Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Biographical History of North Carolina, Vol 7 by Samuel A'Court Ashe pub. Charles L. Van Noppen, Greensboro, N.C. - 1908 [pp. 29-34] ISAAC ERWIN AVERY ----------------- ISAAC ERWIN AVERY was born at the ancestral home of the AVERYS, at Swan Ponds, about four miles from Morganton, in Burke County, N.C., on the first day of December, 1871, and died at Charlotte, on the second day of April, 1904. He was the second son of HON. ALPHONSO C. AVERY and SUSAN MORRISON AVERY. His parents moved to Morganton when he was very young, and there his boyhood days were spent, attending the primary schools. He was prepared for college at the academy in Morganton by REV. JOHN A. GILMER, now the Presby- terian minister at Newton, N.C., and might have entered college at the age of sixteen, but remained at home for a while, devoting most of his time to reading. His fondness for reading developed when a mere boy, as did his propensity for writing humerous letters and compositions. He spent some months in the service of the Western North Carolina Railroad Company, at Morganton and Hot Springs. For six months or more prior to entering college he served as collector for the Bank of Morganton. He entered the sophomore class of Tri- nity College (then located in Randolph County, and later moved to Durham) in 1891, and his course there was marked by a special fond- ness for history and literature. He was an excellent football player and was universally esteemed by faculty and students. During his senior year he read law under his father, the dean of the law department of Trinity, and when licensed, in September, 1893, was, to say the least, as well prepared as any candidate in the large class which went before the Supreme Court. While he was regarded by all who came in contact with him as possessing a mind especially fitted for the law, his tastes and talents were constantly driving him toward newspaper and more gen- eral literary work. He made good progress along this line before leaving college, as editor of the Trinity Archive and as correspon- dent for different papers in the State. His first contribution which earned him money was a paragraph of about thirty lines sent to Town Topics, without hope of reward, during the Christmas vaca- tion of 1892, and for which he received ten dollars. This incident led to dreams of making reputation and support some day as a writer. Soon after receiving his license to practice law, MR. AVERY re- turned to Morganton and was employed by MR. C. W. ERWIN as associ- ate editor of the Morganton Herald. Here he exercised a free hand in writing for the paper, and attracted considerable outside atten- tion by his original methods and the excellent humor in many of his articles. Upon the invitation of MR. THOMAS R. JERNIGAN, then a citizen of Raleigh, who had been appointed by PRESIDENT CLEVELAND consul-general at Shanghai, MR. AVERY left for China in March, 1894, as secretary to the consul-general, and in less than a year was appointed vice consul-general at Shanghai, which office he filled until the spring of 1898, when a new consul-general was named by PRESIDENT McKINLEY. In China MR. AVERY did some writing for American newspapers, but decided not to continue the work, owing to his connection with the consular service. He was, how- ever, during a large part of his stay in Shanghai a regular contri- butor to the North China Daily News, the leading English paper in the Orient. While residing in Shanghai MR. AVERY was prominent in the leading social circle among the foreign residents, and absorbed a rich fund of information which stood him in good stead later and made him a most interesting talker not only about things in the Far East, but in the world at large. When he returned to North Carolina he took up active newspaper work after a few months, reporting the proceedings of the state senate in the legislature of 1899 for a number of newspapers repre- sented by COLONEL FRED A. OLDS, of Raleigh, and had charge of COLONEL OLDS' news bureau for a month or more while he was on a trip to Cuba. About May 1, 1899, he went to Greensboro, where he established a news bureau, representing a number of leading papers in North Carolina and elsewhere. As a result of his activity as a reporter, Greensboro became especially prominent as a news-dispens- ing center, and MR. AVERY'S reputation as a writer began to expand. On January 1, 1900, he became city editor of the Charlotte Observer, which position he filled until his death. It was while there that his unusual literary gifts to some extent gained the recognition which they really deserved. Personally he was the most engaging of men. Handsome as Apollo, with a countenance clear-cut and proclaiming in every line his gentle birth; tall, massive of frame, he combined with these physi- cal attributes a manner as genial as the sunshine. His cultivation was that of the schools, that acquired by the reading of the best literature and by close association with, and acute observation of, the great world of men. His gifts of conversation were equal to those with which he had been endowed for his profession, and thus he was with these, and his commanding presence, the center of every group in which he found himself. His popularity was unbounded. In his great heart was charity for all mankind, and it was ever open to the cry of distress. None who knew him or followed him in his work will ever forget him or cease to mourn that his life, so rich in promise, should have been cut off before its sun had nearly reached meridian. During his four years' sojourn in Charlotte MR. AVERY became thoroughly identified with the best phases of the city's life, and was a recognized leader in almost every movement that promised benefit to the people. While he was a leader in the best social life of the city, he was popular with all classes. He was espcial- ly sought after by those in trouble, whether friends or strangers, and while his time was generally taken up to large extent with his newspaper work and calls made upon him by society, he always took that necessary to offer counsel to those who called on him. While exceedingly patient and genuinely anxious to aid all who appealed to him, he would, on rare occasions, remark with a sigh that he wished he did not know of so much unhappiness - had not been made to put himself in the places of so many people in distress. But this feeling was only momentary, for he would immediately turn his thoughts to other things and become again the possessor of that sunny disposition which was one of his most charming character- istics. While MR. AVERY was designated as "city editor" of the Charlotte Observer, he was in reality much more, for he was given freedom to criticise or commend the public acts of men which came under his observation, and while he never failed to write what he thought, he did it in a way that made him few enemies, even among those whose actions suffered most at his hand. While he was most widely known because of his manner of handling stories of human interest, either pathetic or humorous, as a miscellaneous news-gatherer he was emi- nently successful, thus combining gifts rarely developed in the same nature. So famous did his writing become that it was not un- usual for papers published hundreds of miles from Charlotte to re- print his reports of events which, written in the ordinary manner, would interest none save those residing in the immediate vicinity in which the incidents detailed occurred. Another rather unusual combination noticeable in his newspaper work was his ability to write pathetic as well as humorous articles. He could do either with equal readiness, yet his natural propensity was toward that of humor - the clean, sweet and yet sharp and sparkling kind that would cause a laugh, and no more. In his general newspaper work, where he was confined to no special class of events, but had the entire field at his disposal, he seemed never at a loss as to how a story should be written, and he made remarkably few mistakes. This statement is, of course, intended to convey the idea that MR. AVERY was a student of human nature. In fact, he seemed to know men at first sight, and his ability to pick out a fraudulent scheme when first unfolded to him - no matter how well clothed - was noticeable on many occassions, and the value of this clear-sightedness in his work as city editor was incalculable. MR. AVERY could not only gather the news which was on the sur- face, so to speak, and put it in the proper shape to go before an intelligent public, but he could readily induce people to give out particulars that are legitimate matters of publicity, but which are often withheld by those who possess the information desired. There- fore he was pre-eminently known among his newspaper associates as the best of interviewers. Whenever an occurrence of special impor- tance came to light, no matter where, the first thought in the Ob- server office was that AVERY should be on the ground, and, whenever it was possible to do so, he was sent at once to the scene. Who can ever forget his stories of the mill disaster in South Carolina? or his account of the Greensboro reunion? His paper received num- erous requests to have him assigned to out-of-town meetings and other events which it was desired should be handled in a masterly manner. In exercising the prerogatives of his position it often fell to his lot to pass unfavorable criticism upon men or systems. He did this in such a manner as he thought appropriate, and now and then a controversy would develop; but he invariably contented himself with merely stating his position clearly, being satisfied to let the public draw its own conclusions. On a few occasions his humorous references to people brought them to see him, to protest that they should not have been referred to in the manner which he had seen fit to employ. Here, too, he was especially gifted, for, without an semblance of a compromise, he would make peace in a way that would sometimes provoke envy in his newspaper associates, and in rare instances disappoint them when they thought he might have to essay the role to which by nature he seemed especially fitted in a physical sense, owing to the bellicose vein into which the aggreiv- ed party had brought himself on reading MR. AVERY'S description of him. More significant than his work as a reporter or an interviewer or an editorial writer was his "A Variety of Idle Comment" - a de- partment of the Observer which appeared on Monday mornings - and upon this department his fame largely rests. A man of the world, of contact with all sorts and conditions of humanity, he had close- ly studied his fellows and looked "quite through the deeds of men." A commentator upon their virtues and vices, their merits and weak- nesses, he brought to every discussion the subtlest analysis, and with perfect, sometimes startling, fidelity "held the mirror up to nature." His pen was adapted with utmost facility to every subject he touched, and he touched none but to adorn or illumine it. Amiable, sweet of spirit, he yet might feel that a person, a custom or an institution called for invective or ridicule, and he was a torrent. Anon a child, a flower, a friendless one appealed to him, and his pen caressed them as his heart was attuned to the music of the spheres. His humor was exquisite; his pathos tear-compelling. He was the master of a rich vocabulary - the master; that is the word. It responded immediately to every demand upon it; and thus he attempted no figure that was not complete; he drew no picture that did not stand out on the canvas in colors of living light. The writers profess some familiarity with the contemporaneous news- paper writers of the South, and are sure that they indulge in no exuberance of language, that personal affection warps their judg- ment not at all, when they say that for original thought, for power or felicity of expresssion, ISAAC ERWIN AVERY had not an equal among them. J. C. ABERNETHY. J. P. CALDWELL. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================