When Berryman Whelchel was born on 9 October 1832, in Hamilton, Indiana, United States, his father, William Davis Whelchel, was 45 and his mother, Nancy Keziah Whelchel, was 48. He married Orphia Hagerman in 1853. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He lived in Kansas, United States in 1870. He died on 19 June 1894, in Siloam Springs, Benton, Arkansas, United States, at the age of 61.