Art Form: Herbal lore

Location(s): Mecosta (Mecosta County)

Marie Berry-Cross

Marie Berry Cross was born in 1915 in Mecosta, Michigan. Her grandmother, Lucy Millard Berry, was a talented herbalist and midwife who began imparting her knowledge to Marie at a young age. Marie recalls traipsing through fields and byways after her gray bonneted granny, learning the uses of each medicine as they harvested it. Where Lucy learned the skills she passed on remained a mystery to her descendants, as did much of her life before marrying Marie’s grandfather, Isaac. The two met in Missouri, where Isaac was enslaved. Lucy, a young white woman, was living there with her family. The two swiftly fell in love. Isaac escaped, and they fled to Canada, where they married and raised six children before moving to Mecosta eighteen years later. They formed a bustling community there, including the Little River Schoolhouse where Lucy was the first teacher. Marie explained that despite their happiness and success, her grandmother’s family disapproved of the interracial union. This was a lifelong ache and led Lucy to rarely discuss her early life.

Marie used her grandmother’s knowledge throughout her life, to care for her own children and grandchildren. She grew some of her herbs herself, while others were foraged locally. Marie found that even the process of gathering was good for her health, expressing that: “no day can be so distraught that a trip through the back 40 can’t remedy.” She was particularly interested in the specific times of year to gather certain plants, as well as the changing landscape of her home. She noted that many of the herbs common in her youth no longer grew in the area. Over her lifetime, she led many workshops to share the multitude of purposes common plants can serve.

James Cross

Marie and her son James Cross began an apprenticeship after he expressed interest in herbal lore, with the hope that he might be able to include it in his role as head of the Indian Education Program for Chippewa Hills School District. That summer was particularly dry, which caused difficulty in the harvesting process, but the pair successfully hosted a series of 3 workshops for the school district, as well as one in Lansing, sharing the gift of what Marie termed: “feeling kindred to the land.”

- Claire Taylor, 2024