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

. . .the Deponent . . . remembers a circumstance related by Dr. Steuart in his deposition respecting the directions he gave Mr. Berry to execute the will, as if it had been a deed, and Mr. Priggs setting him right. Being asked that, from the state Mr.Berry was in and the manner this will was directed to be written, he took it to be a deliberate disposition of his property or merely the effect of drunkenness & being in an ill humor with his bretheren, answers that he considered it as the effect of a temporary disgust taken up in the course of his drunkenness, which would cease so soon as Mr. Berry came to be perfectly sober and composed. Being asked whether he, this Deponent, hath seen Capt. Berry when sober & composed, answers: this Deponent hath seen him & been in company with him when perfectly sober & composed, and when this Deponent was so.

Being asked whether there was a striking difference between the soundness of Mr. Berry’s mind and understanding when the Deponent has seen him so sober and composed and on the day when the will exhibited was signed. Answers: his mode of speaking and acting were very different, and the company that frequented Capt. Berry’s house and were the most kindly received by him at that time would not be permitted to show their faces there when sober. When Capt. Berry was sober, he was fond of rational conversation and disliked irregularity as much as any person of the Deponent’s acquaintance. While about the time the will was made Mr. Berry’s house was little better than a brothel. When sober Captain Berry used to lament in the strongest terms his unhappy propensity to drink and was continually forming resolutions of amendment; during which time the censure of the world was slight in comparison to what he made on his own conduct. In particular the Deponent recollects his mentioning with a great deal of concern Mr. Williams and his sister being obliged to estrange themselves from his society in consequence of his folly. And that there was a very striking difference between the soundness of Mr. Berry’s mind and understanding when he had seen him sober as aforesaid and on the day of signing the will - in his eye who was so well acquainted with Mr. Berry and could so readily distinguish between his being drunk & sober, which was scarce possible to be distinguished by a stranger.

Being asked when Mr. Berry was drinking and particularly the last time when he was drinking whether there were not about him a number of kept mistresses . . . and whether he was not fond of there company and influenced by them, answers, there used to be two or three with him occasionally, although this Deponent seldom saw but one, who officiated as a nurse to him in his sickness. That he was fond of them the Deponent is satisfied; but Mr. Berry’s being influenced by them, this Deponent knows nothing of the matter, as he would drive them out and bring them in again in an hour. Being asked to declare his whole knowledge respecting the former will executed by Mr. William Berry, the Deponent saith

Source: Prince George’s County Register of Wills (Orphans’ Court Proceedings) 1777-1790, f. 102, MSA C 1275-1