During some research we have done on the Cherokee Indian has proven to be of great interest. The Cherokee has historically occupied lands in eight southeastern states. Calling themselves "Ani Yunwiya" which means the "Printipal People." They had developed a system of social order and participatory democracy based on sacred law long before the white man arrived.
Front: Mary Berthelle, Martha Ovelle
Back: Lester Vancil, Adolphus Jordon, Christina Jane and Luny Jackson
b-1873 and Christina Jane Berry, b-1876
50th Wedding Anniversary, Boaz, Ala.
November 1949
Adolphus is son of James William Smith, son of Robert Anderson Smith and Levicy Dickson
During the time of French and Spanish occupation of the Louisiana Territory, some Cherokee had already begun to migrate to what is now northern Arkansas and southeast Missouri and to other areas west of the Mississippi. Their kinsmen who remained in the east referred to them as the "Lost Cherokee." In a letter to President Monroe, drafter on November 19, 1819, Chief Jose Ross referred to the Cherokee west of the Mississippi as "......The Cherokees on the St. Francis River who had moved there a great many years before."
Anderson Smith and Levicy were married before the Trail of Tears which started in 1838 so Levicy escaped the round-up and forced migration of Cherokee Indians to the Oklahoma territory.
Anderson Smith was born in North Carolina on October 14, 1804 and died January 9, 1880. (The 1860 census shows GA as place of birth; and a grandparent Smith says he was born in VA) and he married Levicy Dickson. Levicy was born March 4, 1808 and died August 23, 1885. We found that his real name was Robert Anderson Smith but I will refer to him as Anderson. He and his large family moved to North Georgia and started a business making covered wagons. The move westward created a good demand for them. Later the business changed to making buggies and surreys. It was called "The Smith Brothers Company."
The children of Anderson and Levicy were: Powell, b-1829; John S. b-1831; Henry Newton, b-1833; James William, b-1836; Mary Jane, b-1837; Seaborn J., b-1840; Sarah Ann, b-1842; Anderson Taylor, b-1847 and Lee Crawford, b-1850
Soon after the Civil War, Anderson and some of the family moved to Alabama, Tallapoosa Co., near Dadeville, Jackson Gap, or New site. (Alabama 1860 census record shows the family was in Alabama before the Civil War.)
James William married Martha Amerson January 10,1861. They had a family of four boys and five girls. Mary Deaton;, Katherine Carroll; Newton T.; Albert Powell, b-1870; Adolphus Jordon, b-1873; Luis Millisons; Emma, Linnie Curtis and James Madison.
Mary Jane Smith b-1837, married Martin VanBuren Robertson b-1838. See the Robertson page for family and many interesting data.
In 1873, when Adolphus was a few months old, Jim and Taylor and their families moved to Sand Mountain, DeKalb Co., near what is now Ten Broeck. They took advantage of the 1862 Homestead Act that permitted any citizen 21 years old or over, or the head of a family, to acquire 160 acres of public land by "making entry" then living upon it for five years and making certain improvements.
Albert and Adolphus took much of the responsibility for running the farm since their father, James William, was crippled from the Civil War.
When Dolphus was ten years old, he and Albert were in the woods looking for some horses which had strayed off. Since there was no stock law, the live-stock could roam at will. Dolphus was bitten by a rattle snake. They did not see the snake but heard it and knew it was a rattler. They ran home, almost a mile. He was so poisoned he almost died but survived after a long illness.
When Adolphus was twenty-one he decided to see more of the country. As was the custom, he was given a horse or mule when be became 21. He sold his mule and bought some sample pictures and a ticket to Texas. He sold enough pictures to go to California. He picked oranges and sold pictures and saved his money.. At 25 he returned home and bought 160 acres from a widow for $250.00 and built a four-roomed house. In November 1899 he and Christina Jane Berry were married. Christina had been teaching school two years and had enough money to get furniture.
Adolphus and Christina Smith had 11 children: Lester Vancil, b-1900; Luny Jackson, b-1901; Mary Berthelle, b-1904; Martha Ovelle, b-1909; Berry Ardwin, b-1910; Lillian Frances, b-1912; (Boy born dead, 1914); Adolphus Jordan, b-1917 - had name changed to Alvin J. at the start of WW II; Willodean, b-1920 - Died at 8 months old; Robert Edward, b-1922 - died of rheumatic fever, December 26, 1933; Douglas Waldo, b-1924.
The Berry family history begins with James Hamilton (Hamp) Berry of Chipley, Georgia married to Mary Tabor, daughter of John Tyner Tabor and Agnes Crump Tabor. When they had two children, William Lafayette and Elizabeth, they started West about 1844 or 1845 in a covered wagon. Mary got sick, died March 15, 1845 and was buried in the foot-hills of the Ozarks, supposedly in Missouri. (Luny Smith says the name Berry is of German descent and evolved from the O'Berra family from North Carolina.)
Hamp Berry returned to Alabama after his wife's death, remarried to Elvira J. Jones and settled in Morgan's Cove, a few miles below Buck's Pocket in DeKalb Co. Hamp and Elvira raised a large family of children. Hamp died in October 1864.
John Ryan, b-about 1755, Newberry Co., SC and d-1835, Greene Co., Ala. married Martha Kelley b-about 1750 Their children were Mary; Zachariah; John Jr; Peter; Joseph; William; and Margaret.
John Jr. married Susan and raised a large family One was William Ira Ryan b-1822, Ala. William married Barbara Susan Summey August 31, 1843, b-about 1825, NC and had son.Joseph Henry Ryan b-1846, Hale Co., Ala, d-1920, Tuscaloosa Co., Ala. married Eleanora Hinton b-1851, Tuscaloosa Co., Ala, d-1903, Tuscaloosa Co., Ala. ?Eleanora was daughter of William Hinton.
William Ira Ryan was a close neighbor of William Hinton b-1798, NC. In about 1820-1821, William Hinton went to Tuscaloosa Co., Ala with his wife and two children. He had a large estate or plantation of 1,000 plus acres and 55 slaves in 1860. William Ira Ryan had a general store, two cotton gins, cattle and land.
Joseph Henry Ryan and William Hinton's son, William Troy Hinton were in Tarrant's Artillery Battery during the Civil War.
On March 29, 1865 General John T. Croxton with 1,500 cavalry men left Elyton, Ala with clear orders to proceed directly to Tuscaloosa to destroy the University of Alabama, factories, bridges, mills and whatever else may be of benefit to the rebel cause. On April 3, 1865 Tuscaloosa was put to the torch. The University was destroyed. The family was able to save their home and hide 15 bales of cotton from the Union Army. After the Civil War some of the slaves stayed at the Hinton plantation until their death.
Joseph Henry Ryan and Eleanora had son John William Ryan b-February 1873 who married Earline Swindle b-March 1875 both born in Tuscaloosa Co., Ala. Their fifth child was Clara Augusta Ryan b-1905 and d-1984. Clara Augusta Ryan married Lester Vancil Smith and had 3 children.
Standing- L-R
Christina Berry Smith, Walter Berry, Ethal Berry Poole, Della (Emma Adella) Berry Tumlin
Martha Ellen Berry Smith (wife of Albert Powell Smith), William B."Buck" Berry (father of the group), Sarah Ann Berry Williams (wife of John Williams)
Earline Swindle, 1875 and d-1961, Tuscaloosa Co., Alabama.
b-1905, Tuscaloosa Co., ALA, d-1984, Birmingham, ALA.
Wife of Lester Vancil Smith.
