migration to USA. The only information I have is a reference from Sharon who researches the TomMcWill  Family Tree. Sharon places their arrival in USA as “Vermont, 1851”.

One line of thought is that Christopher Jnr. could have moved, following his marriage, from Norfolk to Scotland where his father was  engaged in 1836 by the Orissa Shipping Company at Grangemouth. This should be regarded as a “guess”.

Records I have been able to access show that in 1837 three of CCB’s children, Christopher-Newdick BerryJames-Newdick Berry and Elizabeth-Newdick Berry could have still been alive, together with their mother, Elisabeth nee Newdick.

Records held at the National Archives show that Christopher Christmas was in Scotland in 1836 with the Orissa Shipping Company, based at Grangemouth on the Clyde, and it is possible that Elisabeth and the surviving children, or at least only Elizabeth of their number, had accompanied him in the move North. This conjecture is supported in relation wife Elisabeth and daughter Elizabeth by the 1841 Census in Scotland which records two with the name Elizabeth BERRY, ages 46 and 11, not born in Scotland, resident at East Craigies Cottages in the Parish of Cramond, with the occupation of the elder given as “Agricultural Labourer”. Grangemouth is only 34.6 km distant from Cramond, and bearing in mind that CCB was resident in New Zealand at the time of the Census, 3 June 1841, it is highly possible that further research will verify that these two named Elizabeth BERRY were CCB’s wife and daughter.

3. The Underwood Connection.

These latest discoveries take me a little further with my research of the Berry family, but there is still a lot to be done particularly relation to the Underwood family blood lines.

I have established from the Norwich, All Saints Church Records that John Christmas Underwood‘s Birth Parents were William Underwood and Mary Gooddy. This fact takes me in a new direction with my Berry family history research which now sits with the parents of John Christmas Underwood as the most senior of my discoveries on the Maternal side of my family.

A key question is “why was he fostered out?” The first thought to mind is a death in the Underwood family resulting in children being placed in the foster care of relatives.  In an attempt to find an answer I have found some Parish Record entries that might relate and could offer a starting point to ascertaining details of the connection:

  1. Baptisms St Nicholas Chapel, Lynn, January 1, 1795: Mary Underwood D. Christopher & Margaret Berry and Elisabeth D. Christopher & Margaret Berry (The Burial of Elisabeth at Kings Lynn St Margaret with St Nicholas is recorded 21 July 1795)
  2. Baptism 29 January 1799 St Nicholas’ Chapel, Lynn – Maria. Underwood, D. Christopher & Margaret Berry.

A possibility is that Mary Underwood Berry’s mother Margaret was an Underwood, hence the second name. Mary could well have been a sister of John Christmas Underwood and fostered by another arm of the Berry family. This investigation has been brought to a halt, temporarily I hope, with the challenge of finding a connection between the Christopher and Margaret and Christopher and Elisabeth Berry families.

Help with this would be very much appreciated.

Bob Vine
November 2016