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

Wm. Berry made the will exhibited, did he appear to be drunk or sober? Ansr: he appeared to be a little muddled in drink in the forenoon first after he returned from Dr. Steward's. Did it appear to the Dept. that Wm. Berry was affected with the liquor he drank on the day the will was executed? Ansr:” it did not except that he appeared to be cheary or lively after it.”

Was you intimately acquainted with Wm. Berry? Ansr: He was very much so. From the intimate footing the Dept. was on with Wm. Berry and in his house, does the Dept. think that Wm. Berry would have drank strong liquors privately on the day the will was executed without his knowledge? Ansr: no, he does not think he would. He has known him drink strong liquors privately from others but does not think he would from him. Did you hear Wm. Berry give any directions to Archibald Boyd to insert in his will a devise to Sister Williams of a hound bitch & her puppies to her children? Ansr: no. Had Wm. Berry the art of concealing his being drunk or did drunkenness appear in him as plain as in other men? Ansr: He had a peculiar art in concealing it. Could he conceal it from you? Ansr: no, he does not think he could.

In what state did Mr. Boyd appear to you to be in the course of the day? Ansr: “when he first began to write the will, he appeared to be more drunk than he was a little while after. After he had wrote the will, he got very drunk.” By Mr. Boyd's nodding, as above mentioned, does the Dept. mean he was asleep? Ansr: “yes.”

Did you ever hear Wm. Berry express his sentiments of Wm. Berry Warman? and what were they? Ansr: he has heard him say he was a fine boy, he was his fine son, and he would make a bright man of him. He has heard him say so both when he was sober, drunk, & lively. Likewise he has heard him say he would leave him the chief part of his fortune. He has heard him say so many times, but he was always lively with liquor, he thinks . . . .

He has two or three different times heard Wm. Berry say, when sober, before Wm. Berry Warman came to live with him, that he had such a son, that he would send for him down to his house and do something very clever for him. In what manner did Wm. Berry treat Wm. Berry Warman after he came to Wm. Berry's house? And how did Wm. Berry Warman behave himself? Ansr: “he treated him very lovingly, and Wm. Berry Warman behaved himself very discreetly to Mr. Berry.”

Source: Prince George’s County Register of Wills (Orphans’ Court Proceedings) 1777-1790, f. 116, MSA C 1275-1