Sunday Drive: Reuben H. Avery & Family - Walker County, Alabama

Reuben (1874-1914) is one of my paternal second cousins, three times removed. As far as I can tell he seems to have lived in Walker County, Alabama, his whole life. Standing next to him is his wife Catherine Kiker (1859-1961) and their children Laird, Gordon, Clara and Patsy. They all look like they're ready for a drive in the carriage. (The mules look resigned.)

[Undated photo posted to her Ancestry.com family tree by gbush6]

Note that only the adults are wearing shoes.


Here's the connection between Reuben and me:

[Ancestry.com]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Outrageous Proceedings (From the Winston Banner - May 2, 1872)

This undoubtedly biased account of an incident at the Winston County Courthouse preceded the vicious newspaper piece attacking John Warren Avery. Note how the author described Winston County as "one of the most law abiding communities in this or any other State" without going into detail of all the ways "the majority of white voters...have preserved their honor and vindicated their intelligence and patriotism..."

[2 May 1872, Page 2 - The Clarion-Ledger at Newspapers.com]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

The Clarion Ledger's First Response to Queries About John W. Avery

Who?

[18 Apr 1872, Page 2 - The Clarion-Ledger at Newspapers.com]

Perhaps they were confused because Mr. Avery was described as a carpetbagger (a Northerner) not a scalawag (a Southern man). But as we saw in one of my recent posts, the Clarion knew all about him just a few weeks later, none of it to his credit.

I've found a few more accounts of John Avery's heinous actions which I'll share in the future.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Information Concerning John W. Avery - Mississippi, 1872

A while back Christine posted about our ancestor John Warren Avery and the threats he received from the local Ku Klux Klan, whose members included his brothers and cousins. He received death threats after he testified before a grand jury in Oxford, Mississippi, in 1871 and removed himself and his family from Winston County as a result.

To follow up that story, here's a 1872 newspaper clipping showing how John was regarded by his neighbors in light of his actions, using epithets such as "a simon pure unadulterated scallawag of the meanest type, the double distilled quintessence of all villainy."

[9 May 1872, Page 1 - The Clarion-Ledger at Newspapers.com]

The author of this piece of invective alluded to a statement allegedly made by John's mother Mary (Thornton) Avery who,.having died on December 31, 1871, would not have been available to affirm or deny it.

Even John Warren Avery's military service as a private in the 35th Mississippi Infantry Regiment Volunteers was disparaged and his courage impugned.*



*You can read about his military record here.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Polly Williams (? - ?)

This paternal fourth great grandmother is one of my brick walls. The only time we've found her name is this record of her marriage to Barnabeth Herod in 1796 in from Davidson County, Tennessee.*

[Year: 1789 - 1971: Marriages. Ancestry.com. Tennessee, Marriage Records, 1780-2002 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002. Nashville, TN, USA: Tennessee State Library and Archives. Microfilm.]

Here's the line of descent from Polly to me:

[Ancestry.com]

Of course it's entirely possible that Polly Williams isn't my ancestor--since we don't know her death date, Barnabas could be the son of a second wife of Barnabeth's whose name isn't recorded at all.



*Davidson County is centered on Nashville. Here's an 1795 map of Tennessee with the location of Nashville highlighted:

[Map of The Tennassee [sic] State. - David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mary Cutts? (1765? - 1826)

We know almost nothing about this paternal fourth great grandmother* who married Henry Avera/Avery in Cumberland County, North Carolina, in about 1786. If we have the right early census records the family was living in the Cheraws District of South Carolina (later Chesterfield County) by the mid-1790s and seem to have left there for Alabama in 1819, first in Madison County and then ended up in Bibb County where Mary died in 1826 and was buried in the Avery Cemetery.

[Avery Cemetery, Findagrave Memorial #170175530; Photo by Bertha Avery-Hood.]

[Ancestry.com]

*Even her name is suspect--the gravestone of her daughter Catherine's grave indicates that she is the daughter of "d/o Henry Avery & Christian Durham." Whoever she was, there are quite a few of us who are descended from her.

[Ancestry.com]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Texas and the Civil War

Half of my eight great great grandfathers fought in the Civil War. One, Willet O. "Dick" Worden, was a private in the Iowa 24th Infantry, and of the three who were Confederate soldiers*, two were in Texas and I've never been able to locate them in online military records.

So when this email from the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) arrived in my inbox this morning I jumped at the chance to learn more about what happened in Texas during the war.

Of course I don't expect to find any mention of those ancestors who reputedly enlisted in Texas regiments, but since we do know where they were living at the start of the war this information may help me focus on likely military units they would have served in.




*They were John Warren Avery (of Mississippi); the Texans were J.T.S. Warren and Abner Webb.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

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!



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Limited Time Free Legacy Family Tree Webinar: "Understanding Alabama" presented by Rorey Cathcart

Modern day image taken from Google Earth.

My 5th great grandfather Henry Avery Esq (1753-1836) appeared on a list of letters in Huntsville, Alabama Territory in 1819.  He lived in Chesterfield, Chesterfield, South Carolina in 1810, so something happened after that date to spur him to move westward.  I have not yet worked out the specifics of why and when.  From Ancestry's U.S. Colonial Census Reconstruction Records, 1660-1820 database--this info is listed as coming from Territorial Papers of the US; Volume Number: Vol 18; Page Number: 517; Family Number: 2.

I have some direct ancestors who lived in Alabama between 1810 and 1869 (when the last of them moved out) so I was excited when I read about this webinar, "Understanding Alabama" presented by Rorey Cathcart:

Alabama presents the budding genealogist with both unique challenges and unique opportunities. Explore the records and repositories you'll need to consider. Learn Alabama's place in classic southern migratory patterns, and the reasons for it. Discover opportunities for African American research not found in other southern states.

Runs 1 hour 26 minutes
Free for non-subscribers through December 6, 2017


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Samuel Avery (1790 - 1853), Soldier

Although it's clear that this paternal 3X great grandfather served in the South Carolina Militia during the War of 1812 (along with his brothers William and Thomas), I'm not sure what that service entailed.

[Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812;

The National Archives. Source: Fold3]

[Muster rolls of the soldiers of the War of 1812 : detached from the Militia of North Carolina in 1812 and 1814. Ancestry.com]

It's getting late here in France and we're about to start dinner so I'm going to postpone further research into what Samuel did in the war until a later date.

By the way, the Charleston County Public Library's blog The Charleston Time Machine has a useful post about finding veterans of the War of 1812 in South Carolina.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: As 2016 Comes to a Close

[Life's ups-and-downs -- Puck's improvement on Cole's "Voyage of Life" / J. Keppler. N.Y. : Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, 1883 July Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]*

Here's a look backward at Ancestry Island at some of my favorites for the year.

I think Christine's discovery that out ancestor John Warren Avery (1835-1900) was a target of KKK attacks in Winston County, Alabama, in the 1870's easily ranks as the biggest surprise all year.

Christine is also responsible for finding a letter written by my great grandmother Nannie Freeman Warren (1857-1934) describing her family's move to Johnson County, Texas, in 1870.

I'm rather proud of my successful search for my paternal great uncle (Henry) Hill Freeman Warren (1896-1956) a graduate of Vanderbilt University's medical school. (Honestly, I never expected to find him in Connecticut!)

A multi-week (and still not completed) review of the Macon County, Alabama, probate records of my third great grandmother Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips (1805-1863) has been fruitful, bringing to light (among other things) the medical care she received during her last illness and the names of three more of her stepchildren and even a daughter, Martha Norman Phillips Adams (1833-1916), that we didn't know about previously.

An important outcome of researching the will and probate records of my fourth great uncle Jeremiah Warren (1772-1832)** was learning the fate of several of the enslaved persons named in 10th Item of his will through a comment posted by a descendant of the woman named Mary. And I will be posting more about Jeremiah's probate in the coming year.

Finally, and just for fun, I'm including a link to one of my most memorable experiences abroad: French Pirate Bikers. Enjoy!

*LOC's commentary on this image is priceless: Illustration shows two men on bicycles, one just starting out on life's journey, being towed by Father Time, the second one is nearing the end of life's journey and about to get caught by a scythe and thrown from the bicycle into a grave. Milestones and signs mark the journey: in youth there is "Health", between 20 and 30 there is "Happiness", at 40 there is "Pleasure", at 50 "Hope", at 60 there is "Neglect", between 60 and 70 there is "Regrets" and "Sickness", at 80 there is "Fear", and at 90 is an open grave with an owl perched on the mile-marker. At the top center is a "Half Way House" and at bottom center, in a floral arrangement, is an hourglass on top of a clock.
** Timney's brother-in-law


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My 3rd Great Grandfather John Warren Avery (1835-1900) Was Probably Run Out of Winston County, Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan

After some research I have come to the conclusion that this Rev John Avery, testifying about his experience with the Klan, is my ancestor.  "Affairs in Mississippi: To the Editor of the Chronicle," Macon Beacon (Macon, Mississippi), 12 August 1871, page 2, col 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016943/1871-08-12/ed-1/seq-2/ : accessed 7 December 2016).

John Warren Avery (1835-1900) was born in Winston County, Mississippi, and although he had moved around a little he had appeared in records in Winston as late as the 1870 Census as a farmer (no mention his being a reverend).  By January 11, 1873 he was a resident of Lafayette County, Mississippi (as evidenced by his court appearance and signature in claiming his small part of an uncle's inheritance).  We were not clear until now just why he had moved, except that maybe there were better opportunities elsewhere.  Thanks to the digitized newspapers at LOC's Chronicling America, I now realize that he was run out of the area by the Ku Klux Klan for running a free school (taxpayer funded).  Apparently the Klan did not want free schools for either black or white children and were brutal in enforcing this, and were clearly not above threatening family members.

From the same story, and includes statements made by Rev. Murff, who was Alexander W. Murff (1821-1880), a Methodist Episcopal elder, former guardian ad litem for John Avery in 1853, and also John Avery's brother-in-law (he married John's sister Nancy Caroline Avery).

From statements by Cornelius McBride, another victim of the Klan, made to the Senate concerning the Klan activities.  In the index of this publication John Avery is referred to as John W. Avery.  "Index to the Reports of the Committees of The Senate of the United States, for the Second Session of the Forty-Second Congress. 1871-'72."  Government Printing Office (Washington, DC). 1872; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtYAAAAcAAJ: accessed 7 December 2016).

I was dismayed, although not surprised, that I have these relations in the Klan, but I was also impressed that John Warren Avery had tried to make a difference in his community.  It also helped me figure out what his religious denomination was, something I wasn't quite sure about.

John must have had a hell of a time for many years, considering his Civil War experience on the losing side, and then the loss of camaraderie and support of many of his remaining relatives to the Klan.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

The Land Office

The Ohio Company Land Office, Marietta, Ohio (image from Roseohioresident), built in 1788 (oldest known building in Ohio).  The building is located in Marietta, Ohio at the Campus Martius Museum of the Northwest Territory.

I've attached many Bureau of Land Management General Land Office records to various ancestors, and when I see the land office name I've always wondered what the actual land office looked like.  I can't find a direct ancestor who bought land from this particular office, but I would assume this is generally how the buildings would look.

Part of a 1789 advertisement by Winthrop Sargent in a New York city newspaper announcing the Ohio Company land sales.  The building above was already built!  "Advertisement. Extracts from the Journal of the Ohio Company." Gazette of the United States (New York, New York), 23 December 1789, p 4 [292], col 3; digital image, GenealogyBank (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 17 Nov 2016).

As an example here is my 4th great grandfather Samuel Avery's patent for land bought land in Marengo County, Alabama in 16 November 1830 at the Cahaba land office, at least 70 miles east from Marengo.  That happens to be 186 years ago as of yesterday!  (What a coincidence).  Bureau of Land Management, "Land Patent Search," digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx?searchTabIndex=0&searchByTypeIndex=0 : accessed 17 Nov 2016), Samuel Avery (Marengo County, Alabama), patent no. 4424.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Book Shelf: Letters from Alabama on various subjects

My paternal fourth great grandfather Henry Avery's name appears on a "List of Letters, 9 Jan 1819, remaining in Huntsville Post Office" so my eye was caught by Donna R. Causey of Alabama Pioneers recent reference to Anne Royall's description of "some settlers of Huntsville & Madison County, Alabama," in her 1830 book Letters from Alabama.

[Book digitized by Google from the library of New York Public Library and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.]

I've already posted about Phillip Henry Gosse's eyewitness account of life in Alabama in 1838 in his book with the same name and now I'm looking forward to reading what Mrs. Royall had to say about the state.

[Alabama. Drawn and Published by F. Lucas Jr. J. Cone, Sc. (1822). Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

[Detail of above 1822 map of Alabama, showing location of Huntsville.]

Here's a description of her I found at the Library of Congress's website:

"Early in the 19th century the newspaper Paul Pry dedicated itself to exposing political corruption and religious fraud. It was edited by the audacious Anne Newport Royall at a time when few women were newspaper editors and even fewer were willing to take on the establishment. 

The Library's collection of the works of Royall include nine volumes of travel books, one novel and two newspapers that together span more than 30 years -- from Presidents Monroe to Pierce. Royall's travels took her from Louisiana to Maine, and her observations of the people and places she encountered provide a rich glimpse into antebellum America. As the self-appointed guardian of democracy, Royall exposed graft and corruption wherever she went. Her boldness and tenacity were remarkable in an era when society was obsessed with the trappings of gentility."

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Finally Found It! Marriage License for Carrie Avery and Tracy D Porter in 1895

Shelby County, Tennessee, “Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKH9-9LH8 : accessed 15 March 2016), entry for marriage licence, Recorded Marriage Rec Book Q, page 560, T. D. Porter and Miss Carrie Avery, issued 13 July 1895.

Back of the same marriage license.

Closeup of the entry in the marriage book.  Shelby County, Tennessee, “Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKH9-2S39 : accessed 15 March 2016), entry for marriage licence, Recorded Marriage Rec Book Q, page 560, T. D. Porter and Miss Carrie Avery, issued 13 July 1895.

All this time I thought Carrie Avery (1871-1855) and Tracy D. Porter (1863-1945) (parents of yesterday's subject, Letta Estella Porter) were married somewhere in Mississippi about 1895, but was unable to find a record for it, which is perplexing as Mississippi records are pretty thorough.

It turns out they traveled up north to Shelby County, Tennessee to get married!  Something about this tells me the marriage was not approved by her parents, otherwise they probably would have been married in Mississippi.  I believe that Carrie's parents (Celestine Herrod and John Warren Avery) were likely in Lyons, Coahoma, Mississippi at this time.

Shelby County, Tennessee is about a 1 1/2 hour drive by today's standards from Lyons (which is just east of Clarksdale, Mississippi), according to Google Maps.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: John Warren Avery (1835 - 1900), Soldier, C.S.A.

Born on October 16, 1835, in Winston County, Mississippi, John Warren Avery was the next to last child of Samuel L. Avery and his wife Mary Thornton.

John was 17 in 1853 when his father died without having made a will, so he and his younger sister Frances were given a court-appointed guardian during probate. Although Samuel had steadily increased his wealth over the years, his estate wasn't large enough to guarantee an easy life for his 12 surviving children.

John married Celestine Letitia Herrod in 1857 and in the 1860 U.S. Census the couple were living in the household of a wealthy farmer in Dark Corner Beat in Holmes County, Mississippi, and there's no indication that either of them owned any real or personal property and no children are listed.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

John and several of his cousins enlisted as privates in Company D* of the 35th Mississippi Infantry Regiment Volunteers on March 3, 1862, for a term of three years. The first surviving record we have of him as a soldier has him listed as "Present Sick."

[Source: Fold3]

The 35th Mississippi fought in the Battle of Corinth on October 3-4, 1862. The regiment's losses in this Union victory were 32 killed, 110 wounded, and 347 missing but John wasn't one of them.

[Battle of Corinth--Oct 3 & 4 1862--Union (Gen. Rosecrans). Loss: Gen. Hackleman, Kirby Smith ... Conf. (Gen. Van Dorn). Loss: Col. Rogers ...Contributor Names: Kurz & Allison. Created / Published: c1891. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. ]

On December 5, 1862, John was captured at Water Valley near Coffeeville, Mississippi, by Union troops under General Grant and sent to the Alton Federal Military Prison where he arrived on January 10, 1863. He was exchanged at City Point, Virginia, on April 1st.

[From the website Alton In the Civil War]

[Ancestry.com. U.S., Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Records of the Commissary General of Prisoners, Record Group 249; National Archives, Washington, D.C.Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M598, 145 rolls).]

[City Point, Virginia. Railroad yard and transports,  Forms part of Civil War glass negative collection.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

Although the 35th Mississippi Regiment was part of the Confederate troops defending Vicksburg during Grant's siege of 1863, John's name isn't on the list of paroled soldiers and it appears that he was on leave after his release from Alton.**

[Source: Fold3]

By the end of the year John was back with his regiment (which had been reorganized after the Confederate surrender of Vickburg on July 4th), but in May of 1864 he spent nearly a month in the C.S.A. Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi.

[Source: Fold3]

[Source: Fold3]

The 35th Mississippi took part in the Atlanta Campaign from May through September, 1864, during which the Confederate Army vainly tried to halt the advance of Union forces commanded by General William T. Sherman. After they were compelled to evacuate Atlanta during the night of September 1-2, Confederate General John Bell Hood ordered his men to destroy tracks along the Western & Atlantic Railroad that was bringing supplies into Atlanta from the north. After some early successes, on October 5th Confederate troops, including the 35th Mississippi, attempted to block Allatoona Pass, capture the large amount of rations stored near there and destroy the bridge at Etowah. In the bloody battle that ensued the Rebels were unable to overpower the Union defenses and according to William T. Lewis, author of The Centennial History of Winston County, MS. (1876), Private John W.Avery was wounded and captured there.

[Atlas to accompany the official records of the Union and Confederate armies. Published under the direction of the Hons. Redfield Proctor, Stephen B. Elkins and Daniel S. Lamont, secretaries of war, by Maj. George B. Davis, U.S. Army, Mr. Leslie J. Perry, civilian expert, Mr. Joseph W. Kirkley, civilian expert, Board of Publication. Compiled by Capt. Calvin D. Cowles, 23d U.S. Infantry. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891-1895. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

[Detail of another section of the above map showing Allatoona and Etowah]

[Allatoona Pass, looking south (1861-1864 / Barnard, George N., 1819-1902, photographer. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

[Battle of Allatoona Pass / Artist: Thure de Thulstrup (1848-1930). Creator(s): L. Prang & Co., Date Created/Published: Boston : L. Prang, c1887 Dec. 19. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

I have not found any military records for John after Allatoona so we don't know where he was held as a P.O.W. but we have an overview of his wartime service from his indigent 80-year-old widow Celestine's pension application in 1916 which stated his regiment was paroled at Citronelle, Alabama, on May 4, 1865, the date of the last surrender of the Confederate Army east of the Mississippi.***

[Mississippi Office of the State Auditor Series 1201: Confederate Pension Applications, 1889-1932.]

Although my great great grandfather John Warren Avery's father Samuel had been a relatively successful planter, John was a poor man going into the war and he remained poor the rest of his life.**** Based on information from post-war census records, he worked as a farm laborer for others. There's no suggestion that he ever owned any land himself.

Further resources:
Overview of Mississipians in the Civil War here.
Company D, (Fort Donelson Avengers), 35th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry here [PDF]
More on the Battle of Alatoona here.
Watch a lecture on Civil War POWs:

[Dan Welch of the Gettysburg Foundation presents his Winter Lecture at Gettysburg National Military Park, 2014]

*They called themselves "The Fort Donelson Avengers" in response to the previous month's unconditional surrender of that Tennessee fort to Union troops commanded by Brigadier General U.S. Grant.
**His second child, daughter Lilla , was born in 1864 so John must have spent time at home recovering his health before returning to the army.
***Prisoner exchanges had been halted in early 1864, it's almost certain he remained in a military prison until after the surrender.
****Historically the Averas/Averys appear to have been a well-to-do family. Samuel's brother Henry William Avery was worth nearly $100,000 in 1860 and he will still wealthy at his death in 1873 when he left his estate to be divided equally among his seven siblings and their heirs. While some of his heirs received substantial amounts of money because Samuel had had so many children, John's share came to $87.50 out of which he had to pay the lawyer he hired to act on his behalf. But we do have his signature from the power of attorney he signed.

["Alabama Estate Files, 1830-1976," database with images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-23164-61290-82?cc=1978117 : accessed 2 March 2016), Bibb &gt; Avery, Henry, Sr. image 36 of 149; county courthouses, Alabama.]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.