My Barry family history has been traced back 150 years to my
Great Great Grandfather, Denis Barry.
I. Denis Barry
B. April 24, 1851 (County Cork, Ireland)
D. March 12, 1928 (Petros, TN)Wife: Margaret Melvinie Griffith (June 13, 1868 - Oct. 31, 1921)
Denis was born in 1851 in County Cork, Ireland. At the age of five, Denis left Ireland with one of his sisters and came to New York to live with an older sister. I do not have any information or names of either sister or his parents.
Sometime later, Denis ran away and ended up in Cardiff, in Roane County, TN.
He later moved to the community of Oakdale and finally to Petros in Morgan County, TN where he and most of his family worked in the coal mines. Denis died in Petros in 1928 at the age of 76.Children:
1. James Thomas Barry (Aug. 8, 1889 - Nov. 7, 1960)
2. John Morgan Barry (April 23, 1891 - Mar 1983)
3. Frank Barry (b. 1898)
4. Mylo Barry (Sept. 1, 1900 - April1972)
5. Fred Barry (Aug. 17, 1908 - Dec. 28, 1994)
II. James Thomas Barry
James was born in Petros, Tennessee and worked in the coal mines with his father and brothers. He married Florence Cheek and they eventually left Petros and moved to Bridgeport, Alabama. Between 1915 and 1920 he and his family moved back to Petros.
B. Aug. 8, 1889
D. Nov. 7, 1960 (Davis Cemetery, Coalfield, TN)
Wife: Florence Cheek
(June 5, 1879 - April 19, 1956)
Florence was born in Roane County,
Tennessee. She had a son named Wesley with her first husband, James McGhee. In 1907 James was killed in a mining accident in Alabama. Florence and Wesley moved back to Tennessee where she married James Barry. They had two sons: Scott and Walter Joseph Barry.Children:
1. Wesley McGhee
2. Scott James Barry (Birth: 08 May 1912 -- Death: 01 Dec. 1999
3. Walter Joseph Barry - (Nov. 17, 1914 - April 24, 1991)
III. Walter Joseph Barry
B. Nov. 17, 1914 (Bridgeport, AL)
D. April 24, 1991 (Oliver Springs, TN) - Anderson Memorial Gardens CemeteryWife: Myrtle C. Duncan (March 7, 1917 - April 28, 2001)
Walter was born in Bridgeport, AL in Jackson County in 1914. Not long after he was born he and his family moved from Alabama to Petros, TN. In the 1930's he and his step-brother, Wesley, went to work in Chicago. After a few years he returned to Petros and in 1941 he married Myrtle C. Duncan who was from Windrock. In 1945 he started working for the Windrock Coal and Coke Company. He later worked for the local county school system.
They ended up moving to Oliver Springs, located at the foot of Walden Ridge. My grandparents were members of Community Baptist Church and later, Mt.Pisgah Baptist Church. Walter died in 1991 due to complications as a result of the "black lung" he acquired from the years he worked as a coalminer in Windrock.
Walter and Myrtle had three children: Josesph, Kathryn and Ron.