Martha Berry
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Martha McChesney Berry (October 7, 1865 – February 27, 1942) was an American educator and the founder of
Berry College Berry College is a private university in the Mount Berry community adjacent to Rome, Georgia. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Berry College was founded on values based on Christian principles in 1 ...
in
Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...
.


Early years

Martha McChesney Berry was the daughter of Capt. Thomas Berry, a veteran of the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
and
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, and Frances Margaret Rhea, a daughter of an Alabama planter. Berry was born on October 7, 1865, in Berry Cove in
Jackson County, Alabama Jackson County is the northeasternmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 52,579. The county seat is Scottsboro, Alabama, Scottsboro. The county was ...
, but her family relocated to
Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...
, when she was an infant. Thomas Berry was a partner in Berrys and Company, a wholesale grocery and cotton brokerage business in Rome. In 1871, he purchased Oak Hill, a working farm on the
Oostanaula River The Oostanaula River (pronounced "oo-stuh-NA-luh") is a principal tributary of the Coosa River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 27, 2011 formed by the co ...
, approximately one and one-half miles north of Rome. Miss Berry grew up in this home along with her five sisters, including
Eugenia ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...
, two brothers, and three orphaned cousins. Her early education was conducted through private tutors. She attended the Edgeworth School, a finishing school in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
; it was the only formal education she received. Martha Berry lived at Oak Hill for the remainder of her life.


Berry Schools

The founding of the Berry Schools was inspired by Berry's desire to help the children of poor landowners and tenant farmers in Georgia who did not have access to quality education. As a consequence of this desire, Martha Berry never married, and she devoted her life to developing the schools that would eventually become
Berry College Berry College is a private university in the Mount Berry community adjacent to Rome, Georgia. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Berry College was founded on values based on Christian principles in 1 ...
. In the late 1890s, she constructed a small, whitewashed school on 83 acres given to her by her father, and began to teach Sunday school classes to local children. She also taught in an abandoned Possum Trot Church, which still stands on the Berry College campus.


Boys' and girls' schools

The Sunday school classes eventually turned into day school activities, and Berry opened a boarding facility for boys called Boys’ Industrial School on January 13, 1902. At the time, Berry had only five boarders, but the need was apparent and in 1909 she opened the Martha Berry School for Girls. Both schools offered high school-level education and were open to those willing to study hard and work for the school. Her teachings focused on the "head, heart, and hands" of her students: The ability to learn, work and the will to do both well. Her motto, taken from the
Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...
, was and still is the motto of the college "Not to be ministered unto but to minister."


Berry College

In 1926, she established Berry Junior College, which in 1930 expanded into a four-year school. Martha Berry died in 1942 and the schools were faced with several years of transition. The Martha Berry School for Girls closed at the end of the 1955–1956 academic year. The boys' high school was renamed Mount Berry School for Boys, and in 1962 it became Berry Academy, which was closed in 1983 when Berry College incorporated. The college now offers one of the country's largest work-study programs, enabling all of its students to work an on-campus job for their four years at the school. Berry College also offers scholarships of various types to help its students pay for their education.


Supporters

Martha Berry had many supporters during her lifetime, such as
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
,
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...
, Ellen Louise Axson Wilson (wife of President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
), and
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...
. Ford, in particular, was a generous benefactor to the schools and provided the funds necessary to build the castle-like dormitory complex at the college. These dormitories are named after Ford's wife and mother, Clara and Mary. Martha Berry is the subject of several biographies: ''Martha Berry the Sunday Lady of Possum Trot'' by Tracy Byers, ''Miracle in the Mountains'' by Harnett Thomas Kane and Inez Henry ''Berry College, A History: The Legacy of Martha Berry'' by Ouida Dickey and Doyle Mathis and ''A Lady I Loved'' by Evelyn Hoge Pendley.


Legacy

Educators have written that Martha Berry was responsible for the creation of work-study programs grounded in Christian faith that are found throughout the South. In recognition of Berry's contribution to education, she was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement in March 1992 as one of the first five inductees. The Georgia section of
U.S. Route 27 U.S. Route 27 or U.S. Highway 27 (US 27) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the Southern and Midwestern U.S. The southern terminus is at US 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 (I ...
(SR 1) is dedicated as the Martha Berry Highway.


See also

*
Berry College Berry College is a private university in the Mount Berry community adjacent to Rome, Georgia. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Berry College was founded on values based on Christian principles in 1 ...
*
Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum is the home and museum about Berry College founder Martha Berry located in Rome, Georgia, United States. It is also an All-America Selections Display Garden, a part of Berry College, Berry Schools on the Nation ...


References


External links


The Unofficial Berry Academy Website

Berry Breakfast Club

Official Site of Berry College Archives

Martha Berry Digital Archive

Martha Berry's Birthplace
historical marker {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Martha Mcchesney American educators American philanthropists 1866 births 1942 deaths People from Rome, Georgia Berry College faculty University and college founders Daughters of the American Revolution people