Rev. David Avery, Sr.

David Avery was prepared for Yale at the Rev Eleazur Wheelock's school at Lebanon where he became interested in the Indians. In 1766, he went as missionary to the Indians of western New York. After his return from Fort Stanwix, he was graduated at Yale, in 1769. He preached for a time to the Inidans of Long Island. In 1771, he went to Hanover, NH, where Dr. Wheelock had begun a college. Aug. 29, 1771, he was ordained assistant to the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, at Oneida, New York, where he sepnt a year among the Indians. He finished his sutdies in divinity with Dr. Wheelock at Hanover and received the honorary degree of A.M. from Dartmouth College in 1773. The same year, he became pastor of the Congretagional church at Windsor, Mass. He marched from Windsor on the "Lexington Alarm," with about twenty of his parishioners; was made chaplain of Col. Patterson's regiment, April 22, 1775, later becoming chaplain of the fourth Massachusetts brigade. His diaries, extending through the war, were in the possession of George Austin Clark, of Utica, New York, a descendant.

From these we learn that David Avery was at the battle of Bunker Hill; Noodle's Island, the siege of New York; in the Canada expedition of which he has left a graphic account. He crossed the Delaware with Washington and was in the battle of Trenton. (See Avery's History of the United States and its People, vol. 6, chapter. 2.)

David Avery was released from his pastorate in 1777, with the best of feeling on both sides, because he felt that it was his duty to remain in the army. From his diary we learn that he shouldered a musket when need required. He remained in the army until the close of the war. After the war, he preached in several places. He again went as missionary to the New York Indians, when after an interval of thirty-three years, he again med Red Jacket. They greated each other with great affection. In 1801, he went as missionary to Maine. He has left a delightful account of this expedition. He was the first historian of the Groton Avery clan. He beganm his genealogical work about 1800; his manuscript pages have been of great aid in the preparation of this work. He obtained much information from his great aunt, Thankful Avery, who was born in 1718 and died in 1813. It was his statement to the effect that Christopeher Avery was a kersey weaver from Devon that first directed attention to that county. This resulted in finding the parentage and the name of the wife of the emigrant, Christopher Avery.

Many of David Avery's printed sermons as well as his diaries covering a period of forty years are still preserved. One of his sermons in our possession is a song of exulation over the alliance with the French. In this he reviews the war and its causes, and points out that the truth must prevail. It was preached before Col. Sherburne's regiment, Dec. 18, 1777.

David Avery died Feb. 16, 1818, while preparing for a journey to Virginia; his widow died Jan. 15, 1837, at Hampton.

THE GROTON AVERY CLAN, Vol. I, by Elroy McKendree Avery and Catherine Hitchcock (Tilden) Avery, Cleveland, 1912. Found in the DAR Library, Washington DC. Pages 206, 329, 330, 331.

DAR PATRIOT INDEX, CENTENNIAL EDITION, PART I, A-F, page 98. AVERY, AVARY, AVERA, David b. 4-5-1746 CT d. 2-16-1818 VA m. Hannah Chaplin Chp MA

Military Service: 1777 Revolutionary War Patriot, chaplain with the rank of captain

David Avery (1746-1818), a chaplain in the army of the Revolution, and pastor of Congregational Churches in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LEDYARD 1650-1900, by Rev. John Avery, published by Noyes & Davis: Press, Norwich, Connecticut, 1901, p. 95