Capt. Elijah Avery

Died in defense of Fort Griswold, September 6, 1781

He served as an ensign in Capt. Gallup's company of militia, from Sept. to Nov. 1776; was captain in the eighth militia, 1780 (Conn. Men in the Rev'n, 452, 561). His name appears many thimes on the minutes of the town books. He was one of the committee of inspection in 1776; one of the committee that enlisted twenty[seven men for the army, April 7, 1777; selectman, 1779; was on a committee to raise the town's quota of soldiers, March 13, 1780; was one of the committee to supply clothinging for the soldiers, Jan. 16, 1781 (Groton Town Records). He was killed at Fort Griswold, Sept. 6, 1781. He left a good landed estate, but his personal property suffered severly from the war. The stone in the Avery-Morgan burying-ground reads:

In the memory of Capt. Elijah Avery who having filled up Private and Social life with endearing expressions of Tenderness & affection Displayed a must brave & heroic spirit In defence of Fort Griswold and American Liberty & fall a sacrifice to british Barbarity Sept. 6, 1781, in the 48th Year of his Age.

"Captain Elijah Avery, buried in the Poquonoc Ground by the side of David, was the second son of John and was born in 1733. He was a man of wealth for that time and his descendants are numerous in Groton."

Sources

• The Battle of Groton Heights: A Collection of Narratives, Official Reports ...By William Wallace Harris, p 253
• THE GROTON AVERY CLAN, Vol. I, by Elroy McKendree Avery and Catherine Hitchcock (Tilden) Avery, Cleveland, 1912. Found in the DAR Library, Washington DC. Page 244.
• MORGAN GENEALOGY: A History of James Morgan, of New London, Conn., and His Descendants; from 1607 to 1869, By Nathaniel H. Morgan, Hartford, Press of Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1869, p. 30

  ---