Clay Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-Henry Avery
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
HENRY AVERY, one of the proprietors of the Republican Valley Stock Farm, which is located in Republican Township, Clay County, and senior member of the firm of Avery & Coleman, is looked upon as one of the most level-headed business men of this section. He presents a picture of the typical pioneer, progressive. enterprising and public-spirited, and has always had that care for his personal honor which has enabled him to build up a record which his children may be proud to look upon in after years. He is of New England ancestry, his paternal grandfather having been George Avery, who was born in Truro, Cape Cod, Jan. 23, 1759. The wife of the latter was Mary Sanborn Hawk, who was born in Massachusetts, April 22, 1765. They were married in Plainfield. N. H., Jan. 11, 1787, and became the parents of twelve children, of whom the seventh, George Jr., was the father of the subject of this sketch.
George Avery, Jr. was born in Plainfleld. N.H., March 24, 1798, and was there reared to man's estate. After marriage he settled in Morristown, Vt., but subsequently removed to Lowell, that State, where he spent the greater part of his life. In the spring of 1871, however, being still possessed of much of the strong and sturdy spirit of his early manhood, he determined upon coming to the West and joining his son in Kansas, settled near Wakefield, Clay County, where he died, Sept. 29, 1889.
The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Delilah Cummings. She was born in Cornish, N. H., lived to accompany her husband to Kansas, and died at their home near Wakefield in 1876. There had been born to her and her husband ten children, five sons and five daughters, Henry, our subject, being the youngest son.
Henry Averv was horn in Lowell, Vt., April 29, 1838, and lived there until reaching manhood. Thence he went to Ohio, and from there to Illinois. In the spring of the year 1851 he pushed on farther westward, coming to Kansas and settling in Clay County, obtaining land in the Republican Valley, on section 19, Republican Township. By purchase he eventually became the owner of 500 acres lying in and adjacent to his first possessions. He sold his farm in 1886 to his present partner, C. R. Coleman, and purchased a tract of 600 acres farther down the river, where he now lives.
Mr. Avery became particularly interested in fine horses in 1870. starting the Republican Valley Stock Farm in the month of March of that year. He operated it alone until the spring of 1886, then sold a half interest to Mr. Coleman. who was formerly from DuPage County, Ill. They issue catalogues each year, and are conducting their business in that systematic manner which has never failed of satisfactory results. Mr. Avery began importing and breeding Percheron and French coach horses in 1875. His stud is one of the most extensive and best known west of the Mississippi River. He was been uniformly successful, taking premiums at the county and State fairs and special horse shows.
During the progress of the late Civil War, Mr. Avery, in the spring of 1863, entered the Union Army as a member of Company L, 11th Kansas Cavalry, and served as a private on the plains, mostly against the Indians, until October, 1865, when the war being closed, he received his honorable discharge. During this period he saw enough of army life to satisfy him, and especially the mode of frontier warfare. He meddles very little with politics, but keeps himself posted upon matters of general interest and gives his support to the Republican party.
The marriage of Henry Avery and Miss Orpha Farman was celebrated at the bride's home in Troy, Vt., Feb. 26, 1866. Mrs. Avery was born Feb. 1, 1840, in Troy, Vt., and is the daughter of Herod and Elvira (Hitchcock) Farman and the sister of Mrs. R. A. Moyer, a sketch of whom will be found in the biography of Albert Avery, elsewhere in this volume, together with facts relating to the family history. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Avery four bright children, viz., Fred H., Herbert F.. Herman W. and Ellen D.