Lizzie QUAILE BERRY

September 29, 1848 - January 29, 1933
Wife of James H Berry
Daughter of Frederic and Frances Quesenbury Quaile
Born Ozark AR
Died Bentonville AR

*Benton County Herald
Thursday, February 2, 1933

Funeral services for Mrs. Lizzie Quaile Berry, aged 84 years, widow of former Governor and United States Senator Jas. H. Berry, whose death occurred here at 6:30 o'clock Sunday evening, January 29th, 1933 at the home of her son, Elliott R. Berry, following a critical illness of about two weeks, were held at 2:30 o'clock Monday afternoon at the Bentonville Presbyterian Church, conducted by the pastor, the Rev. A. W. Henderson, assisted by the Rev. W. C. Wheat, retired Presbyterian minister, and the Rev. R. S. Hayden, pastor of the Bentonville Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Pallbearers included grandsons and nephews of Mrs. Berry and interment was in the family lot at the Bentonville cemetery beside her husband and other members of the family. Mrs. Berry was born at Ozark in Franklin County, this state, on September 29th, 1848 and was the eldest daughter of Frederic Quaile, native of France and pioneer Franklin County merchant and plantation owner, who came to Arkansas from Louisville, KY., and Frances Quesenbury Quaile, member of another pioneer Arkansas family. She was reared in Ozark and was married there to the late Jas. H. Berry, who became one of Arkansas' most distinguished men and best loved statesmen - a Southern gentleman of the old school who, as governor of Arkansas and United States Senator for 22 years, won national as well as South-wide recognition and love through his ability and unquestioned integrity. Their marriage occurred shortly after his return from Confederate service at the close of the War Between the States; and, in spite of his destitute condition, like that of practically every Southern soldier returning from the war, his physical handicap caused by the loss of his right leg in the Battle of Corinth, they faced the future together unafraid. Going to his boyhood home at Carrollton, in Carroll County, this state, they began their long and happy married life with him teaching in a country achool and studying law in his spare time. It was in that county that he was elected to the Arkansas Legislature soon after he had been admitted to the practice of law. In 1869 they moved here to Bentonville where the future United States Senator formed a law partnership woth his brother-in-law, the late Congressman Sam W. Peel, and where he and Mrs. Berry later built the old Berry home, still standing on West Twelfth Street in what was then a beautiful natural grove that he had selected several years before when passing through Bentonville as a lieuteneant in the Confederate Army as the spot on which he hoped some day to have a home. From then until his death Senator Berry's career as circuit judge, governor of his state, United States Senator, and an appointee to an important mission of trust and honor by the President of the United States, was a succession of honorable accomplishments in the achievement of each of which shone also the truly womanly influences on his life of the wife whose own death followed his by 20 years almost to a day. Except for the time she spent in Little Rock while her husband was governor, from January 1883 to January 1885, and the winters spent in Washington City during his service in the Senate from March 25th, 1885 to March 4th, 1907, Mrs. Berry had lived continuously in Bentonville sonce coming here and still owned the home which was built by her husband 63 years ago. She was, through all those years, truly a part of Bentonville and is missed today by many friends and by many recipients of her kindly and unostentatious charities. Her simpicity in living and her genuine sincerity, no matter what the occasion, were among the many characteristics for which she was esteemed. Living the years of her girlhood and early young womanhood in the midst of the ravages of the War Between the States, and the first years of her married life during the horrors of the "reconstruction" period, Mrs. Berry, like so many Southern women of her day, acquired early in life a courage and resourcefulness and a philosophy of life that made her an outstanding character. No one could be more devoted and loyal to the South and its people and to the last she was numbered among the most enthusiastic and valued members of the Bentonville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Her casket was fittingly draped with the beloved Stars and Bars of the Confederacy. Aconscientious Christian from girlhood, Mrs. Berry was a loyal member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church throught out the greater part of her life and after the disbanding here of the denomination had worked faithfully with the local Presbyterian Church of which she became a member a few years ago. Since the death of Senator Berry on January 30th, 1913 she had spent much of her time with her sons and their families here at Bentonville but still owned the home her husband had built for her 63 years ago. Mrs. Berry is survived by her two sons, Elliott R. and Fred H. Berry, and one daughter, Mrs. E. O. LeFors, all of Bentonville, and by 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. The grandchildren are Berry Smartt, Jim Berry, Mrs. Joe L. Snyder, Mrs. Berry LeFors South, Misses Cordelia Berry and Joella Berry, all of Bentonville; William Hyatt of Houston, Texas, Alfred LeFors of Palm Beach, Florida; Mrs. Berry Hyatt Norton of Oakland, Cal.; Mrs. Nell Smartt Clapp of Los Angeles, Cal. and Mrs. Paige E. Mulhollan of Fort Smith, Ark. She also is survived by a brother, J. W. Quaile of Paris, Ark. and a sister, Mrs. O. M. Bourland of Van Buren, Ark. Three other daughters had preceded their mother in death -Mrs. Nell Berry Hyatt, who died in 1900; Mrs. Alfred P. Smartt in October 1918 amd Bessie, the youngest daughter, who died at the age of about six years.

Contributed on 8/20/10 by judyfrog
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Record #: 363054

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