Issac Berry

	Isaac Berry, Sr.

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Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler in Isabella County in 1860. The first documentation of an African-American settler in Mecosta County Michigan was James Guy. His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861. Lloyd & Margaret Guy were the first Black settlers in Montcalm County in 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler 160 acres in Michigan. By 1873 African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta and Montcalm. In the 1860's most of the land in Remus was owned by the Old Settlers.

MORE Berry Family PICTURES

SECTION 1

Isaac Berry, Sr.

SECTION 2

Isaac Berry Family Pictures

SECTION 3

John Berry Family Pictures

Isaac Berry, Sr.

Pictures Courtesy of Judy (Jackson) Caldwell &

Raymond Pointer

Isaac Berry, Sr. a run away slave from Palmyra, Missouri, and Lucy Esther Millard were married in Ontario, Canada in 1859. He was 27, and she was 18. They remained in Canada for 18 years where six of their eight children were born. After coming to Michigan in 1877 with the Todd Family. They settled in Mecosta County, Morton Township, the area now known as School Section Lake Park. The children of Isaac and Lucy Berry were William Albert (Jun. 27, 1860); Isaac, Jr. (Feb. 22, 1862); Mary Clarissa (Feb. 22, 1864); Louis Harvey, (May 1866); Benjamin Nelson (February 1868); Lucy Jane, (Nov. 11, 1871); Malinda Dianne (Apr, 1878); and John Henry I. (Nov. 8, 1882).

Raymond Pointer, Jr. said that he recalls his Great Grandmother Mary (Kate) Berry-Pointer saying that she was eight years old when they came to live in Detroit. At the time the city extended as far north as the New Center Area. The rest was swamp. There were strip farms that ran north up to the boundary. When you subtract the year of her birth, 1864 from the year of their arrival in Mecosta in 1877, the remainder is 13. She either was 12 or 13, or there was some amount of time (at least five years) spent in Michigan before they came to Mecosta.

After coming to Michigan two more children were born, Malinda and John. Isaac and Lucy, after settling down on the 80 acres began the task of clearing the land and constructing the necessary buildings to house livestock and other farm animals. Isaac also started an orchard, sending away for different kinds of fruit, then doing his own grafting and making his own grafting wax. Some of the apple trees he planted remain at the park area today, along with the big cedars at the end of the lane. These cedar trees are located at the entrance to School Section Lake Park in Mecosta, Michigan.


	Isaac Berry, Sr.

There are "Old Settlers" who came from Canada via "The Underground Railroad." It was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States that began in the Colonial Era and reached its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada; many others escaped to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.