My Genealogy Hound

S. P. BERRY, P. O. Ash Ridge, a well known and enterprising agriculturist of Franklin Township, is a native of Pennsylvania, where he was born April 19, 1833. His father, John Jacob Berry, was born in Germany, and emigrated to the United States about 1831. He first located in Pennsylvania, where he married Susan Rice, a native of that State, and a daughter of Andrew Rice. In 1837, he came to Brown County, Ohio, settling on a farm adjoining that now occupied by his son, where he lived till his death, October 26, 1881. Mr. Berry was the father of three children, two living — Elizabeth, wife of George Houck, of this township, and S. P. The subject of this notice was reared in Franklin Township, and what education he obtained in boyhood days was picked up during leisure hours. He lived with his father till attaining his majority, and then went to work on a farm by the month. Sometime after, he learned the carpenter trade, which he followed as a business for many years. When about twenty-four years of age, he bought forty-six acres of his present farm, and has since added to it at different periods, until its present acreage numbers 233, mostly under cultivation. The buildings on the farm were erected by himself, and betoken the successful farmer. Mr. Berry’s politics have always been strongly Democratic, and for four years he was annually elected to fill the office of Township Treasurer. He was married, September 16, 1855, to Mary A. Gwinner, a native of this county. Of the ten children given them, seven are living — Michael, Simon, Edward, Charlie, Lottie A., Louis F., Lafayette, Lizzie, Cora and Matilda F. Mr. Berry, wife and family, are members of the Protestant Evangelical Church of Arnheim.