Grundy-Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Avery, Samuel Porter 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com February 20, 2006, 3:08 am

Author: Gen & Bio Record of Will County IL 1900

Samuel Porter Avery is one of the leading attorneys of Joliet. During the 
eighteen years he has made his home in this city he has become thoroughly 
acquainted with its resources and conditions, and is a stanch friend to 
improvement and progress here, along all lines. As an attorney he possesses 
unusual ability and knowledge, and to each and every case placed in his hands 
he gives earnest attention and care, neglecting no point that may be turned in 
favor of his client. In his profession he commands the respect and high regard 
of all who know him, his record being that of an upright, just man, who under 
no circumstances will stoop to deceit or chicanery.

The Avery family was established in America in a very early day. Christopher 
Avery landed at Salem, Mass., June 12, 1630, coming from Wiltshire, England, 
on the transport "Arbella" with Gov. John Winthrop. He settled in Gloucester, 
where he was selectman from 1646 to 1654; he moved to Boston in 1658 and to 
New London, Conn., August 8, 1665; was made freeman of the colony in 1669 and 
died at New London March 12, 1679. His only son, James, was born in England 
about 1620, and married Joanna Greenslade, of Boston, November 16, 1643; 
removed to New London in 1650; was chosen townsman in 1660, holding the office 
twenty years; was ensign lieutenant and captain of the only training band of 
the town; saw active service in King Phillip’s war; was twelve times elected 
to the general court from 1650 to 1680; commissioner of the peace and 
assistant judge of the County court. In 1665 he moved to Poquonoc Plains (now 
the town of Groton), where he built “The Rise of the Avery’s,” recently 
destroyed by fire; he died in 1694. His sixth child was John; John’s fourth 
child was Elisha; and Elisha’s son, Elisha, was born in 1718, and married 
Elizabeth Brown Minor, of Stonington, Conn. Their son, Rev. Joseph Avery, born 
April i3, 1743, married Deborah, daughter of Hezekiah and Rebecca (Mead) King, 
of Marshfield, Conn., in 1772, and died March 3, 1814. During the latter part 
of his life he was a missionary of the Congregational Church in western New 
York, a sparsely settled region. His son, Samuel, was born at Sag Harbor, L. 
I., March 30, 1773; married, February 11, 1796, Rebecca, daughter of Noah and 
Rebecca (Porter) Langdon, of Tyringham, Mass. Noah Langdon was captain of the 
Eighth Tyringham company of the First Berkshire Regiment during the war of the 
Revolution, and was at Bennington and Saratoga. Samuel Avery removed, to and 
became a farmer, in Oneida County, N. Y., where his eight children were born. 
Of these Samuel K., born in 1810, became a farmer in Oneida County, and there 
married Asenath, daughter of Abel and Asenath (Smith) Wilder. Abel Wilder was 
a descendant of Nathaniel Wilder, who settled in Lancaster, Mass., in 1630, 
and was a prominent farmer of Oneida County, where his daughter was born and 
educated. The marriage of Samuel K. Avery and Asenath Wilder was solemnized in 
1836 and resulted in the birth of seven children. In 1847 the family came to 
Illinois, settling in Kendall County, where two sons, Samuel P. and John F., 
were born. The parents owned a large farm (one-half section) near Lisbon, 
Kendall County, and there remained until death; the paternal grandparents also 
died there.

The education of our subject was acquired principally in the schools of Newark 
and Yorkville, Ill. When nineteen years of age he began to teach school, which 
he followed for three winters in Illinois and one in New York state. He began 
the study of law in Rochester, N. Y., with Jesse Sheppard, city attorney, and 
E. B. Fenner, state’s attorney, and later continued to read under A. W. 
Windett in Chicago. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1876. Immediately 
afterward he began to practice, establishing his office in Morris, Grundy 
County. In 1882 he came to Joliet, where for two years he was a partner of J. 
B. Fithian, and since then has been alone, conducting a general practice of 
law in its various departments. His attention is given unreservedly to his 
profession, and he is not connected with any secret organizations or social 
clubs; nor is he active in politics, although a stanch Republican and deeply 
interested in local affairs. He was married in Laddonia, Mo., to Miss Kate 
Wilder, daughter of Judge B. H. Wilder. They are the parents of three 
children: Laura, Wilder and Arthur.

Source: "Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County, Illinois", 1900, 
Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, Page 624

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