14/04/2015
On This Day in 1847 – Tavern Auction:
Inn proprietor Fortunatus Berry is listed in the June 1846 territorial census along with nine other residents of the Berry Tavern. On 29 Dec 1846 he again appears in the record, this time when forced to sell 460 acres for back taxes. Two months later on 8 March 1847 son-in-law Charles Lamar was appointed administrator of the Berry estate. Fortunatus Berry probably died in February 1847, aged 54. His wife Adaline had passed away two years earlier at 42.
After personal property was itemized by assessor Edward Gratiot, a "public outcry" was held at the Berry Tavern the first of April. Eighteen made auction purchases that spring day including five relatives, eight neighbors and five who came up from Jo Daviess County, Illinois. Sold were eight stage horses (two teams); a pair of "work cattle" (oxen); 52 cattle and hogs; 8 ploughs and harrows; 10 scythes, sickles, swaths and grain cradles; a fanning mill; 325 bushels of corn and oats; 3 barrels of beans; 12 tons of hay; saddle and harness; wagon and sleigh.
Auctioned from the hotel were furnishings from seven sleeping rooms – beds and lamp stands, looking glasses, curtains and blinds, wash bowls and chamber pots; from the parlor – picture frames and mirrors, stove and pipe, desk and bureau, glass lanterns and mantel clock; from kitchen, dining room and bar ¬– four large dining tables with 27 chairs and sideboard; five cook and wash stoves; 20 gallons of whiskey; a bushel of dried apples; a churn; brass kettles, kegs, jugs, dishes, decanters and crockery.
Though troubled with back taxes, lawsuits and business deals gone bad, the Berry stage inn and farm was still a viable business at mid-century.
