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Thanks for all your good leads, Steph. As I said, I'm such a novice at this you probably should take things I say with a pinch of salt. On birthdates for Mary Berry Curry, I think I was reading the La Salle County materials wrong--too many Marys!

I would like to see what Richard Foy (or anybody else) has on the Charles/Anthony/Mary siblings. The birthdates range from 1794 (John) to 1828 (Mary). Though certainly not unheard of, that's 34 years of child-bearing. I would love to be sure Rich is correct that they are all siblings. Certainly relatives, otherwise why would Catherine, Bridget and Margaret all wind up in Eagle with Charles & Nappy?

I have a plot-by-plot diagram of the Lostlands cemetery, but the handwriting is so tiny I think I should follow your clues and see if I can find a better version. I never found Charles & Nappy's gravesite when I was there. I now think I see it plotted at the far northwestern corner of the cemetery, which would have been closest to the original church built in 1869, just a few years before they both died. (Makes sense.) I want to see what the dates are (if legible) on the grave marker, since the Rich Foy/Marist site lists birthdates for them as 1813/1814 and 1804 (for both) in different places. I think the earlier dates are correct: at www.findagrave.com under Penelope "Nappy" Prendergast Berry it lists 1804 for both of them. Also, a typed Berry family account I have (done in the 1970s, I think) says:

"Charles and Nappy Berry came to America in 1852. Obtained first Homestead land in Illinois in September 1860. Charles died February 12, 1874 at age 70. Nappy died Jun 18, 1876 at age 72. They had 4 children: Patrick, Mary, Dora, Anthony C. Anthony was 14 when they came to America. He was born in Claire Morris, County Mayo, Ireland. Family settled in Eagle Township, LaSalle County, Streator, Illinois."

Also says: "Anthony C. Berry (1838-May 18, 1923) Farmed--received his first land for $1 an acre in 1869. Married 1870 in Peru, IL to Ann Prendergast (1840-Sept. 23, 1922)" For Richard's chart, this history can provide names/dates for all of Anthony C's children and their descendants--but I know that's getting pretty far afield from your family search.

I know my mother or aunt had a few photos of Berry grandparents, and I think one was of Charles and Nappy. I haven't been able to persuade her to let me look for it, but will see if I turn anything up in the next months. If Nappy is the one in the photo I recall, she's a tiny apple-shaped woman with a big apron tied right up under her chest. Formidable-looking little lady!

I'll let you know if I find anything more....Jan

One other note: I wanted to add that my great-aunt Lucy Kennedy married an Eagle boy named Joseph Mohan; don't have date, but it would have been about 1900, I expect. I wonder if Joseph might be related to Catherine (Berry) & husband Patrick Mohan.

That would be a Berry connection from two sides: Charles Berry's grandson Joseph M. Berry (b. 1884) married Lucy's sister Mabel Clare Kennedy (b. 1886)--and we've alway "mushed" the Kennedy and Berry lines together as one family, anyway....

I'm completely confused about the Prendergast connections--they seem to come in from several angles. My nephew recently married a lovely girl from New Orleans whose family name was Prendergast, and my mother kept saying, "I hope they're not too related!" (and she was only half-kidding!). 

Best wishes--Jan

I'm not sure my Berry ancestors are related to yours, but they share a surname and a lovely country cemetery, so there ought to be some connection. Most of my maternal ancestors are buried in Lostlands Cemetery, Eagle Township Illinois, U.S., and they include many members of the Berry, Kennedy, and Prendergast families. My great-grandfather Anthony Charles Berry (1838-1923) is not "the" Anthony Berry you mention, however, as his children are: John, Richard, Frank, Mary, Tom, Agnes, and Joseph. (Joseph was my grandfather, 1884-1948.) Anthony's wife (mother of these seven mentioned above) was Ann(e) Prendergast (1840-1922).

I'll go backwards in time for a minute: Anthony Charles' father was Charles Berry (1804-1872) of County Mayo, I believe; he was married to Penelope ("Nappy", poor woman) Prendergast (1804-1876). They emigrated from Ireland around 1850, and were landowners in Eagle Township by 1860. They had five children: John, Anthony Charles, Mary, Patrick and Dora. I don't know if all left Ireland with them.

In the Lostlands cemetery there are gravestones for "Bridget, wife of John Prendergast, died Feb. 24, 1861"...John is probably there, but I didn't find his marker last time I was there...also "Thomas Prendergast born Jan. 13, 1839 Co. Mayo Ireland, Died May 24, 1905 LaSalle Co. Ill" Don't know if these are related to your Bridget who married a Thomas Prendergast. I do know there are graves for Mohan family at Lostlands, so your Catherine who married Patrick Mohan might have wound up here. (In fact, my Aunt Lucy Kennedy married a Joseph Mohan in Eagle Township, so there might be a family connection there, too.)

I may have a possible clue for the Bridget you are seeking: in the historical materials about the Annunciation of the B.V.M. church at Eagle, the land for the new church (dedicated in 1884, though the parish goes back to the 1830s) was given by "the two Michael Prendergasts"--and one of them might have been Bridget's husband who died in 1912.

I don't know if this is helpful or confusing. I live 800 miles away from Lostlands, and have no local family there any more. But I will keep your posting, and the next time I travel to Eagle Township will see if I can match these names with grave markers. I wouldn't be surprised to find them--I was on the trail of my own Kennedy/Berry family, and only photographed some of the stones and markers.

The first Annunciation church in Eagle stood right next to this cemetery, but was abandoned when a new church was built south along an east-west highway that had become the main route into Streator, the nearest large town. The "new" church of 1884 and the old cemetery are less than a mile apart, but it's still odd to have them separated. Some of the locals used to call this "Annunciation Cemetery" but it's almost universally known as Lostlands now. (My mother says the older church burned, but I haven't been able to find any record of this. At any rate, it has vanished, and a farmhouse and barn are on the site now, next to the cemetery.)

Best of luck in your search, Steph. This is my first posting on roots chat, so I hope this reaches you. I don't have a trip to Illinois planned at the moment, but when I do, I will look around at Lostlands for the both of us! Jan