ROBERT BERRY HOME

ELIZABETH CATE was the daughter of John and Margery Cate. Her oldest brother was Joshua Cate and her youngest brother was Thomas Cate who was a chain carrier when the Robert Berry's Granville Grant was surveyed in 1753. Robert Berry and Elizabeth Cate were married about 1759. At least three of their children were already married before Marriage records were kept in Hillsborough.The ages of their children would indicate that their marriage took place around 1759. I think Catherine Berry who was born in 1785 was the daughter of Robert Berry Jr. Assuming Robert Berry Jr. was 23 years old when his daughter Catherine was born would set his birth year at 1762. Catherine Berry was most likely Robert and Elizabeth's first grandchild. Catherine Berry later married Jacob Pickle and eventually removed to Mississippi. Jacob Pickle was listed as Jacob Tickle in the 1810 census. Robert Berry Jr. had an older sister, Mary Berry who may have been 2 years old at the time he was born. I used these ages to to establish a basis and determine that Robert and Elizabeth's marriaged date was probably 1759.

Elizabeth Cate Berry must have been a very sturdy woman. She gave birth and raised 10 children to adulthood and still lived to be about 83 years old. I am sure that like most women in that period Elizabeth was in charge of all the women slaves and was responsible to see that all the domestic chores were done on a daily basis. Shortly after the Revolutionar war there were probably as many as 10 slaves and 12 family members or more, to feed three times a day and 7 days a week. That would be 464 meals each week or 24,180 meals each year. Robert owned a 1000 acres of land and I am sure a great deal of the crops that were raised there was required to feed the people and the work animals.

I think the long life expectancy that many Berry descendants enjoy today can be directly traced back to the DNA of our ancestor Elizabeth Cate.