Berry Talley

       Berry Talley, a farmer in the Fifth District, was born in South Carolina in 1827, and moved to Georgia with his parents in 1832, in which State he lived twenty-six years. He then moved to Hamilton County , in 1856, locating where he has since resided. He is the youngest of six children born to Stephen and Polly (Pool) Talley. The father was born in North Carolina in 1788. While living in Georgia he was coroner for one term. He died in 1872. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 under Gen. Jackson, and was a genial good man. The mother was born in 1803 in South Carolina , and died about 1829. Our subject began business for himself at the age of seventeen, and was fifty years old before he learned to write his name, with very little means at his command, he now owns 107 acres of land well cultivated, on the Bird Mill road. He married Mrs. Ellender Langston, formerly Miss Gay, and six children blessed this union. Stephen (deceased), Mary (Mrs. Petty), Nancy (Mrs. Biggs), John, William (deceased) and an infant (deceased). Mrs. Talley died in 1862, and in 1863 Mr. Talley married Miss Celina Olliver, who presented him with one child: Kesiah (Mrs. Lee). Mrs. Talley died in 1874, and he then married Miss Martha Wright, who bore him seven children: Alice , Tennessee (Mrs. McDowel), Berry , Margaret and three infants deceased. Mrs. Talley departed this life in 1879, and in 1881 be married Mrs. Betters, formerly Miss Lee, by whom he bad two children, only one living, Thomas Wesley.  Mr. and Mrs. Talley are members of the Baptist Church in which he is a deacon. In politics Mr. Talley was a Democrat before the war, but since that event has been conservative, voting for principal instead of party. Mr. William Talley, the eldest brother of our subject, is living with him at the present time. He (William) assisted in collecting the Indians from the surrounding country for removal to the Indian Territory . Two years before he served as a soldier in the Creek Indian war. Our subject owned the second cotton-gin ever put up in Hamilton County , and is a man who has taken a decided interest in all public improvements.

Goodspeed's "History of East Tennessee" 1887; Page 1000.