Captain Berry's Will
Debauchery, Miscegenation, & Family Strife
Among 18th Century Gentry

upon the brothers of Wm. Berry, or either of them, for any claim she had agt. Wm. Berry or his estate? Ansr: not to his knowledge. What object - from the tenor of the conversation between you and Zachariah Berry - did they appear to have in view in asking you to make the foregoing declarations to Nan Thompson? Ansr: “they appeared to be desirous of satisfying Nan Thompson. They had heard she was uneasy for fear of not getting what she had understood was left her in the will.”

Dept. saith this conversation happened about a fortnight or three weeks after Wm. Berry's death. Where was the will now exhibited at that time? A: “in the hands of the Register,” as he believes.

Did you see Wm. Berry in the course of last winter? And what was his situation & course of life from some time last winter until he died? Ansr: he saw him frequently from the latter part of the winter to the time of his death. He lived very retired & sober in the latter part of the winter, and from that time till the time of his death at different times he drank very hard. From the time he first began to drink after the latter part of the winter, did he ever see him perfectly sober & free from the effects of strong liquor? Ansr: he appeared in general to have more or less the effects of liquor on him. But when he would take too large a quantity, it always appeared to him from every acquaintance with Wm. Berry to create a quantity of bile on his stomach, and he was obliged to take a little spirituous drink occasionally so as generally to cool & work off the strong effects of what he had taken so large a portion of.

Did he ride about & do his business from the latter part of the winter? Or was he confined at home? And if so, what was the cause of his confinement? Ansr: he believes he rode as much about his business in the neighborhood since the latter part of winter as ever he did. He was not more confined at that time from one fit of drinking than he usually had been from other fits of drinking.

Was the mother of Wm. Berry Warman or any of his friends or relations (except Wm. B. Warman) with Wm. Berry at or about the time of making the will exhibited? Ansr: to the best of his knowledge there was a sister of the mother of [the] boy at Wm. Berry's some time

Source: Prince George’s County Register of Wills (Orphans’ Court Proceedings) 1777-1790, f. 118, MSA C 1275-1