John Macpherson Berrien (1781 - 1856)

Preceded by 9th Attorney General William Wirt Preceded by John Elliott Preceded by Wilson Lumpkin

John M. Berrien 10th United States Attorney General 1829—1831 US Senator (Class 3) from Georgia[1] 1825—1829 US Senator (Class 2) from Georgia[2] 1841—1845; 1845—1852

Succeeded by 11th Attorney General Roger B. Taney Succeeded by John Forsyth Succeeded by Robert M. Charlton

Biography

John Berrien is Notable.

Origin

John Macpherson Berrien was born on 23 August 1781 at the home of his grandfather in Rockhill, New Jersey, the son of Major John Berrien and Margaret Macpherson.^[3]

John's father was a veteran soldier of the Revolutionary War and an officer in the Georgia Regiment under Lachlan McIntosh. He was wounded at the Battle of Monmouth. The war was ongoing when John was born. In 1783 John with his parents moved to Georgia.

In the Fall of 1784 in McIntosh County John's mother died of fever, and at the age of six, he was sent to boarding school in New York.^[4] John returned to Georgia only once in the next nine years.

• Family moved from New Jersey to Georgia in 1782
• Graduate of Princeton College, 1796; admitted to the bar at age 18 in Georgia
• Veteran of the War of 1812. Rank: Captain in the Georgia Hussars.
• Strong advocate of slavery. In the 1830 Census, he owned 90 slaves. This increased to 148 in 1840, with 143 slaves reported in 1850.

Marriages

John married twice.

• He married, as his 1st, to Eliza Anciaux, daughter of Major Nicholas Anciaux.^[3] She died in 1828.^[3]
• He married in July 1833, as his 2nd, to Eliza C. Hunter, daughter of James Hunter of Savannah.^[3] She died in 1852.^[3]

Children

Children of John and his first wife, Eliza (Anciaux) Berrien (nine):

1. John MacPhereson Berrien, Jr. born before 1828 (possibly died prior to 1841, when another child by this name was born to second wife)
2. Valeria Gibbons Berrien, born August 4, 1806, died April 1, 1883, married Joseph Hallett Burroughs, on June 26, 1828
3. John Wiltheim Berrien
4. William Davies Berrien, died December 2, 1840
5. Nicholas Anciaux Berrien, born June 22, 1816, died June 17, 1817
6. Eliza Anciaux Berrien, born June 30, 1818, died August 9, 1894, married James Parsons Carrol, in 1841
7. Margaret Lydia Berrien
8. Louisa Green Berrien
9. Williamina Moore Berrien, born 1820, died January 12, 1882, married Henry Williams

Children of John and his second wife, Eliza (Hunter) Berrien (six):

1. Harriet Hunter Berrien
2. James Hunter Berrien
3. Sarah Lowndes Berrien, married Alexander Jenkins Semmes
4. Catherine Hunter Berrien
5. Lieutenant John MacPherson Berrien, Jr. born October 27, 1841, died July 8, 1875 (of typhoid fever)
6. Lawrence Cecil Berrien, born 1843, died April 19, 1902, married Rosa McHugh Falligant

Legacy

Berrien County, Georgia and Berrien County, Michigan were both named in his honor, as well as Berrien Township and Berrien Springs, both within the county in Michigan.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Resigned to become U.S. Attorney General, vacant March 9, 1829 – November 9, 1829 when successor elected.
2. ↑ Resigned to become judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia, vacant May 1845 – November 13, 1845 when elected to finish his term and re-elected in 1846.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} MacDonell, Alexander R., (Mar 1933) "John Macpherson Berrien." The Georgia Historical Quarterly. Georgia Historical Society, JSTOR.org (Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 1-12).
4. ↑ Bryant,, Jonathan M., (2015) Dark Places of the Earth: The Voyage of the Slave Ship Antelope. GoogleBooks.com (Page nos. omitted in sample).
5. ↑ Book: Henry Gannett, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States
   United States: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1905, page 45
   Google Books (accessed 23 January 2026).

• http://www.berrienhousetrust.org/
• https://dlg.usg.edu/record/g-hi_067_067-01-02
• Berrien, Dennis K., The Berrien Family Genealogical Website
• Heiss, E. Renée, (1982) A Genealogical History of the Berrien Family. Baltimore: Gateway Press.
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7442066/john-macpherson-berrien
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• William B Brahms, Franklin Township, Somerset County, NJ: A History, pp 529

See also:

• John M. Berrien on Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

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