"Edwin C. Berry" (December 10.1856-March 12. 1931)

The son of free parents,Edwin was born in Oberlin Ohio.When he was two years old,the family

Edwin's Hotel.

relocated to Athens,Ohio,where school facilities were available for African-Americans.To help support themselves,the Berry's took in boarders.Edwin attended the Athens public schools,and later,when the new school opened,he studied for a short time at Albany Enterprises Academy.Albany was an early example of an educational institution in this country founded,owned, and operated by African-Americans.When his father died in 1870,Edwin,then sixteen dropped out of school to help provide for his mother and eight younger siblings.As he sought employment =,Edwin walked ten miles away,to Athens,Ohio,where he was hired in brickyard for fifty cents a day.The brick were to be used for constructing the state mental hospital.He became so skilled in a short time that wages increased to $1.25 a day;now he could provide more for his family. Edin continued to work in the brickyard during summer months,but in winter he worked as delivery boy or store clerk.These were difficult years for the economy,so Edwin seized as many opportunities as he could to earn more money. When other youngsters spent some of their money on the traveling circus,Edwin made the circus profitable for himself.He set up a refreshment booth that earned more money for him than the brickyard paid.He also sold refreshments for various excursions on the train and elsewhere."to a while,he worked in Parkersburg,West Virginia, as an errand boy in a dry goods store.There he earned $10 a month and sent $ 8 of it to his mother each month.He also worked as a waiter in an ice cream parlor and developed an interest that would affect his life from then forward.Edwin returned to Athens,and from 1868 to 1872, he apprenticed himself as a cook in a local restaurant and developed a profession of catering.So efficient was he as a caterer that customers of his employers demanded his service.He decided that, as a caterer,he would do better for himself than he did for his employer's customers.Edwin married his schoolmate,Mattie Madry,of  Pomeroy,Ohio,on October 18,1878;her parents had been slaves.The couple set up housekeeping in one room.His interest in establishing a business for himself never waned,he had neither the capital nor credit to do so.Edwin had been paying his in-laws $ a week for his wife's board.Mattie persuaded her parents to allow Edwin to divert the money into"business capital."In 1888 he left his employment in the local restaurant and,with his elder brother and $ 40 in capital,started a business known as Berry Brothers.He bought out his brother and continued the business on his own.His restaurant  was successful from the start, and by 1880 he purchased a lot for $ 1,000.As as he paid for the lot,he borrowed $ 1,000 from a farmer friend and put up his first building,which became part of  Berry Hotel.Edwin continued to prosper for fourteen years;this required him to seek various locations to support the thriving enterprise.In 1892, Edwin borrowed $ 9,000 from a farmer friend,mortgaged his building,and expand his business by building the Berry Hotel,a twenty room facility,next to his restaurant.It too, was immediately successful,requiring several additions over time to meet patrons' needs.Later on he expanded to fifty rooms served by an elevator and equipped each room with a closet and a bath. His clientele was predominantly white,he served African-Americans as well.According to Booker T. Washington in The Negro in Business,he had a deep sense of loyalty to his race and would rather lose customers than be "disloyal"to African-Americans.Berry Hotel,which grossed $ 35,000 annualy,was known for its fine meals and the precision care that was given to the guests.The hotel is credited with having in each room needle,thread,buttons, and cologne.Booker reported that Mattie attended to the vistors as well;While they slept,she pressed their clothes,added buttons, and made repairs.Guess were so impressed with the hotel's service that they returned time and time again and brought friends with them.The hotel was also a popular spot on Sundays for men who traveled considerable distances to spend the day there.By the time Edwin retired sometime before 1910-some sources say that he had fifty-five rooms and operated one of the finest hotels in the country.Beyond the restaurant and hotel business, Edwin was active in the Republican Party in southeastern Ohio and in the summer 1889 sought a clerkship in the state government.During the early decades of the twentieth century,he served on the Board of Trustees for Wilberforce University in Ohio.Active in the Baptist church, he helped to finance and build Mount Zion Baptist Church in Athens. For nearly fifty years he was a delegate and speaker at the Ohio Baptist Convention.He was also an advocate of temperance.Edwin credited his mother and his wife for his success.In his business efforts, he catered to the needs of his clients-an attribute that brought him recognition. He died in Athens,by then Edwin had accumulated and estate worth $ 55,000.