The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-06-02
COL. WAICHTSTIEL AVERY

o. the school children OF North Caro-
-, for the best eassay on Waightstill !
ley a leading lawyer OF his day, !
,ayn1utionary soldier, and gentleman
~ !. ,he old school. Letters have been
uaocived by Mrs. A. c. Avery, ST., Of
,,n,canton, and by other members Of
IL Avery family containing requests
g. information about Col. Avery. In
n.uer TO them Mrs. Avery furnishes
rho News and Observer the APP
W,ndnd article, which was among the
liners Of the late Judge A. c.
Colonel Waightstill Avery was born
at Croton, Connecticut. May 10, 1741,
and died at Swan Ponds, in Burke
County. North Carolina, on the 18th
Az of March, 1921. The first of his
ancestors who settled in this country
was christopher Avery, who, with his
'nnnr son James, crossed the ocean
n The ship Arabella and landed at
the place where now stands Boston.
in the year 1881.
When James Avery grew to man
hood he married Joanna Greenslade.
Tba Youngest Of the ten children Of
his marriage was Samuel, who was
horn August IA, 1866, and married
Susanna PalmeS, daughter of William
palmes. on the tw~enty-seventh of Oc-
tober. 1856, Of the Province of Mum
ster. in ireland. William Palmes
married Miss Ann Humphrey who was
. daughter Of General Humphrey, of
Lynn. Massachusetts,.
Humphrey Avery, the sixth child
Of Samuel Avery and Susanna
palmes. who was born July 4, 1890,
married Jerusha Morgan and had
twelve children. The tenth son,
Waishtstill Avery, is the subject of
this sketch. Waightstill Avery and
his younger brother, afterwards
Reverend Isaac Avery. were prepared
for college by Reverend Samuel Sea-
bury Whose son samuel vas the first
Episcopal Bishop in America), who,
when he was ordained Bishop in
England, look with him Isaac Avery
to be ordained minister. Waightstill
Avery graduated at Princeton (then
called -@), In 1866, and
taught in the college for a year after
graduating. A book recently pub.
lished shows hat was awarded
the first honor in his class and de.
livered a Latin ~salutatOry. Oliver
Ellsworth. afterwards Chief Justice O.
the Supreme Court Of the United
States. was his classmate. roommate
and lifelong friend. He e Law
with Lyttleton Dennis, a prOminen
lawyer Of Marylanc, and came t,
North Carolina in 1863. He entered
the colony at Edenton with letters o
introduction, as his journal shows, t
her most prominent men, and be
ginning with Iredell and Hewes q
that place, he mentions the leading
men as he came west. He me- Fan
ming at Salisbury, with whom h
formed a friendship that lasted som
years. He found in M~ecklenburg Dl
Ephriam Brevard, Adlai Osborne
and Reverend Hezekiah j.. Balch, al
of whom he had known at Princeton
He settled at Charlotte. and was
boarder at the house Of Hezekia,
Alexander. where he lived until lit
when he married and removed t
Jones county. He was an early an
ardent friend of liberty, and wa
doubtless an active promoter of tn
movement which eliminated in tn
Meckienburg Declaration of Inde
pendence on May 20, 1875. He signe
that immortal embodiment of pa
triotic principle and defiant spiri
colonel Avery's learning, talent, an
wisdom made him at one a leadin
man IN M~ecklenbure. He was cleo
ed a member from Mecklenburg I
the PROVINCIAL Congress which M
az H~lilsborO. August 21, 1875, an
also 4 member of the Congress tn;
met at Halifax November u, III
and formed the first State Constitl
- ~ WdS out oI the commute
VINO drew and reported the provision
"t our first organic law under whiC
cur ancestors lived for sixty year
me late Governor Swain, who ha
more thorough knowledge Of IL
history OF our State than any mar
ms day. asked the grandson
WalShtstill Avery if he knew I'll
'hoWrlting Of his grandfather, al
!" 80 That he would find from c
animation of the archives at Raleig
p"l"uhS at the time to where tn,
were stored away. that more of Il
institution of 1776 was in the han
"t"'ns OF Waightstill Avery than
any other member Of the commit
'pP"lnted to draft that-the fiji
constitution ramed in America. /
hn"wn to have been author of t
'''oSr requiring the legislature
'''pliNn one or more universities.
Ai'ef the formation of the Sta
s''etnment he was elected to t
mHt General Assembly which met
NPW Hern in 1T7G and nv that no