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BIOGRAPHY OF
THE BERRY FAMILY
THE BERRY FAMILY.-One of the earliest emigrants at Bergen
was John Berry, an Englishman who came from Christ Church Parish
in the Island of Barbadoes, presumably with Kingsland, Sandford,
Moore, and one or two others. He was, perhaps one of the most
active and energetic of all the emigrants and certainly the most
liberal. In 1668 he bought all the lands between the Hackensack
and Saddle Rivers, extending from the Sandford patent as far
north as Cherry Hill in Bergen County. The same year he bought
three other tracts: one of 1,500 acres on the Hudson River adjoining
Edsall, another of 2,000 acres at Schraalenburgh, and another
of nearly that number of acres on the upper Saddle River. He
came to be one of the most wealthy of the Bergen settlers, and
in a sense "ran the towne." He was member of the Governor's
Council several years, at one time acting Governor, member of
the Colonial Assembly, a Justice for Bergen County, a Captain
and Major in the militia, and Commander of the "Bergen Rangers"
or train bands. In 1670 he bought land at Bergen, where he made
his home. He gave lands for various purposes, especially the
land at Hackensack on which stands the "Church on the Green."
He died in New York, leaving a large family of children, among
whom were John, Mary, Samuel, Richard, Francis, and Francina.
Most of these remained in Bergen County, where their descendants
are still numerous.
Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties,
New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey
Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 100-101.
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