Burke County NcArchives Biographies.....Avery, Isaaac Thomas September 31, 1785 - December 18, 1864 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Taneya Koonce ncgenwebproject@gmail.com January 4, 2010, 10:38 pm Source: Ashe, Samuel A. Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to the Present. Greensboro, N.C.: C.L. Van Noppen, 1905. Author: A.C. Avery Isaac Thomas Avery Col. Isaac Thomas Avery was born at Swan Ponds, Burke County, September 22, 1785, and died December 31, 1864. He was the only son of Waightstill Avery. I He was compelled to leave Doak’s School, later Washington College, at Jonesboro, Tennessee, at the age of 16, when his admiration for college had just been finished. His father had been stricken with paralysis in his lower limbs, and the son was compelled to take the burden of his very expensive business, outside of his practice as a lawyer. His teacher was a distinguished divine who prayed for Shelby's and Sevier’s men when they were leaving for King’s Mountain. Isaac T. Avery was a member of the House of Commons from Burke County in 1810 and 1811, and was afterward more than once a member of the Council of State and aide-de-camp to Gov. Dudley. In 1824 he was, with Owen Kenan and others, chosen a presidential elector. He was happily married to Harriet Eloise Erwin in 1815 and did not afterward seek any political preferment. His wife was the daughter of William Willoughby Erwin, who was a member of the convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States at Fayetteville 1789, and the granddaughter of Col. William Sharpe, a distinguished soldier of the war for Independence and the first member of the Continental Congress from the Rowan District. He was a man of strong convictions and much firmness and energy, united with broad views and excellent judgment. He was cashier of the Morganton branch of the State Bank for many years, and in addition managed an extensive landed estate. He devoted all his leisure time to reading and was well informed on many subjects. His nature social, and nothing pleased him more than to dispense a lavish hospitality. He reared and educated a large family and left extensive landed estate he was bowed down with grief near the end of his life for the loss of his three oldest sons, who have fallen in battle within one year (from July, 1863, to July, 1864). A.C. Avery Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/burke/photos/bios/avery162bs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/burke/bios/avery162bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ncfiles/ File size: 2.8 Kb