Thomas Berry I
(last updated on 29 Sept. 2023)
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(last updated 3 Nov. 2023)
First Five Generations of Descendants from Thomas Berry I
Probable Progenitor of the Eglish Berry Family
First Generation
1. ? Thomas Berry I, (probably descended from a Berry/Bury family of Co. Kildare); b. est. c.1640, d. before 1673 in Castlecuffe, Queen's Co. (Co. Laois), leaving a nuncupative will; m. Mary L'Estrange (dau. of William L'Estrange of Castlecuffe and Grany Malone).
According to family legend, a John Berry from Middleton, Wales was the progenitor of our Berry family and this was followed in earlier versions of this webpage. However, both the name "John" and the location of this "Middleton" are problematic and in my opinion should now be abandoned. James William Middleton Berry (1812-1855) was probably responsible for perpetuating this unsubstantiated legend as, in his 1848 application for a confirmation of arms, he submitted that:
"The family of Berry came originally from Wales, where they possessed a large estate, called Middleton. They settled in Ireland in the time of Cromwell, and received a grant of Eglish Castle, in the time of Charles II, where they resided for many years. John Berry disinherited his son (John) for marrying a Miss Sweetman, a Roman Catholic lady, by whom he had a son, Thomas, who settled at Knockerville, and purchased with several other townlands, Killelan, which he called Middleton. He married Miss Dames of Greenhills, in the king's County, by whom he had issue, a son John."
John settled at Roundwoods (sic) in this county, and married Hester, daughter of Captain Fleetwood, son of General Fleetwood, by Bridget, daughter of Oliver CromwellI, widow of General Ireton (thus the family not only came to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell [as stated by Hume in his 'History of England'], but are by its present members LINEALLY descended from Oliver Cromwell, through his daughter Bridgett)."
This account has been shown by Sir Edmund Bewley * to be untrue in almost every respect. It seems probable that the 'large estate' in Wales was a fiction created to obscure the family's early Irish Catholic origin and gain status in the Protestant Ascendancy Class. The only large estate I can find in Wales called Middleton is now the National Botanic Garden of Wales and was never owned by a Berry family. However, there is a village called Middleton (near present-day Rhossili) a few miles from Oxwhich on the Gower Peninsular, Glamorgan, South Wales in which the Berry family of Berrynarbor, Devon had property interests over several generations (see https://sites.google.com/site/irishberrygenealogy/devon-berry-tree?authuser=0).
The family legend also alleges that either this John Berry or his son was disinherited by his father for marrying a Catholic - a Miss Sweetman, who was a relative of the Catholic Bishop Walter Sweetman [that he was Bishop is ex Pey 2003; in Isabella Berry's (1815-1897) history (see bottom of page) he is referred to as "old Walter Sweetman"]. Lorton Wilson wrote (Chapter One. Early History of the Family): "The pedigree is headed by John Berry of Middleton in Wales, who is said to have disinherited his son John for having married a Roman Catholic, Miss Sweetman, and to have had a son, Thomas, who is the first of whom I can trace any definite evidence." This history was probably also created in order to bolster the family's Protestant credentials.
For reasons discussed in Before Ireland , Thomas Berry I (Thomas Berry of Castlecuffe, Queen's Co. ) is now shown as the most likely progenitor of the lineage described on this page.
* Bewley, Sir Edmund T. "An Irish Branch of the Fleetwood Family" The Genealogist xxiv (1877-1921): 217-241 (See text of this paper at bottom of this page)
Children:
2. i. Thomas Berry b. c. 1670.
Second Generation
2. Thomas Berry, (son of Thomas Berry I ) b. c.1670, d. before 12 Nov. 1739* and after 12 Sept. 1726#. L.A.W. notes that he is the first member of this Berry family for whom he can trace definite evidence. Thomas settled at Knockerville Townland, Co. Westmeath in the Parish of Killucan in about 1703. He describes himself as a farmer or gentleman in official documents. He last appears in the Killucan Church Vestry minutes of 30th March 1730. No record of his death has been found and he is not recorded to have been buried in the graveyard of the Church he attended at Killucan. It seems possible that after 1730 he moved to Broadwood and attended St Beccan's Church, Kilbeggan, where he may have been buried .
Thomas was Agent to Lieut. Col. William Berry and later his son, Richard Berry of Wardenstown, managing their lands, so was presumably well educated and literate. L.A.W. notes that Thomas and Richard were "apparently not related" as Thomas had to account to Chancery for mortgaging lands belonging to Richard, which he claimed as his own (see account at the bottom of this page). His only explanation was that there was "an intimacy and friendship between him and Richard".
Thomas was Churchwarden of Killucan from 1707-1710 and he and Elizabeth are regularly recorded in the vestry minutes from 1704 -1730. L.A.W. notes that one of the surviving daughters [presumably Mary] married a Nugent + . The fact that Thomas and Elizabeth had 12 children, of which only the firstborn, John, and possibly one other (Mary) survived to adulthood, the others all dying in infancy, suggests rhesus isoimmunisation as the cause. (Mother-foetus incompatibility occurs when the mother is Rh - (dd) and her foetus is Rh+ (DD or Dd). The first time an Rh - woman becomes pregnant there usually are not incompatibility difficulties for her Rh+ foetus. However, the second and subsequent births are likely to have life-threatening problems for Rh+ foetuses).
He married, c.1701 in the Killucan Parish, Elizabeth Dames, (daughter of John Dames and Elizabeth ? of Greenhills, Rathmoyle, (Ballyburly) King's Co. She was living on 12 Nov. 1739.
Children:
3. i John BERRY b. c.1702. Not baptized in the Killucan Church, indicating that Thomas and Elizabeth lived elsewhere at the time.
ii William Berry, b. 1704, d. 1704, buried at Killucan. Died an infant. Baptized at Killucan 5 June 1704, his godparents were Richard Purdon, Maurice Fitzgerald and Mary Dames.
iii Deborah Berry, b. 1706. Baptized at Killucan on 10 June 1706, her godparents being Jacob Stone, Hannah Kelly and Katherine Dames.
iv Richard Berry, b. 1708. Baptized at Killucan on 13 May 1708, his godparents being Cornet Richard Berry, Mr Jacob Smyth and Mrs Katherine Dames.
v William Berry, b. 1710. Baptized at Killucan 13 May 1710.
vi Joseph Berry, b. 1712, d. 1713. Baptized at Killucan 29 June 1712. Buried there 14 Nov. 1713.
vii Philip Berry, b. 1712, d. 1713. Baptized at Killucan 5 May 1714, buried there 1 March 1715.
viii Elizabeth Berry, b. 1715, d. 1715. Baptized at Killucan 22 May 1715, buried there 30 May 1715.
ix Susanna Berry, b. 1716, d. 1716. Baptized at Killucan 28 June 1716.
x Mary Berry, b. 1718. Baptized at Killucan 26 Aug. 1718
xi Robert Berry, b. 1721. Baptized at Killucan 26 March 1721.
xii Dorcas (Elizabeth) Berry, b. 1726, d. 1729. Baptized at Killucan 2 Nov. 1726, buried there 17 Oct. 1729. In a copy of the Register transcribed by the Rector, the Rev. William Falkiner in 1925 this daughter appears among the baptisms as Elizabeth.
See https://www.ireland.anglican.org/news/6358/killucan-parish-register-16961786-transcribed
* His wife, Elizabeth, son John and others are recorded in a Chancery Bill of this date in a property dispute vs Colman Pierson and others. If Thomas was alive he would have been a party and named.
# Deed ref 51.49.32751 of this date of lands from Thomas Berry of Knockerville to Anthony Malone of Dublin appears to be the last official record of him.
+ Thomas' son John Berry of Broadwood bequeathed in his 1776 will "... to sister Nugent £10 per annum for life. "
Third Generation
3. John BERRY, (son of Thomas Berry) b. c.1702 in Ireland, d. 10 Nov 1768 at Broadwood, resident at Killenlahan, otherwise known as Broadwood, in the Parish of Castletown, Kindalen, Co. Westmeath. Buried 12 Nov at Kilbeggan. He acquired Killenlahan, which he afterwards named Broadwood, Ballyduff and Killelan, from Bryan Geoghegan, probably to prevent discovery under the Popery Acts. [See account of the history of the acquisition of "Broadwood" by L.A.W. at the bottom of this page]
He married, c.1736, Hester Fleetwood, (daughter of John Fleetwood and Lydia Armstrong) b. c.1716, d. c.1767, buried at Kilbeggan. According to LAW. Hester was the only child of her parents. This marriage gave rise to the Berry family’s claim to be descended from Oliver Cromwell on the basis that this Hester was supposedly the grand-daughter of General Charles Fleetwood, Commander in Chief of the Protector, by his wife Bridget, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, and widow of General Ireton. However, this claim has been disproved by Sir Edmund Bewley *.
Children:
4. i Thomas BERRY b. 4 Feb.1737/8.
5. ii James Middleton Berry b. 1745.
iii Michael Berry, b. 1746, never married. Referred to as "Uncle Mich" by Isabella Berry. Living in Feb.1815.
iv Catherine Berry, b. 1748, d. March 1823 in Charlemont St. Dublin. She married, 1784, James Hanover Berry, (son of Jonathan Berry and Patience Sterling) of Portobello. James was "Ensign 25th Foot 28 Oct. 1776. Lieut. 15 July 1778, senior Lieut. in 1783. Capt. Lieut. with rank of Capt. in the Army 5 Ap.1786. Retired 9 Dec. 1789. Barrack Master Glancree in 1810. Lived for many years at Portobello. Died without issue.
John Berry's handwritten will, dated 6 March 1767, which was not signed nor witnessed and found in his desk; (he died suddenly) contains the following small bequests besides the more substantial ones made to his four children named above :- "To sister Nugent £10 per annum for life. To natural daughter Mary Davis £10. To children of natural daughter, Catherine Halket £10. To natural son, Nicholas Berry, born of Mary Tolor, £20". Halket and Tolor are unusual names and these could possibly be 'Hackett' and 'Taylor' or 'Toler' respectively.
(The will went through the legal process of validation in 1769 and Administration was granted to James Middleton Berry, John Berry's second son and principal legatee on 12 March 1770. Lorton Wilson includes a copy of an abstract of the will and the validation in his manuscripts*).
v Mary (Davis).
vi Catherine (Halket).
vii Nicholas Berry c. 1730 Probably before 1736.
There are records of a Nicholas Berry living in Loughnagore, Kilbeggan, in 1825 and 1834 and as a voter in Kilbeggan in 1832. Griffith's valuations 1834 also contains a Nicholas Berry living in the Parish of Durrow, King's Co. Whether there is a connection with John Berry is uncertain. The 1911 census also records a Nicholas Berry living in Loughnagore, aged 32.
* Lorton Wilson Manuscripts Vol. 4, Chapt. 17, p. 25 & 26.
Fourth Generation
4. Thomas BERRY, (son of John Berry) b. 4 Feb.1737/8 in Ireland, d. 20 Oct 1815. Buried at Eglish on 26 Oct., Thomas lived before his marriage with his father at Broadwood, later at Brookfield, Ballygibbon (about 4 miles from Tyrrellpass) and Eglish Castle. On 15 June 1770 he took over the lease and Eglish Castle, King's Co. from his father-in-law and c. 1776 bought the head interest of the Sterlings, which was sold in Chancery. Coote's Survey states that " he has a well circumstanced demesne and holds a great tract of Ground without the Barony (Eglish) principally grazed by sheep" also that with Roger North of Kilduff he occupies "almost the entire of the green farms of the Barony of Philipstown, and has an extensive bleach green at Eglish." Thomas seems to have farmed some, if not all of his land himself. In letters written by his wife in 1793 and 1795 there is mention of his going to fairs at Roscrea, where he bought 150 sheep, Killavally and Mullingar. The mill and bleaching green for flax was part of a project to give profitable employment to two of his sons, James and Francis. There are references to it being started in letters by Thomas Berry written in 1795 to his wife. James was then twenty five and Francis only sixteen.
Thomas Berry*
The few references to Thomas Berry and the tone of his own letters indicate that he was an energetic and businesslike man. There is also a glimpse of him being a stern father in the case of one of his sons, Sterling, who at the age of twenty eight was apparently still sowing his wild oats and failing to settle down to earning his living as a linen salesman. In a letter of 13th Sept. 1797 Frances Berry writes of her son Sterling that his ...."Father is still so enraged he can't hear his name mentioned with any degree of patience"...
Thomas was a Major in the Eglish Rangers, 29 Aug. 1779.
In the Public Monitor, 1772-3, a series of articles appeared entitled "A View of St Stehan's Green". This is an imaginary conversation between two imaginary characters, who remark on the people who are supposed to pass by. In the issue of 4 Feb. 1773 we find " Messrs Thomas and James Berry, brothers, two as worthy beings and of as excellent character as walk on this green" [Contrast this with their comment on Jonathan Berry].
He married, 27 June 1759, Frances Berry, b. 16 Aug. 1743, (daughter and heir of Knight Berry and Sophia Sterling) d. 25 May 1807 Buried at Eglish. From surviving letters written to one of her sons, Robert Fleetwood, she seems to have been a warm hearted person, a fond mother interested in all the doings of her family and neighbours and perhaps a little garrulous. She was somewhat in awe of her husband. This may have been in part due to the fact that she was only sixteen when she married him. Frances gave birth to sixteen children, thirteen of whom reached adulthood and eleven of whom left descendants, a remarkable achievement in those times.
* There is an interesting story attached to this portrait which is the original from which that of Thomas on the Home Page was almost certainly copied: In 2008 I was contacted by an unknown American who had just purchased a magnificent framed portrait of Thomas Berry of Eglish Castle from at Ebay store in Arizona and had found this website while trying to discover more about Thomas Berry. The portrait was by well-known Dublin artist, George Lawrence and is dated 1797. On the back is pasted an old note that indicates that the painting was owned by Francis Berry Homan Mulock. Also, burnt into the wood is the inscription "Thomas Berry of Eglish Castle grandfather of F.S. Mulock". In researching the origin of the portrait I conjecture that F.S. Mulock is Frances Sophia Berry (Mulock) who was apparently a favourite of Thomas’ because in his will he singled her out thus: ....." the Furniture Books Book cases and all Other Articles in the Room called the Study all of which I bequeath to my Daughter (sic) Frances Mulock." The portrait would then have passed from Frances Sophia to her son Francis Berry Homan Mulock, to his daughter Frances Ethel Homan Mulock, to her daughter Sheila Wingfield and finally, I suspect, her son Guy Wingfield who (according to the book "Something to Hide") settled in Applegate, California. I expect that Guy Wingfield died and the portrait was sold as part of his estate. It has subsequently been resold and remains in America.
NB Thomas Berry’s children (the fifth generation of descent from Thomas Berry I) who left descendants are each dealt with on separate pages of this website.
Children:
i Sophia Berry, b. 21 Jul 1760, d. 15 Oct 1760.
ii Hester Fleetwood Berry, b. 29 Jan 1762, d. 4 Jun 1832.
iii Jane (Jennie) Berry, b. 16 Jun 1763, d. 7 Sep 1842.
iv John Berry, b. 8 Jul 1764, d. 1815. Probably buried at Eglish, but grave not found by P.F.B. in 2011.
v William (Willie) Knight Berry, b. 8 June 1766, d. Aug 1811.
vi Lydia Berry, b. 31 Oct 1767, d. 3 May 1768. Buried at Killbeggan.
vii Thomas Sterling Berry, b. 14 June 1769, d. 25 Dec 1846. He married Dorothea Homan
viii James (Jemmie) Armstrong Berry, b. 13 July 1770, d. 9 Oct 1827. Buried at Eglish.
ix Sterling BERRY, b. 10 Oct. 1771 at Eglish Castle, d. 10 April 1828. Buried at Eglish.
x Marlborough (Mallie) Parsons Berry, b. 30 May 1773, d. 28 Oct 1842. Buried at Eglish.
xi Frances Sophia Berry, b. 11 Jan 1775, d. 11 Jan 1775. Buried at Killbeggan.
xii Robert Fleetwood Berry, b. 1 Jan. 1777, d. 8 April 1848. Buried at Eglish.
xiii Francis (Frank) Octavius Berry, b. 10 June 1779, d. 31 Oct 1864 at Tullamore. Buried at Eglish.
xiv Luke Michael Berry, b. 11 Nov 1781, d. pre 26 Feb 1815. Buried at Eglish.
Luke Berry
xv Catherine (Fannie) Frances Berry, b. 13 May 1784, d. 2 June 1845; buried at Liss.
Possibly Catherine Berry
She married, Jan 1802, Thomas Homan Mulock, b. 1765 d. 16 Jan.1843. They had no issue. She adopted her eldest brother John’s daughter, Frances Sophia Berry, who married Thomas Edward Mulock Molloy (Homan-Mulock). He assumed the name and arms of Homan-Mulock by Royal Licence, dated 3 March 1843 so as to inherit the estate of Bellair from his maternal uncle, Thomas Homan Mulock (1765-1843).
xvi Smith Massy Berry, b. 3 April 1787, d. 26 Feb 1863.
5. James Middleton Berry, (son of John Berry), b. 1745 at Killelan, Co. Westmeath, d. April 1823 (intestate), lived at Killinlahan, otherwise Broadwood, Co. Westmeath, which he inherited in terms of his father's will. He renamed Broadwood as "Middleton" sometime after his marriage in 1774. Lt. in Fertullagh Cavalry in 1776. J.P. Co. Westmeath.
On 2 April 1771, with his brother Thomas, James obtained a grant from the Vestry of Killbeggan of a piece of ground, 20 feet by 13, in the churchyard to commence 64 feet from the S.W. corner of the church to build a vault for the burying places of themselves and their families. I could find no sign of the vault on my 2011 visit to St. Beccan’s. The church building had been almost completely demolished except for the tower and the graveyard was overgrown with brambles. However, in a photograph of St Beccan’s taken in 1911, two large burial enclosures are visible in the foreground which appear to be in the specified position (see https://www.rareirishstuff.com/westmeath/the-church-kilbeggan-co-westmeath-ireland-1905.568.html). That the Berry burial place was built is certain as the 1828 will of Mary Berry of Parsonstown, widow of James Middleton Berry, specified that she was to be buried in the vault in the churchyard of Kilbeggan, by the remains of her late husband. (Thomas Berry was buried in the Eglish burial enclosure). St Beccan's was closed and deconsecrated on 7th February 1962.
He married, 1773 or 1774, Mary Dames, b. c.1750 at Rathmoyle, Kings Co., (daughter and co-heir of Thomas Dames and Martha Wakely) d. July 1830; buried at Killbeggan. Thomas Dames of Greenhill was a nephew of Elizabeth Dames, wife of Thomas Berry of Knockerville.
Children:
i Martha Matilda Berry, b. ?, d. 1855
She married (1) 1803 John Spunner, b. c. 1761, d. Aug. 1824, buried at Shinrone.
She married (2) 3 Dec. 1832, Thomas William Moffat, d. 1835. 2nd Lieut. in Col. Josiah Champagne's Foot (later 1st Ceylon Foot). 27 April 1806. Lieut. 66th Foot 1 Oct. 1808. Senior Lieut. in 1824. Capt. 7th Garrison Batt. 27 April 1825. On British h.p. 1 Dec. 1825.
6. ii John Middleton Berry
iii Maria Berry. According to L.A.W. she died as a young woman while on a visit to Bath with her parents, of a fever which developed as a result of too much dancing!
Fifth Generation
6. John Middleton Berry, (son of James Middleton Berry) b. 1787, d. 1830, of Middleton, Co. Westmeath. High Sheriff, Co. Westmeath 1814.
He married, 1810, Letitia Catherine Smyth, (daughter of William Smyth, M.P. for Co. Westmeath for 30 years, and Frances Maxwell).
Children:
i. James William Middleton Berry (son of John Middleton Berry), b. 1812, d. 1855. He died suddenly while hunting, intestate and without issue; ed. Brasenose Coll. Oxford, where he matriculated on 8 April 1829. B.A. 1832. M.A. 1836. Called to Bar, Inner Temple, 1838. He sold Middleton to Rochfort Boyd in 1846. He succeeded to Ballynegall under the will of James Gibbons, who had married his mother's sister. On his death this passed to Thomas James Smyth, son of Rev. Thomas Smyth by Mary Anne, daughter of Adam Tate Gibbons H.E.I.C.S., and niece to James Gibbons. (see http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=WM®no=15401212 for a description of Ballynagall House)
James was J.P. and D.L. Co. Westmeath. High Sheriff 1848. In 1848 he obtained from Sir William Betham, Ulster King of Arms, a confirmation of arms which incorporated elements of James Gibbon’s arms.
He married, 1851, Caroline Augusta (Cusack-) Smith, b. 1824, d. 1896 who was his second cousin, once removed. They had no children.
Isabella Berry's (1815-1897) account of our Berry Family History
Copied by Lorton Wilson
Account of Ownership of "Broadwood"* by Lorton Wilson
*Later to be renamed "Middleton" by James Middleton Berry (5), son of John Berry (3).
[page 229]
THE CLAIM OF THE BERRY FAMILY TO A CROMWELLIAN DESCENT.
Extracted from:- Bewley, Sir Edmund T. “An Irish Branch of the Fleetwood Family” The Genealogist xxiv (1877-1921): 217-241.
For the last sixty years or thereabouts the Irish family of Berry of the County Westmeath and the King's County has claimed to be descended from Oliver Cromwell. The question as to the descendants of the Protector is a matter of historical interest, and as this alleged descent is directly connected with the pedigree of the Irish Fleetwood family, it is right that it should be fully discussed. The pedigree of " Berry, formerly of Eglish Castle, King's County," in Howard and Crisp's Visitation of Ireland, vol. iii, p. 21, commences thus:
" Thomas Berry of Eglish Castle and of Rathgibbon, King's County (son of John Berry of Roundwood and Broadwood, King's County,37 by Hester his wife, grand-dau. of General Charles Fleetwood, Commander in Chief of the Protector, by Bridget his wife, dau. of Oliver Cromwell, and widow of General Ireton)."
This claim is wholly devoid of foundation, but its origin is not hard to trace.
In 1848 Mr. James Wm. Middleton Berry, of Ballynegall, County Westmeath, applied for a confirmation of arms to Sir William Betham, Ulster King of Arms, and either for the purposes of this application or a short time before it, a statement of his lineage was drawn up - probably by one of the unscrupulous pedigree-mongers who in early Victorian days were not unknown in Ireland. This statement, or the substance of it, was afterwards communicated by or on behalf of Mr. Berry to the Editor of "The Grand Juries of the County of Westmeath," published in 1850 by John Charles Lyons, and the material portions of it (which will be found at p. 7 of the Historical Appendix) are as follows :
" The family of Berry came originally from Wales, where they possessed a large estate, called Middleton. They settled in Ireland in the time of Cromwell, and received a grant of Eglish Castle, in the time of Charles II, where they resided for many years. John Berry, of Middleton, in Wales, disinherited his son (John) for marrying a Miss Sweetman, a Roman Catholic lady, by whom he had a son, Thomas, who settled at Knockerville, and purchased with several other townlands, Killelan, which he called Middleton. He married Miss Dames of Greenhills, in the King's County, by whom he had issue, a son John.
John settled at Roundwoods 38 (sic) in this county, and married Hester, daughter of Captain Fleetwood, son to General Fleetwood, by Bridget, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, widow of General Ireton, (thus this family not only came to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell [as stated by Hume. in his ‘History of England’], but are by its present - members LINEALLY descended from Oliver Cromwell, through his daughter Bridget)."
37 "Roundwood " is a blunder for " Broadwood." The latter is an English rendering. of Killinlahan, a townland in 'the parish of Castletown-Kindelane, which is situate in the County Westmeath, and not in the King's County. E.T.B.
38 This is meant for Broadwood - See ante.-E.T.B.
This is not the place to discuss the origin or pedigree of the Berry family, but some of the above statements show that the compiler was ignorant and inaccurate. Eglish Castle was not granted at any time to a member of any family of Berry. The Stirling family of the King's County had a leasehold interest in Eglish Castle, and by the marriage of Sophia, daughter of Captain James Stirling, with Mr. Knight Berry, of Birr, King's County, this passed to the latter, who was a member of a family of Berry wholly unconnected at this time with the Berrys mentioned in Mr. James Wm. Middleton Berry's pedigree. It so happened that Mr. James Wm. Middleton Berry's grand-uncle, Mr. Thomas Berry, married a daughter of Mr. Knight Berry, and in this way a leasehold interest in Eglish Castle passed to him. The alleged passage in Hume's "History of England," in which the migration of the Berry family to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell is said to be recorded, has not been discovered.
Sir William Betham was not called on to register the Berry pedigree, nor to verify the accuracy of the above-mentioned statement. He was satisfied that the use of arms corresponding with those of the Berrys of Berry Narbor, Devonshire, for a sufficiently long period had been proved, and he granted a confirmation of them to Mr. James Wm. Middleton Berry.
It was not necessary for him to express any opinion on the alleged Cromwellian descent, but amongst the documents preserved in Ulster's Office connected with this confirmation of Arms, the following unofficial note in Sir William Betham's handwriting is forthcoming :
1711. (sic).
“Thomas (sic) Berry = Hesther (sic) dau. of John* Fleetwood, Esq., of Pragh (sic), Tullamore, by Lydia, 2d wife of Robert Armstrong, Esq.” (See " A's " pedigree.)
* “Son of General Fleetwood by his 1st wife, (-). dau. of (-) Smith, and not by Oliver Cromwell's dau. Bridget, who was his 2d wife and had no issue.”
This memorandum and note, which contain several blunders, are worthless. Sir William Betham was very industrious; and his pedigree notes, the result of researches in wills, grants of administration, parish registers and patent rolls, are often of great value to the genealogist. But there was not any Public Record Office in Ireland in his day, and apparently he had not an opportunity of examining bills and other pleadings in Chancery and the Equity Exchequer, and many other records of great importance, now readily accessible. He was also, unfortunately, often too ready to accept statements of descent without proper verification. His note shows that he had not read Mark Noble's “Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell,” and' of course he was wholly ignorant of any early settlement of Fleetwoods at Kilbeggan or elsewhere in the County Westmeath.
The marriage of Lydia Armstrong in 1716 to John Fleetwood, Esq., of " Pragh " (i.e., Sragh), near Tullamore, and the marriage of their daughter, Hester Fleetwood, to John Berry, Esq., of Broadwood in Westmeath, had been chronicled in Burke's " Commoners," vol. iv, p. 340, published in 1838. Bridget, the second wife of General Charles Fleetwood, was buried in July 1662,39 and if this John Fleetwood were one of her children, he could not have been born later than 1660 or 1661, as he had a younger brother. This would make him 55 or 56 years of age at the date of his marriage with Lydia Armstrong, which seems hardly probable. However, the framer of the statement of lineage for Mr. James Wm. Middleton Berry did not go into niceties of this kind, and thought, no doubt, that his suggested descent was at least a plausible guess, and rightly supposed that there would be great difficulty in disproving it.
The subject of the children of General Charles Fleetwood has been fully discussed by Mr. Mark Noble in his " Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell," published in the eighteenth century ; by Mr. James Waylen in " The House of Cromwell," the last edition of which, edited by Rev. Canon John Gabriel Cromwell, appeared in 1897 and by the author of the article on Charles Fleetwood in the “Dictionary of National Biography” 40 ; and the conclusion arrived at by his biographers is that Fleetwood left issue by the first and second of his wives - that is to say Frances Smith and Bridget Ireton, nee Cromwell - but that his descendants in the male line became extinct about the middle of the eighteenth century. By his wife, Bridget, General Fleetwood was the father of (1) Cromwell Fleetwood, born about 1653, who appears to have died without issue, and administration of whose goods was granted in September 1688; (2) Anne Fleetwood, buried in Westminster Abbey before 1659, and exhumed at the Restoration; (3) Mary, who married Nathaniel Carter on 21st February 1678; and probably some other children, most of whom died young, and none of whom left issue.
The supporters of the Berry claim may perhaps allege that John Fleetwood, of Sragh, who married Lydia Armstrong, was one of these " other children," and that the fact that he left issue escaped the notice of Fleetwood's biographers. But they must go a great deal farther. They must show that General Charles Fleetwood had by his wife Bridget two other sons, Charles and Peirson, hitherto unknown in the history of Cromwell's descendants - for beyond all question John Fleetwood of Sragh was brother of Charles Fleetwood, of Knock and Loghnagore, and of Peirson Fleetwood, of Wicklow and Loghnagore. They must explain, too, how it happened that Peirson Fleetwood was given the name of a Kilbeggan family, and how his brother Charles and he successively obtained leases of the lands of Loghnagore in the neighborhood of Kilbeggan, previously held by Thomas Fleetwood, the Seneschal of Kilbeggan. They must also account for the fact that General Charles Fleetwood when he made his will on the 10th January 1689 41 utterly ignored the existence of these three alleged sons, Charles, John and Peirson, and did not even cut them off with the proverbial shilling. He left legacies to his daughter, Lady Elizabeth Hartopp (the surviving daughter of his first marriage) and his "daughter Carter" (i.e., Mary, wife of Nathaniel Carter, the surviving daughter of his second marriage), and after providing that his manor or lordship of Burrough, alias Burrough Castle, County Suffolk, should, after payment of legacies, etc., be conveyed to " my son and heir, Smyth Fleetwood, and his heirs for ever " (the surviving son of his first marriage), he directed "my son Smyth Fleetwood to be sole executor." The language, it will be noticed, is that of a testator who had an only son, or a sole surviving son.
But the Berry claim cannot by any reasonable explanation be reconciled with the facts. Charles, John and Peirson Fleetwood were manifestly sons of Thomas Fleetwood, the Seneschal of Kilbeggan, and in the foregoing pages their descent has been traced from Thomas Fleetwood, Sheriff of the County Westmeath at the beginning of the reign of Charles I.
John Berry, of Killinlahan, otherwise Broadwood, who married Hester Fleetwood, lived in the parish of Castletown-Kindelane, which adjoins that of Kilbeggan. There was not any parish church in Castletown-Kindelane at this time, and Berrys as well as Fleetwoods attended the church at Kilbeggan. It was quite natural that there should be friendship between two families who lived so near to one another, and were of the same social standing. Though John Fleetwood, the father of Hester, settled at Sragh, near Tullamore, Hester was still within seven miles from Kilbeggan, or thereabouts, and the distance would offer no difficulty to a suitor from Broadwood.
The claim of the Berrys to a descent from Oliver Cromwell - for which there was never at any time a particle of evidence - has been clearly disproved, and the family must be content with a descent from the royalist uncle of the Cromwellian General and Lord Deputy.42 Though the legend has long been supported in perfect good faith, it should now be definitely abandoned.
39 Notes & Queries (4th S.), vol. ix, p. 268.
40 Vol. xix.
41 Notes & Queries (4th S.), vol. ix, p. 362.
42 It may be mentioned that Sir William Fleetwood. of Cardington Manor, Beds, who heads - the Pedigree given below, had a Royal descent from Edward I through his mother Bridget, dau. of Sir John Spring, Knt.. The first known Fleetwood ancestor of Sir William was William Fleetwood, living 18 Edward III, who married Gwladys, a Welsh heiress, descended from the ancient sovereign Princes of' Wales. (Ex relatione, R.W.B. a well-known authority on all matters relating to the Pedigrees of the various branches of the English Fleetwoods.)
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