He joined the Confederate Army, but was captured at Port Hudson, Louisiana and was a POW on Ship Island at the close of the war.  Confederate pension application filed by wife, Margaret - Shelby Regiment

He was a delegate for Strong River Baptist Church from 1830-1833

Extracted from the "Berry Patch", 10th anniversary edition, Vol 11, No 2, Fall 2000 The Old Berry Homestead About 1860, J.J. (Jack) Berry married Jane E. Williamson, daughter of William and Sarah Wiliamson from South Carolina. The Berry's attained a large house built of heart pine lumber. The house had two stories, with steps leading from the front porch to the second floor. There were two chimneys, one in the big room, on the south end, the other doing double duty serving two rooms. Jack Berry had set aside one of the big rooms as the "honeymoon suite," where seven new brides stayed until they were able to set up housekeeping for themselves. A short back porch and the kitch were in a separate building in the back yard. It has been said that the Berry house was the only one of its kind in the community (Bushtown). Jack was a successful provider; he even had the finest saddle horse around, which he was eventually called upon to take with him to war. During the war, Jane passed away. Jack returned to start over and by 1868 had married Margaret "Mag" Bishop. She was the daughter of John and Betsy (Dear) Bishop, who had come to the Simpson Co. area in 1821 in an ox wagon from North Carolina. Mag was a small, pudgy lady known to have been lively and full of fun. Her long hair was parted in the middle and twisted up into a bun, and she chewed tobacco, of which a little was kept in her apron at all times. The night before she died, she requested branch water; Robert Berry (Sam T.'s son) went down and retrieved it for her. Mag was staying in the home of Sam Berry, her only son, along with his wife Jennie. Ruth was slepping beside her when she died of heart disease on Friday, December 5, 1919.