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BOOK: From these Hills - A History of Pontotoc County by Callie B. Young. pg.632
THE BERRY-PITTS HOME
This historic two-story frame dwelling is located a few miles east of Ecru on the Ecru-Cherry Creek road. It was built by Nathan Manley Berry who came to Pontotoc County from Greenville County, SC in 1844 with his parents William and Elizabeth Halbert Berry. William Berry was the son of Hudson and Sarah Anthony Berry. The parents of Hudson Berry were John and Rebecca Berry who moved from Virginia to Caswell County, NC.
Hudson Berry was born in Virginia on September 10, 1752. He married Sarah Anthony born November 3, 1756, daughter of John and Ursley Anthony of Hanover County, Virginia. His father was James Anthony of the same county, who also moved to Caswell County, NC about 1777. Hudson Berry was a member of the militia of the state of North Carolina and was active in the Revolutionary War.
In 1788 Hudson and Sarah Anthony Berry moved from Caswell County, NC to Laruens County, SC with their four children, William, Nancy, Elizabeth and Micajah. Hudson Berry was a prosperous farmer and businessman. He operated a general store, grist mill, saw mill and cotton factory besides operating a large plantation of several thousand acres. At the time of his death of Jan. 13, 1840 he owned 67 slaves. He built his two and one-half story plantation home on a high rolling hill at Cedar Falls near the junction of the Big Creek and Reedy Rivers. Here he spent the remaining forty-five years of his life. Five more children were born into his family in South Carolina. They were David, Nathan, Mary, Sarah and Hudson, Jr. Hudson Berry died in Greenville, SC on January 13, 1840 in his 88th year. His wife Sarah died two years later on April 26, 1842 at the age o f86. Both are buried at Fork Shoals Baptist Church Cemetery.
The family of Hudson and Sarah Berry was closely associated with the family of William and Elizabeth Halbert who moved from Caroline County, VA. to Greenville County, SC. in 1788. William Berry son of Hudson and Sarah Berry married Elizabeth Halbert and his brother David Berry married Lucinda Halbert.
In 1840, shortly after the death of his father, David Berry and his wife Lucinda sold their plantation home in Anderson county, SC and together with their three married and ten single children moved to Pontotoc County settling in the Cherry Creek community. In 1844 his brother William Berry followed him, bringing his wife Elizabeth, six married and five single children. Other family connections followed shortly thereafter. In 1845 Joel Bruton Gambrell and his wife Jane, a granddaughter of Hudson Berry, came to Pontotoc County settling north of Cherry Creek in the Pleasant Ridge community. The Gambrells intermarried with many Cherry Creek families.
Another Anderson County, SC family moving to Cherry Creek about this time was that of James W. Leavell and his wife Emily. Four of their sons married great granddaughters of Hudson Berry. Sallie Gambrell married Dr. F.G. Leavell, Corra Alice Berry, oldest daughter of Nathan Manley Berry, married George W. Leavell. Her younger sister Lizzie Berry married Fountaine S. Leavell and Mattie Lou Berry, a daughter of Joel Halbert Berry married Dr. R. M. Leavell.
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2807040&id=I2842
1880 United States Federal Census:
Name: Nathan M. BERRY
Age: 56
Estimated birth year: <1824>
Birthplace: South Carolina
Occupation: Merchant
Relation: Self
Home in 1880: Pontotoc, Mississippi
Marital status: Married
Race: White
Gender: Male
Head of household: Nathan M. BERRY
Father's birthplace: SC
Mother's birthplace: SC
Image Source: Year: 1880; Census Place: , Pontotoc, Mississippi; Roll: T9_662; Family History Film: 1254662; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: ; Image: .