Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2852 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSIt is doubtful if any other sheriff in Georgia has so long a consecutive record.Sheriff Berrie was a boy soldier in the Confederacy, and his entire coursethrough life has been marked by an efficiency and faithfulness to duty whichare the best requisites for the office which he now holds.He was born in Glynn County, Georgia, October 31, 1846, a son of W. A.and Mathilda (Pyles) Berrie. Both parents were natives of Georgia, and thefather before the war was a well known planter and afterwards followedvarious lines of business, being associated for a time with his son in theexpress business. He died at the age of ninety-one years, five months, andthe mother passed away at the age of sixty-five.Sheriff Berrie is the only survivor of three children, the other two havingdied in infancy. As a boy he attended private schools, but was still veryyoung when he enlisted in Company B of the Fourth Georgia Cavalry. Hetook part in the Battle of Olustee, Florida, and on the 1st of April, 1864, wascaptured and for ten months remained a prisoner of war, first at LaFayetteand afterwards at Fort Delaware. When the war was over and he wasparoled he returned home and followed farming and lumbering for a time,but in 1868 moved to Brunswick and became clerk in one of the local drugstores. He was clerk in several other business houses until elected ordinaryof'Glynn County, an office he filled with great credit for eight years. Forseveral years he was express agent for the Brunswick & Albany Railroad.It was in 1885 that Mr. Berrie was elected to his present office as sheriff ofGlynn County, and in each recurring election he has been the only logicalcandidate and for thirty consecutive years has performed every duty entrustedto him and connected with his office.He is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Presbyterian Church.In 1872 he married Miss Theresa E. Bailey, daughter of Henry Bailey ofCamden County, Georgia. To their marriage were born six children, threesons and three daughters. Mrs. Annie Dyer lives in Douglasville, Georgia,and is the mother of three children. Mrs. Theodora "W. Ball lives at Thomasville,Georgia, and has two children. Mrs. Mary B. Smith has her home inAtlanta and has two children. Harry 0. Berrie lives at Brunswick and is thefather of one child. "William H. Berrie, Jr., is also a resident, of Brunswickand is married. Kenneth G. Berrie is unmarried and lives with his parents.JOHN F. HENDEESON. The business and financial institutions of any community give accurate evidence of the degree of advancement made by itscitizens in the march of progress and the leaders in these closely relatedbranches of human activity are always men of stirring and enterprising disposition, usually far-sighted, with a broad grasp of local and national conditions. Such a leader in Newton County, Georgia, is John F. Henderson, ofCovington, who is president of the Bank of Newton County and director,secretary and treasurer of the Covington Cotton Mills. Mr. Henderson wasborn in this county April 25, 1850, son of Robert J. and Laura E. (Wood)Henderson. His paternal grandfather, Isaac P. Henderson, a native of Maryland, and founder of the family in Georgia, settled in Newton County earlyin the nineteenth century. He was an active citizen and business man, becoming prominent as the owner of several large grist mills and large plantations.An active democrat, he exercised considerable personal and political influenceand served as one of the first mayors of Covington. He was also a strongMissionary Baptist and church leader. His wife, whose maiden name wasRuth Johnson, was an active Primitive Baptist. They reared five children,all of'whom were people of high standing in their respective communities,namely: Robert J., father of the subject of this review; John T., now deceased, who was commissioner of agriculture; Mary, who became the wife ofB. F. Carr and is now deceased, with her husband; Frances, who marriedRufus Tarver and settled in Texas where both died; and Martha, who mar-