Berry and Berrye Research File
1. Berrye, Richard -- 1587 Colonist roster
2. Berrye, Henry -- 1590 relief voyage
3. Berry, FNU -- Families of Interest,
Berry - Colonist Surname Demography and
History
In
order to better understand the colonists surnames and the geographies where they
were found pre-industrial revolution, I used this National Trust surname tool at
http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Surnames.aspx.
This site has info regarding the distribution of the population by
surname for the 1881 and 1998 British census'.
The statistical information, where available, is a hard ranking by
surname. Surname information, when
available, is the genesis or origin of the surname
This
is the first information where the coloration in the maps is blue, green and
yellow. These maps are shaded from
lesser to greater proportionally, but this could be deceptive because a
"few" for Smith and Jones could numerically be more than the highest
level for a rare surname.
The second grouping along with the detailed surname information is from Ancestry.com and is taken from the 1891 census. Coloration is in yellows. These numbers are actual ranges, not comparatively less to more. http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx
Note
that Ancestry has immigration and ports of departure, so while we may not be
able to readily find families here who have tracked their lines back to England,
we may be able to determine where a family who left England from a desired area
went and track them in their destination location to current.
The
third grouping is from Ireland, appropriately displayed in shades of green,
taken from the 1848-1864 Primary Property Valuation records at http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/.
Instead
of alphabetizing the colonists, I have left them in Hakluyt order, just in case
there was some unknown order to the list. This
single name extraction is a portion of that list.
Surnames
bolded with italics are those indicated by McMillan in 1888 as each having an
oral history of being descended from the Lost Colonists.
Henry
Berry
Richard
Berry
In
1881, 145th most frequent surname in 1998, 164th
Ancestry
-
Irish (Galway and Mayo): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Béara or Ó Beargha (see Barry 1).
-
Scottish and northern Irish: variant spelling of Barrie.
-
English: habitational name from any of several places named with Old English byrig, dative case of burh ‘fortified manor house’, ‘stronghold’, such as Berry in Devon or Bury in Cambridgeshire, Greater Manchester, Suffolk, and West Sussex.
-
French: regional name for someone from Berry, a former province of central France, so named with Latin Boiriacum, apparently a derivative of a Gaulish personal name, Boirius or Barius. In North America, this name has alternated with Berrien.
-
Swiss German: pet form of a Germanic personal name formed with Old High German bero ‘bear’ (see Baer).
UK
Scotland
Ireland
Analysis by Andy Powell 1-19-2010:
It’s
almost easier to state what we don’t know about Berry and their family
history.
Firstly,
The cluster around Merseyside is intriguing but the area has no known connection
with the Roanoke Saga or its principal personnel, whilst subjective I am
inclined to dismiss this.
As
a Devon based surname it is a prime candidate with extensive ancestral research
having been conducted in the USA, most of which leads to North Devon
settlements.
In
Devon dialect ‘Berry’ is a term for a fortified farmhouse such as Blegberry,
Titchberry etc. These ancient farmsteads in some areas have become small
villages (e.g. Berrynarbor;) or has to some extent been corrupted in some
village names to Countisbury and Kentisbury Ford for example.
It
is also prevalent as a lost hamlet or farm, such as Nuttaberry a riverside area
of Bideford, Devon.
The
Berry Surname is also associated with Bideford Pottery (North Devon Slipware or
Sgrafittoware) in the mid 17th century.
This
Surname should be a prime candidate for focused research.
