Unlike other persons honored on Kaufman County's Pioneer Wall, Helena Dill Berryman did not live in Kaufman County for an extended period of time, nor was she an early pioneer.  She only lived in Kaufman County for five years before her death in 1888, on a farm 4 miles southwest of Kemp near the Henderson County line with her daughter Georgiann Dishman.  Some of her children and grandchildren were born and lived in Kaufman County and made contributions to its founding, however, Helena's place of honor here is noted due to her being officially recognized by the State of Texas as the first Anglo child ever born in what is now Texas, and to the glorious legacy her family instilled in Texas history.

   Maria Helena Dill was born 8 Sep 1804 at Nacogdoches, Cohalia de Texas, in the Dill family home located at what is now the corner of North and Hospital streets in that city.  She was a daughter of James Dill and Elena Chamiliech ( Americanized to Helena Kimble ), and not much is known of her lineage.  She was born in Maryland in 1770.  Her family was of German descent, but Germany forbid immigration to America in the 18th century, so they had moved to Holland, changed the surname to Kimble and immigrated in the 1760's.  Helena died in TX in 1848.

   James Dill was born circa 1766 at Lancaster, PA.  He was orphaned at age two and left to his own resources as an adolescent.  In 1785 he moved to New Orleans, where he stayed for two years before moving up the Mississippi River to Arkansas Post and pursuing a hunter's life.  He lived in Arkansas Territory for eleven years and married Helena 14 Sep 1791 at Arkansas Post.  The Dills moved to Natchitoches, LA in 1791 and 1793 settled on what became named "Dill Creek" in northern Nacogdoches Territory, where Dill farmed and carried on trade with the Indians and Spanish settlers.  Legend has it James Dill was sent into the Spanish Territory as a spy for the American government to verify what was going on between Spain and Mexico.

   The Dill family was living in Nacogdoches in 1802 when James Dill applied for a grant of four leagues of land west of the Angelina River and north of El Camino.  In his petition he stated there were four members in his family, and he owned 80 head of cattle and 18 horses.  The Dill family reluctantly left Nacogdoches in 1813 and moved to Fort Jessup, near Mansfield LA, to avoid becoming caught up in the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition and to send their children to school there.  In 1820 Erasmo Seguín invited Dill to return to Nacogdoches where James became involved in local politics.  In 1821 he was elected Alcalde for the Nacogdoches Territory - the first Anglo-American ever to be so honored.  Evidence of this can be found in the "Alamo de Parras" Documents in a letter Dill wrote to Gov. Jose Martinez informing him of illegal immigration into the Ayish Bayou region.  The copy of the letter, below, is left exactly as written by Dill; the customary {sic} is excluded to keep it authentic:

     Dill's  lack of formal education and legal knowledge caused opposition to his holding elected office.  After he was successfully elected to a second term as Alcade a "junto" headed by Joseph Durst - his son-in-law, José Antonio Sepúlveda,  José Antonio Chirino, and Mariano Sanches ousted Dill from office on October 10, 1823.  This began a difficult period for Dill and his family.

   On May 18, 1825, Dill shot and killed Charles Duboys.  Luis Procela, then Alcalde of Nacogdoches, called together other dignitaries in Texas to sit with him in support of Dill during the trial, at which Dill was found "not guilty by reason of self defense" by a jury of his peers.  However, José Antonio Saucedo, who was political chief in Bexar, proclaimed that Mexican law did not authorize trials by jury and he ordered militia companies to find and arrest Dill for the murder.  In early June 1825 Dill was made privy to these details and he escaped back to his old home in Natchitoches LA, out of the jurisdiction of the Mexicans.  On November 21, 1825, Dill died after falling from his horse at Natchitoches and is buried there in the Catholic Cemetery.  It was not until July 1828 that Dill's widow, Helena, obtained title to the land he applied for.

    Helena Kimble Dill's residency on the land is reflected on some of the earliest census records in Texas.  Below is the "padron" of Nacogdoches in 1832- covering the area from the Attoyac to the Trinity Rivers:

Nearby was daughter Delilah Durst & family

There is now a Texas Historical Marker on the site of the original Dill homestead in Nacogdoches, erected in 1936.  It reads:

Capt. James Dill

Born in Pennsylvania in 1770.  Pioneer Indian trader. Recognized by the King of Spain as a public spirited citizen.  First anglo-saxon alcalde of Nacogdoches under the Mexican government in 1821.

Siblings of Maria Helena Dill Berryman:

Capt. Henry Newton Berryman
Husband of Helena Dill

   It was 27 Apr 1823 when  Helena Dill married Capt. Henry Newton Berryman, a career officer in the United States Army stationed at Fort Jessup in Natchitoches LA.  Helena was at school there and she met him at an officer's ball, and after a courtship of only two weeks, Berryman sent a message to James Dill requesting Helena's hand in marriage.  Mr. Dill wrote back to Berryman, "If she loves you, you have my permission and blessing."  Berryman had started his military career when assigned to West Point by President James Monroe, a cousin to his mother, and he graduated from there in 1819.  Henry Newton Berryman was the son of Newton Berryman & Jane Presley Barecroft.

   Soon after their marriage Berryman was ordered stationed in New York.  The sea voyage from New Orleans to there took six weeks, and there were terrible storms endured.  Helena always said she had a wonderful and adventurous time on the trip, proving she was Texas tough.  The couple moved from there to his home in VA, and by 1835 they were living back in Louisiana, where their children were born.

   When the Mexican War broke out following the U.S. annexation of Texas, Berryman was still serving as a captain in the U S Army.  He resigned his commission in 1847 due to health problems and the couple came back to the Dill homestead in Texas, settling on a league of land Helena had inherited from her mother that was located in what is now Cherokee County.

   Shortly after their arrival in Texas Henry Berryman put his slaves to work to clear the land for cattle and a plantation, and to construct a large two-story house made from logs.  This dwelling was intended to serve only as a temporary home for the Berryman family while he constructed a stone house to resemble his family's home, "Whitehall", in VA.  The Berryman's log house - referred to as a mansion - was named Forest Hill Plantation by Helena.  The town there was originally called Branchtown, founded in 1849, and was located on the highest point between the Angeline and Neches Rivers.  The first post office opened in 1850 with the name of Branchtown, but by 1852, it was renamed Alto - from the Spanish word for high - as suggested by Henry N Berryman.  The community quickly grew because of its good location on the Old San Antonio Road.

   Before Henry Berryman could begin construction on the stone house, he died 20 Jul 1859.  Helena continued to live at Forest Hill with her three children who had survived to that time, and more than thirty orphans she fostered over the next thirty years.  Many illustrious persons visited Forest Hill during Helena's life time, including David S. Kaufman and his family, Sam Houston and President Zachary Taylor.

Known Children of Henry & Helena Dill Berryman:

1. Georgiana Murdock Berryman
2. Josephine Berryman
3. Newton Monroe Berryman
4. Henry Waters Berryman

*On census records Helena reported having 5 children - evidently one child died soon after birth.

   Helena died 13 Mar 1888 and was buried in the family cemetery on her plantation.  In 1969 the Texas Historical Commission placed a marker at the site.

Berryman Cemetery
Cherokee County, Texas

Berryman Cemetery is located 3½ miles northeast of Alto, on the old Forest Hills Plantation.

PLACES HELENA BERRYMAN WAS ENUMERATED
IN TEXAS CENSUS RECORDS

1850 Cherokee Co TX Census

1860 Cherokee Co TX - Rusk - HH# 70 / 70

1870 Cherokee Co TX - Alto - HH# 156 / 156

1880 Cherokee Co TX

INFO ON THE CHILDREN OF HELENA BERRYMAN

Georgiana Murdock Berryman

BORN   21 Nov 1835
DIED     26 Dec 1922
BURIED  Old Harlingen Cemetery - Harlingen, Cameron Co TX
MARRIED 29 Apr 1855 - Cherokee Co TX
   James Ewing Dishman, son of Obadiah Dishman and Rebecca Cecilia Stevenson. Born 1824 in KY, he was orphaned as an infant and was reared by the Stevenson family, with welfare provided by his grandfather Dishman in his Will.

    James joined the Confederate States Army with his brothers-in-law, Newton & Henry Berryman, leaving Georgiana to care for a large farm with her slaves and family. James died of disease in 1864 at a soldier's encampment near the town of Monroe LA.  He lies in an unmarked grave in the old Baptist Church Cemetery there.

CHILDREN of Georgiana & James Dishman:

Georgiana Murdock Berryman	James Ewing Dishman

1860 Cherokee Co TX - Beat 1 - HH# 127 / 127

1870 Cherokee Co TX - Alto - HH# 143 / 143

In the late 1870's Georgiana moved her family to Kaufman County - to land given to her by her mother.  She was enumerated in 1880 living next to her brother, Newton Berryman.

1880 Kaufman Co TX Census - Prec 5 HH# 17 / 18

James H Dishman had become a noted rancher and earned praise in Kaufman County for his abilities.  In 1892 he owned 1150 acres of land near Scurry, TX.

   By 1894 Georgiana and her son moved again - this time to the southern-most part of Texas.  They were early pioneers to Cameron County TX.  They sold their Kaufman Country land.  He builds a homestead and by 1895 has established the Dishman Ranch, later called Santa Elena, in honor of his grandmother.  He gradually increases his area holdings to four square miles or more.  Georgiana buys 2,500 acres of land adjoining James' ranch.

   In 1897 he was wounded by a cattle rustler and was aided in his recovery by brothers Dr. Fred and Dr. Joe Combes of Brownsville.  In 1904 Georgiana and James donated land for a railroad right-of-way so the railroad could come to the Rio Grande Valley.  In 1924 he donates five acres to the Combes Community as a site for a Baptist church and cemetery.  In 1932 he gifts money and a site for the construction of an elementary school.

   Georgiana's daughter, Belle Madeley and family also settled there in 1922 and made substantial contributions to that area as merchants.  By 1928 the family has two general merchandise stores in Combes - J.D. Templeton & Co. & Madeley Mercantile Company.

1900 Cameron Co TX -  HH# 194 / 196

In 1993 the Texas Historical Commission erected a Texas Historical Marker honoring James Dishman.  It is in front of the Dishman Elementary School located in Combes, TX at the intersection of Dishman Street and Madeley Avenue.  The plaque reads as follows:

*Interesting note about the Dishman Elementary School:
In the late 1940's a girl was beaten to death in the girl's restroom by another student.  Today the teachers of the school swear that if you are left alone in that rest room you will hear a girl crying in the last stall from the door.

~~~~~~~<O>O<O>~~~~~~~

Helena Rebecca Cecilia Dishman "Lena"	James Franklin Templeton "Frank"

    Lena Dishman met her husband, James Franklin "Frank" Templeton after he returned home from the Confederate Army.  He began studying to become an attorney, and to supplement his income taught school and Lena was one of his students.  After marrying in her mother's home at Alto, TX, they lived in his home town of Jacksonville, TX.  Frank Templeton became a lawyer and was a newspaper editor and publisher.  In 1871 he purchased with Thomas E Hogg the Rusk "Cherokee Advertiser", in an attempt to publicize Democratic views.  He also was elected to represent Cherokee County in the 17th Texas Legislature and was an accomplished author, writing a novel entitled, "Margaret Balantine or the Fall of the Alamo: A Romance of the Texas Revolution", that was published in Houston right before his death in 1907.

    Lena and her family lived in Jacksonville in Cherokee County.  They had three sons and three daughters before her death in 1887.  Their youngest daughter, Lena Templeton, was sent to live with Georgiana Dishman in Kaufman, TX, and remained living with her grandmother until she married.  Lena and some of her other siblings lived their lives in Harlingen.

    Sarah Monroe Isabel Dishman, always called "Belle", married Edwin Madeley.  They lived on a 300 acre farm in the Peede area of Kaufman County until 1899 when they moved into the town of Kaufman so their children could attend better schools.  In 1908 they moved to Blanco, TX and in 1913 to Oakwood, TX.  In 1922 they moved to Harlingen where they both lived the remainder of their lives.  They are both buried at the Old Harlingen Cemetery.

    They had five children: George Ewing 1885 -1977, Lena Evelyn 1887 - 1924, James Edwin 1889 - 1972, Neil Shaw 1894 - 1956 & Georgia Helen 1898 - 1983.

Josephine Berryman

BORN 13 Jan 1839
DIED 21 Apr 1849
BURIED Berryman Cemetery - Cherokee Co TX

Newton Monroe Berryman

BORN  1841 Natchitoches LA
DIED  1925 Armstrong Co TX
BURIED Goodnight, TX - next to his wife

   Newton Berryman was born in LA, but was living in TX by 1850.  After acquiring a basic education both Newton and his brother Henry, had aspirations of attending West Point, as their father had.  However, the War Between the States interrupted their plans.

Newton M Berryman is historically recorded as
"The bravest man in John Bell Hood's Brigade"

   During the Civil War Newton Berryman served with his brother Henry Waters Berryman in the Confederate States Army - Co I , 1st TX Infantry, Hood's Brigade.  He enlisted 2 Feb 1862 as a Private and was paroled as a 2nd Lt. on 12 Apr 1865.  He was wounded at Antietam on 17 Sep 1862 and again at the Battle of the Wilderness on 6 May 1864, the same day his brother was wounded.

   After being paroled Newton and his brother started walking back to Texas, along with a young man named Charles N Sully of the 43rd AL Infnatry, who had saved Henry's life at the Battle of the Wilderness.  From him they learned he and his siblings were orphaned and needed a home.  They felt indebted to Charles Sully and instructed him to go to New Orleans, gather his family and return to Forest Hill to live with them, thus beginning the legacy of Helena "Grandma Berryman" as a benefactor to orphans.

   After the war Newton returned to Alto and built a house ½ mile from his mother's residence.

MARRIED 21 Jun 1868 - Cherokee Co TX
Mary Etta "Marietta" Green (Broome) - a widow
        *She had been married for a short time to Milton E Broome - married 2 Dec 1859 in Cherokee Co TX.  She had no known children with Broome.

   Marietta was born in GA circa 1842 and died before 1920, probably in Armstrong Co TX.  She was the daughter of Robert Young Green & Luzancy "Luzana" Richardson who hailed from Hancock Co GA.  Her family was in Cherokee Co TX before 1850, enumerated there on the 1850 census.  Her parents are buried on what was their land, located 6 miles NE of Alto, TX - now known as the Green Burial Plot in Cherokee Co TX.

Green, Robert 12- 31-1800 - 5-2-1867
Green, Luzana  9-6-1802 - 12-31-1895

Newton and Marietta had 10 children:

The Newton Berryman family lived initially in Cherokee Co before moving to Kaufman Co.

1870 Cherokee Co TX Census HH# 160 / 160

They were living four residences from his brother and Mother who were enumerated in HH# 156 / 156, showing Helena Berryman as widowed, age 66, born VA & with assets worth $10,000.00

In 1879 Newton's mother gave him about 1,000 acres of land in Kaufman County, acquired from Peter Ellis Bean as a payment on a loan she had made to him.  In 1880 Maryetta was still living with her children at their home in Precinct 2 - Cherokee Co TX, while her husband Newton Monroe Berryman had moved to Kaufman County to start a farm on their new land and was enumerated on the census of Kaufman Co in Precinct 5.

1880 Kaufman CO TX - Precinct 5

1880 Cherokee Co TX

From a list of farmers and landowners from the "Texas State Gazetteer" published in 1892 we find Newton M Berryman owned 1,041 acres near Kemp, TX.  And from statistics of the Baptist Churches in the East Fork Association we find that Newton Berryman was the clerk of the Shady Grove Baptist Church near Kemp, and that he and his family helped comprise the 54 members of that congregation.

1900 Kaufman Co TX Census - Precinct # 5 HH# 214 / 220

In 1901 Newton moved his family to Albany, Shackleford Co TX where he bought a ranch, but by 1905 he had acquired land and livestock in Goodnight, TX, calling their new, and final, home the Berryman Ranch.

1910 Armstrong Co TX - Precinct 3 HH# 17 / 18

By the next census Marietta had died and their daughter Georgia Burrell had moved in with Newton.

1920 Armstrong Co TX Census - Goodnight township HH# 26 / 26

Henry Waters Berryman

Henry Waters Berryman	Mary Elmina Harrison

BORN      18 Mar 1844
DIED        14 Feb 1922
BURIED   Berryman Family Cemetery - Cherokee Co TX

   When only 16 years of age, Henry Berryman joined the Confederate States Army at Alto, TX on 22 March 1862, enlisting in the same regiment his older brother, Newton - Hood's Texas Brigade.  He fought at Gettysburg, was wounded the Battle of the Wilderness on 6 May 1864 and again at Darbytown Road on 7 Oct 1864.  It was at the first place that Henry was wounded on the ground and  about to be run over by Federal troops.  An Alabama soldier named Charlie Sully pulled him into a ditch, where they were able to hide from the Yankees and make their get away.  It was in that ditch that Henry cut the minie ball from his own shoulder, and it was because of Sully's concern for Henry that became the bonds of a life-long friendship between the two.

   After the war Henry went home to Alto.  Charlie went with him.

MARRIED #1  6 Aug 1868 - Cherokee Co TX
   Mary Elmina Harrison, daughter of Col. Samuel T Harrison and Ann White of Perry Co AL.

CHILDREN with Harrison:

MARRIED #2  1 Nov 1903
   Effie Pearl Key

CHILDREN with Key:

1870 Cherokee Co TX - Alto - HH# 156 / 156

1880 Cherokee Co TX

1900 Cherokee Co TX Census - Alto - HH# 213/ 213

1910 Cherokee Co TX - Alto HH# 135 / 141

1920 Cherokee CO TX - Alto - HH# 206 / 206