Chatham-Harnett-Wake County NcArchives Biographies.....Family Reunion, Avent ************************************************ 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: LaVerne Carter http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00028.html#0006854 October 4, 2010, 7:10 pm Source: Personal Author: Personal From Sanford, N.C. June 23, 1928 To Mr. Z. T. Avent Pelham, Ga. Dear Sir and cousin, I rec'd your letter and was glad to hear from you. I am the son of Henry Avent and have not heard from you before in more than 45 years and thought you had been dead many years. My name is Nathaniel and they call me Nat. I am 20 years younger than you. We will have another Avent Reunion this year August 16th and want you to come if you can. My wife and I are living at Sanford by ourselves. We have four children living and three dead. The oldest, Mrs. Lee Poston, lives at Florence, S.C., Mrs. J. M. Thomas at Norfolk, Va., Mrs. K.H. Cole at Raeford, N.C., Mrs. C. T. Creel at Atlanta, Ga. Our children gets our pictures as soon as we have them made but as soon as we have some more made we will try and remember your request. I am trying to get up a chgronological list of our ancestors and have gotten as far back as 1678 when Col. Thomas Avent was sent to this country with a regiment of soldiers to keep order among the colonists and keep the Indians from invading the white settlements. He had a son William Avent and a daughter Sarah, and Sarah married William Ragland and they had a daughter Celia who married Thomas Kennon. William Avent had a son named Thomas Avent who fought in the American Independence from Va. Thomas had two sons that I know of James and John and John was our great grandfather. John had a son William and William was married 3 times and was the father of 13 children. When all our kinfolks get together, there is more than 1500 of them. 2 years ago there was over 800 of us present and we would be glad to have every one present who is kin to us either by blood or by marriage so we can see all our kinfolks at one time. Can you give me the dates of your father's marriages and who he married each time, also the birth date of the children, so I can make a record to go with what I already have. I have the record of all my Uncles and Aunts. Can you tell me the address of Uncle William's children or grandchildren or any one who knows this so I can write to them. I will have to ring off so I can get this letter off so write soon and tell me all you think of and come to see us. Best wishes and kindest regards to you all. I am as ever, N. G. Avent NOTE: This letter was from Nathaniel Gaston Avent to his cousin, Zachariah (Zack) T. Avent. Nathaniel was the son of Henry Evans Avent and Zachariah (Zack) was the son of John F(letcher) Avent. Henry Evans and John F(letcher) were both sons of Rev. William Avent who owned and operated Avent's Ferry in Chatham County, N.C. through the week and preached on Sundays. With the exception of Zachariah (Zack) who is buried at Mizpah Primitive Baptist Church in Pelham, Ga., they were all buried at Buckhorn Methodist Church near Corinth in Chatham County, N.C. except for the burial site of Nathaniel which is uncertain but it is believed that he is also buried at Buckhorn Methodist Church near Corinth. Zachariah (Zack) T. Avent, moved to Pelham, Ga., married (1) Lucretia Taylor, (2) Delia V. Blaylock, a descendent of Pocohontas. John Fletcher Avent, born 1814, married (1) Mrs. Jane Mims (widow), (2) Lydia H. Holloman, (3) Jane Jones. Henry Evans Avent born 1829 married Mary Ann Buchanan. Nathaniel Gaston Avent born 1866, moved to Sanford, N.C. married Mary Addie McIver. Rev. William Avent born 1775, was the son of John Avent born 1740. Rev. William married (1) Silva Drake, (2) Martha Hill Hicks, (3) Esther Watts Clegg. This name has also been found to be spelled Avin/Aven/Avan/Avant. +++++++++++ From Route 1 Neuse, N.C. August 25, 1928 To Z.T. Avent My dear cousin and family, I received your kind and welcome letter and pictures, and was sure glad to get them. You don't look as young as you used to 40 or 50 years ago but you favor the Avents alright. Your wife's pictures seem to favor cousin Easter Maynard. Your sister and the other pictures look familiar like we had seen them before. I would have answered your letter before now but waited until after we had our reunion so I would have something to write. We had it last Saturday at old Buckhorn Church. I wish you could have been with us. I know you would have enjoyed yourself. We had a very good time. All of our brothers and sisters were there except brother Jim and sister Lou. The table was about 100 feet long with plenty of something good to eat on it. Everything passed off pleasant. A kind of basket picnic. However, there were not as many persons present as there were a year ago on account of a sudden death in the community. Jimmie Cotton fell dead on Friday and was buried at Cokesberry that day and some that would have come, went to the burying. He was the son of John Cotton, Bettie and Laura's brother, you knew him when you was a boy. If you want to see the old Buckhorn Church like it used to be, you better come soon, as they are considering tearing down the old church and building a new church. The cotton bollwevil is working some damage in our cotton, and we have had some rainy weather which they say makes wevils worse. Politics is running high over here now. Everybody seems to be against Al Smith and think Democrats have put up the wrong man for President and we may have to vote Republican ticket or not vote at all. Automobiles out here have many wrecks, killing and crippling up folks. I suppose you have them out there. News is scarce so I will close. Hoping to hear from you again soon, I remain, as ever, your cousin. /s/ W. A. Avent NOTE: Z.T. Avent was Zachariah (Zack) T. Avent. W.A. Avent was the cousin of Zachariah (Zack) Avent and the brother of Nathaniel Gaston Avent who wrote the other letter to Zack dated June 23, 1928. W.A. and Nathaniel Gaston were both sons of Henry Evans Avent and Zack was the son of John F. Avent. All three, W.A., Nathaniel Gaston and Zack, were grandsons of Rev. William Avent of Avent's Ferry in Chatham Co. ++++++++++ Excerpts from a letter from Harold Broughton: From Harold Broughton 2707 Beck Road Durham, N.C. 27704 August 29. 1977 To Mrs. I.F. Carter Americus, Ga. Dear LaVerne, The crowd at the Buckhorn Avent Reunion was the largest ever this year. The church was full, with portable chairs, and a large group outside listening through the front door. Even after the lunch the church was still full for the 2nd session. State Senator Willis Whichard of Durham was the speaker. I gave a short talk on the Clegg family. Claude Moore gave a short talk. I wanted my brother to go with me but he was not up to it after 2 heart attacks this summer. Anna Carlton was there. I wished that you could have been there. I would suggest that you consider trying to get Claude Moore to attend the reunion in Georgia as speaker. Claude is one of the best speakers that I have ever heard -- a natural clown. He knows the family. Claude also puts on a very good Civil War show that all would enjoy if you can get him to do this. Dallas Avent and family were there from Clinton, Tenn. He said that they were planning to go to your reunion in Pelham, Ga. (I am regretful that it will not be possible for me to come.) Dallas is connected to me in several ways. He was lst. cousin to my father, in descent from Rev. William Avent. I think that I have a 2nd Avent line from Peter Avent and his lst wife. Dallas's full sister married my cousin Claire Rives. Dallas's half-sister and half-brothers are even closer with their 2nd Avent-Cotton line. Garland Avent is leaving this week for England for 3 weeks to research our Avent line. Jeanne Helms of Houston sent in the 1850 Census for Drew County, Arkansas -- showing that the Rev. William Avent, Jr. family, and it seems that this family went to Arkansas in 1847 along with his Uncle John Polk Clegg. My book, THE CLEGGS OF CHATHAM CO., N.C. now has sold 533 to 32 states so far. Wash., D.C., England, Greece and South Africa. I expect that about half of the books will be sold by the time that we get them. The other half is expected to be sold by some time in 1978. I will save yours. There is a Holleman Crossroads, in the edge of Harnett County, N.C. near Buckhorn Church. I would expect that this would be where your Hollemans lived. Cousin Jessie Taylor (half-sister of Dallas Avent), told the story yesterday about the date of the reunion at Buckhorn being set as the last Sunday in August as this is close to the Aug. 30th birthday of her father, Willie Avent, the oldest child of Henry Evans Avent. (Willie is the W. A. Avent who wrote the 1928 letter to Zack Avent in Pelham, Ga.) I can remember years ago when Uncle Willie Avent came to visit us -- long white (gray) hair. A few years before that as I remember, about 1925, his granddaughter in Durham bought me a chocolate ice cream cone when I was a child. They had street cars in Durham at that time. Edward White Avent, Jr., grandson of Uncle Willie Avent, is closely tied to Gov. Hunt of N.C. Ed is a leader in the reunion at Buckhorn. He was born 1906 and his Uncle Dallas was born 1910. Uncle Willie was married 3 times with 2 sets of children, and this throws the generations out of line. Another such as this, with Rev. William Avent married 3 times, 2 of his children were older than their Aunt Mary B. Clegg Bynum. The result of all such as this is that there has only been 10 generations of record of the Clegg family born in America -- but 7 of these are still living. Covering a span of 295 years in America, with only 3 out of 10 generations born in America now deceased is a remarkable record. Few would accept this but it is true and the records prove this. Rev. William Avent of course had other children by his first 2 wives that were even older than the 2 mentioned above -- but not kin to the Cleggs. I appreciated the clipping you sent about the Pelham reunion from last year. Surely did miss going to it. Mrs. Frank Stewart of Piedmont, Alabama had written that she saw the reunion article in the Tallahassee paper but did not send the clipping. Thank you for sending the speech of Dr. Joseph Avent. I had always heard that Joseph Avent (1st cousin to my father), was of the English Department of the University of Tennessee, but this speech was Educational Psychology. He shows in "Who's Who in America" all through the 30s, 40s, and 50s. As I grew up seeing many homes unpainted during the depression, I felt that most people were poor. After being grown and studying the families, I learned that the yankees robbed them blind and it took a great many years for them to recover. The John F. Avent family tended to be grouped in the area of Fuquary-Varina, Holly Springs, to Raleigh areas. I hope all are well and doing fine. There is a virus bug going around here. I had it for a couple of weeks but am now finally over it. /s/ Harold File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/chatham/bios/familyre186bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ncfiles/ File size: 11.8 Kb