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 [p. 9-11] WILLIAM WAIGHTSTILL AVERY ------------------------- WILLIAM WAIGHTSTILL AVERY, the oldest child of COLONEL ISAAC T. and HARRIET E. AVERY, was born at Swan Ponds, in Burke County, May 25, 1816. There were during his boyhood no classical schools of high grade in the piedmont section of North Carolina, and upon at- tempting to enter college in the year 1833 he found that he was not thoroughly prepared in the ancient languages. He therefore remain- ed at Chapel Hill during vacation of the first two years of his college course, and prosecuted his studies under the instruction of the late DR. MITCHELL and MR. ABRAM MOREHEAD, and so faithfully did he apply himself that before the end of two years he stood at the head of his class and graduated with the first honor in 1837, in the same class with PERRIN BUSBEE, PETER HAIRSTON, PRIDE JONES and others. He studied law with JUDGE GASTON, and was licensed to practice in 1839. He was from boyhood an ardent admirer of MR. CALHOUN, and allied himself with the States' Rights wing of the Democratic party. He was beaten as a candidate for the house of commons in 1840, but in 1842 was elected as a Democrat from Burke County, though the Whig candidate for governor carried the county by a large majority. He had a large and lucrative practice as a lawyer, and did not appear again actively as a politician until 1850. In May of 1846 he was married to CORRINNA M. MOREHEAD, a beautiful and accomplished lady and a daughter of the late GOVERNOR MOREHEAD. He served in the house of commons as a member from Burke in 1850 and 1852, and in 1856 he was chairman of the North Carolina Delega- tion in the National Democratic Convention which nominated PRESI- DENT BUCHANAN, and during the same year was elected to the state senate, of which he was chosen speaker. In 1858 he was a candidate for Congress, to fill the vacancy made by the appointment of HON. T. L. CLINGMAN as United States senator. COLONEL DAVID COLEMAN, who was also a Democrat, opposed him. Although the district had given MR. BUCHANAN a very small majority in the election of 1856, the dissension was such that Z. B. VANCE, a Whig, was elected. In 1860 W. W. AVERY was again chairman of the North Carolina delegation in the National Convention at Charleston, and seceded with the Southern wing of the party, which afterward nominated MR. BRECKINRIDGE. He was made chairman also of the committee on plat- form. During the same year he was again elected to the state senate, and declined the renomination for speakership in favor of his friend H. T. CLARK, of Edgecombe, who became governor after the death of GOVERNOR ELLIS, in the summer of 1861. When LINCOLN was elected, in November, 1860, being a lifelong believer in the right of secession, he favored immediate action by the State, and urged the call of a convention during the winter of 1860 and 1861. After the state seceded, on May 20, 1861, he was elected by the convention one of the members of the Provisional Congress. He served in that body until the provisional government was suceeded by the permanent government, provided for in the constitution of the Confederacy, adopted in 1862. He was a member and chairman of the committee on military affairs. A majority of the Democrats in the Legislature of 1861 voted for MR. AVERY for senator in the Con- gress of the Confederate States, but a minority supported HON. T. L. CLINGMAN, while the Whigs voted for a candidate from their own party. After balloting for several weeks, a compromise was made by electing HON. W. T. DORTCH. After the expiration of his term in Congress, in 1862, he re- turned to his home with authority from PRESIDENT DAVIS to raise a regiment, but was prevented from carrying out his purpose by the earnest protest of his aged father and four brothers, who were al- ready in active service. They insisted that he was beyond age for service and that it was his duty to his family and country to re- main at home. He was an earnest and active supporter of the Con- federate cause, and contributed liberally to the maintenance of the soldiers and their families. In 1864 an incursion was made by a party of so-called Unionists from Tennessee. This party after capturing a small body of con- scripted boys, in camp of instruction about four miles east of Morganton, in Burke County, retreated toward Tennessee. MR. AVERY joined his friend COLONEL T. G. WALTON, and with a small body of Burke County militia and a few soldiers on sick or wounded furlough pursued the invading party, who retreated toward the mountains. They were found intrenched in a strong position on the Winding Stairs on Jonas' Ridge. MR. AVERY and his party vigorously attack- ed them, and in the encounter he was mortally wounded. After being removed to his home in Morganton, he died July 3, 1864. In all the relations of life he was distinguished for his kind- ness and affability and his unselfish love for the comfort and hap- piness of others. Few men have ever been more missed and lamented by the community in which he lived. His aged father (then in his eightieth year) went down to his grave sorrowing for the loss of his three sons, who had fallen within one year. MR. AVERY left surviving him three daughters - MRS. ANNA H. SCALES, of Patrick, Va., wife of CAPTAIN JOSEPH SCALES; MRS. CORA AVERY ERWIN, wife of CAPTAIN G. P. ERWIN, of Morganton, and ADELAIDE, who married HON. JOHN J. HEMPHILL, a representative in Congress from South Carolina, but died soon after her marriage; and two sons - JOHN MOREHEAD AVERY, now a prominent lawyer of Dallas, Texas, and WAIGHTSTILL W. AVERY, who resides in Mitchell County, N.C. A. C. AVERY. =========================================================================== 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/ ===========================================================================