“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

THOMAS G. CHERRY was born in Todd county, Kentucky, November 13, 
1834, son of Gerard Y. Cherry.  His father, a native of Montgomery county, 
Tennessee, went to Kentucky when a young man and was there married to 
Miss Mary A. Edwards.  Her father was a native of Petersburg, Virginia, and 
moved to Kentucky when Mrs. Cherry was an infant.  Mr. Cherry lived in 
that State till 1853, when he moved to Montgomery county, Tennessee.  
January 1, 1856, he came to Texas and settled in Red River county.  There 
he purchased a farm and on it spent the residue of his days, dying in 1862, 
on the day of the surrender of Fort Donelson, aged fifty-five years.  His wife 
died in 1870, at the age of sixty.

Thomas G. was twenty-one years of age when his father moved to Texas.  
He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-two, when he 
began life for himself.  He chose for a wife Miss Mary Farmer, their 
marriage occurring on September 20, 1860.  She was born January 19, 1843, 
daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth (Rector) Farmer.  Her father was a native 
of North Carolina and moved from there to Texas in 1848, Mrs. Cherry 
being at that time only five years of age.  She was the sixth-born of seven 
children, whose names are as follows: Robert F., deceased; Sarah A., wife of 
George Murry; Alfred W., deceased; Frances, wife of Joseph Dixon; 
Thomas, who died in prison at Chicago; and Jams, deceased.  Mr. Cherry’s 
parents had eleven children, viz.: Charles B.; Thomas G.; William, deceased; 
Martha, wife of George Dixon; Mary, wife of Samuel Swim; George W.; 
Gillie, wife of Joseph Dixon; James K. Polk, who died in the army; Eliza F., 
wife of F. M. Giddings; Garrard; and Richard, who died when young.  
Following are the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cherry; Gerard P.; Thomas; 
Lulie, deceased; Alma; Robert and Clara.

During the war Mr. Cherry was not one to shrink from what he believed to 
be his duty.  He joined Forest’s command in Tennessee and remained with 
him till after the battle of Fort Donelson.  He participated in that battle and 
also in the battles of Red River, Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, besides other 
engagements of less note.  He was under fire for forty-nine days as they 
marched to the sea.  At the battle of Crutchfield he received a slight wound 
from a spent ball.

Mr. Cherry received his discharge at Houston, Texas, after which he 
returned home and engaged in the mercantile business at Charlesville, 
Texas, which he followed fourteen years.  He then sold out and moved to 
Dallas county.  He rented a farm one year and afterward purchased land near 
Pleasant valley.  This he subsequently sold, and bought the 118 acres on 
which he now lives.  It was then unimproved and was all covered with 
brush, but his well-directed efforts have, during the four years of his 
residence here, transformed a wilderness into a fine farm.  It is all well 
fenced and eighty acres are under cultivation.

Mr. and Mrs. Cherry and three of their children are members of the Baptist 
Church.  Mr. Cherry is a member of the Dutch Creek Masonic Lodge, No. 
441, and also of the Knights of Honor, Pleasant Valley Lodge, No. 2756.  He 
was a delegate to the Grand Lodge of the last named order which met at 
Galveston August 4, 1891.  Mr. Cherry is also a member of the Grange, 
Duck Creek Lodge, No. 444, of which he is Overseer.

Submitted by: Justina Cook