Isaac Avery

He was one of the grantees of Newport, NH, Oct. 6, 17 61, and of Chiswick, NH, Nov. 17, 1764. He went to England , after having studied under the Rev. Samuel Seabury of Groton, and became an Episcopal minister. He was ordained deacon on and priest by Richard Yerrick, bishop of London, England , Oct. 18, 1769. A descendant, Miss Lola Walton, has his letters of ordination in her possession. They are written on parchment, with great seals of the bishop of London attached and crowned with the mitre and other insignia of the office.

He was sent from England to the ministry in Virginia, Nov. 9, 1769 (Gerald Fothergill's List of Emigrant Ministers to America.) He became rector of Bethel church, Warwick County. He w as a patriot of the Revolution, being chosen one of the committee of safety for Northampton, Dec. 13, 1774. This committee had many duties, one being "to observe the conduct of all persons to and end that all such foes to the Rights o f British America may be publicly known and universally condemned as the enemies of American liberty." (William and Mary Quarterly, 5:246).

He was also a member of the county committee on July 2 9, 1775. At this time, the committee sent a petition to th e delegates assembled at Richmond asking that the law permit ting them to export their grain till September 10th be not changed to August 5th as was contemplated. Such a change would work untold hardships. Isaac Avery, in a letter to Governor Thomas Jefferson , resigned his commission as county lieutenant of Northampton, March 16, 1781 (Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 1:57 4). We have not been able to ascertain when he was appointed to this high position. Hening's Statutes of Virginia show s that, in 1634, Virginia was divided into eight shires to be governed as shires in England. Isaac Avery represented Northampton County in the legislature in 1787, receiving all but seventy-six votes (William and Mary Quarterly, 6:12). His remains were buried in the old church at Norfolk , Virginia. After his death, his children were taken to North Carolina and brought up in the family of his brother Waightstill Avery.

THE GROTON AVERY CLAN, Vol. I, by Elroy McKendree Avery an d Catherine Hitchcock (Tilden) Avery, Cleveland, 1912. Foun d in the DAR Library, Washington DC. Page 235-238.

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Rev. Isaac Avery came as far south as Virginia, where he preached at Norfolk and at Bethel. He was colonel of a Virginia regiment from Northampton County, and held the office of lieutenant of that county, a position which made him, under the laws of that State, the ranking officer of the county.

source: Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; (1905). Author: Ashe, Samuel A. (Samuel A'Court), 1840-1938.