The Berry Family. One of the earliest emigrants at Bergen was John Berry, an Englishman who came from Christ Church Parish in the Island of Barbadoes, presumably with Kingsland, Sandford, Moore, and one or two others. He was, perhaps one of the most active and energetic of all the emigrants and certainly the most liberal. In 1668 he bought all the lands between the Hackensack and Saddle Rivers, extending from the Sandford patent as far north as Cherry Hill in Bergen County. The same year he bought three other tracts: one of 1,500 acres on the Hudson River adjoining Edsall, another of 2,000 acres at Schraalenburgh, and another of nearly that number of acres on the upper Saddle River. He came to be one of the most wealthy of the Bergen settlers, and in a sense “ran the towne.” He was member of the Governor’s Council several years, at one time acting Governor, member of the Colonial Assembly, a Justice for Bergen County, a Captain and Major in the militia, and Commander of the “Bergen Rangers” or train bands. In 1670 he bought land at Bergen, where he made his home. He gave lands for various purposes, especially the land at Hackensack on which stands the “Church on the Green.” He died in New York, leaving a large family of children, among whom were John, Mary, Samuel, Richard, Francis, and Francina. Most of these remained in Bergen County, where their descendants are still numerous.
Source: Harvey, Cornelius Burnham, Editor; Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, New York: The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900.