Garland-St Francis County ArArchives Biographies.....Avery, John H. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 17, 2009, 12:26 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

MAJOR JOHN H. AVERY.
    Major John H. Avery, engaged in the real estate and insurance business in
Hot Springs and also the president of the Superior Bathhouse Company, was born
in Dundaff, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1841. He was a lad of but five years when
in 1846 his parents removed to Connecticut, and for ten years he resided in New
England, the family home being established in Onarga, Illinois, in 1856. There
he was living when he attained his majority. He had acquired a common school
education, and on the 10th of August, 1861, before he was yet twenty years of
age, he enlisted as a private in Company M of the Ninth Illinois Cavalry for
service in defense of the Union during the Civil war. He was on duty largely in
Tennessee and participated in the battle of the Cumberland. He was altogether in
fifty-six skirmishes and battles, including some of the most hotly contested
engagements of the war, but was never wounded nor taken prisoner, nor was he in
a hospital, and never lost a day's service. Within a year after his enlistment
he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and later became first
lieutenant, while at a subsequent period he was advanced to the rank of captain
and was made major by brevet by the president of the United States in
recognition of distinguished service. During the last two years of the war he
was staff officer of the Fifth Division of the Cavalry Corps, acting first as
aide-de-camp and subsequently as assistant adjutant general. He thus served
until November 30, 1865, and when the country no longer needed his aid he
received an honorable discharge, returning to his home with a most creditable
mililtary record.

    Major Avery again became a resident of Illinois and for eight years was
connected with the internal revenue service. He came to Arkansas in 1872,
settling at Forest City, where he engaged in merchandising and also became
proprietor of a hotel. He likewise conducted an insurance business and was thus
active in the affairs of Forest City until 1890, when he came to Hot Springs and
here opened a real estate and insurance office, which he has since conducted,
having gained a large clientage in those fields. He is also interested in the
Superior Bathhouse, being the largest stockholder in the enterprise and the
president of the company. This is one of the important enterprises of the city,
as Hot Springs owes its development in large measure to its medicinal waters.
Mr. Avery served for four years as postmaster under Presidents Roosevelt and
Taft, and has always manifested a most progressive attitude concerning
everything relating to the public welfare. He is likewise a stockholder and a
director in the Arkansas National Bank, and whatever he undertakes he carries
forward to successful completion.

    On the 8th of February, 1872, Mr. Avery was married to Miss Emma B. Johnson,
and to them were born three children: Elise, the wife of William F. Lake, now
associated with Major Avery in business; Lyman J., who died at the age of thirty
years, at which time he was serving as teller of the Arkansas National Bank, and
Eunice, who died at the age of eighteen years, following her graduation from
high school.

    In politics Major Avery has always been a stalwart republican, giving
unfaltering allegiance to the party. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in
which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is also
a Knights Templar Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine, having served as
eminent commander of the Knights Templar Commandery. He likewise belongs to the
Loyal Legion and to Camby Post, No. 5, G. A. R. He served as department
commander for two terms and is now commander of the local post. He proudly wears
the little bronze button that proclaims him a representative of the Grand Army
of the Republic, having loyally stood by the Union cause through that crisis
whereby national perpetuity was established. Hot Springs has long classed him
with her representative men, and his efforts have been a direct and beneficial
element in her growth and progress. Major Avery is now nearing the eightieth
milestone on life's journey, but in spirit and interest seems yet in his prime
and is still an active factor in the world's work.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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