My 3rd Great Grand Uncle Henry Clifton Avery Was a Boiler Maker in Waco, Texas

Henry Clifton Avery (date unknown) (1879-1941), younger brother of my 2nd great grandmother Caroline "Carrie" Celestine (Avery) Porter (1871-1955), and son of  my 3rd great grandfather John Warren Avery (1836-1900).  Image originally submitted at Ancestry by Stephen Katsurinis.

Censuses and city directories show that Henry Clifton Avery was a boiler maker in Meridian, MS,  Mississippi City, MS and in Waco, TX.  I wondered what that kind of job entailed, and a search in Newspapers revealed some explanation in the form of an advertisement that H. C. Avery placed in a Waco newspaper (which I've transcribed):

"Waco and Brazos Boiler Works"
The Waco News-Tribune (Waco, Texas)
6 Jul 1924, page 16 [24] (center column)
accessed from Newspapers on 9 Jan 2018 

Waco and Brazos Boiler Works

As Seen by the Waco Chamber of Commerce 

Waco's growth is measured by the growth of the institutions of the city, and according to this standard the city is forging forward steadily, certainly and in a manner calculated to satisfy the most exacting. 

The Waco and Brazos Boiler Works', located at 1115 Mary avenue, owned by H. C. Avery, is a good example of the forward movement of the city.  A visit to this active spot was paid the past week by Secretary-Manager Chas. B. Braun of the Chamber of Commerce and a representative of The News-Tribune. 

Mr. Avery bought the Brazos Boiler Works two years ago, and at that time owned the Waco Boiler Works, so both names were retained and the combined plants were called the Waco and Brazos Boiler Works.  He has installed much machinery and the business has grown very rapidly, due not only to the service bur to the personality of Mr. Avery, who is personally very popular, kind and obliging, while his experience and ability in his line are admitted on all hands. 

Both a manufacturing and jobbing business form the service performed by the Waco and Brazos Boiler Works. 

The plant manufactures a small upright boiler, also storage tanks, wagon tanks and water tower tanks.  In the jobbing line are included steel flues, oxygen, blue annealed sheets, new boilers, return tubular boilers and water tube boilers; also handle second-hand boilers. 

There is under construction now at the plant a big storage tank for the Home Oil company at Marlin. 

A foundry is to be added to the plant at once, and all arrangements have been made for this natural and inevitable addition to the fast-growing business concern.  This foundry will care for commercial work, build smoke stacks, breeching, etc.  This is a decided forward step.  The foundry already has been surveyed off and the different units located by Mr. Avery'. 

Showing the outreach of the business, it may be stated that already orders are filled as far away as Rotan, Greenville, Alexander, San Saba, Giddings, Corsicana, Mexia, Georgetown, Bartlett and scores of other points in every direction. 

The business is not yet incorporated, but if it continues to grow as it has been growing, Mr. Avery may conclude to take this step.  It is evident that the business is destined to take important rank among the big institutions of the city if the ratio of growth is maintained as it has been since Mr. Avery merged the two plants about two years ago.  The plant is splendidly equipped with machinery and every convenience, and is right on the Cotton Belt tracks.

Well, alright!  Ask and ye shall receive.

Records reveal that this didn't last much beyond 1931, when he married a 3rd time and worked as a steel worker in Amarillo, TX and tool house clerk in the Galveston area before succumbing to congestive heart failure in 1941.

The building is now a paved parking area between the Balcones Distillery (left in the distance) and the Waco Auto Glass Center (near right). The area as seen by Google Earth's street view (Nov 2016).

I guess there is no chance that Fixer Upper's Joanna and Chip Gaines are going to renovate the old boiler maker's shop, then!



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