Arvilla Jane Avery research - This research was undertaken to determine the relationship (if any) between Jon E. Avery (the researcher) and Christina (Teena) Miller, one of Jon’s High School friends.
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We can now conclude that Arvilla Avery, and thereby Christina Miller, descended from the Pound Ridge Averys and thus has a “cousin” relationship with Jon Avery.

- Elisha Avery, the Elder (ca 1720-ca 1808) m. ________ child Henry Avery
- Henry Avery (ca 1774-1852) m. Abigail ______ child Nehemiah C. Avery
- Nehemiah C. Avery (1812-1884) m. bef 1835 Mary Ann Finch (1816-1874 child Arvilla Avery
- Denton A. Miller (1858-1937) married ca 1839 Arvilla Avery (1856-1902), child Norman Griffin Miller
- Norman Griffin Miller (1891-1960) married 1913 Christina MacKinnon (1884-1985) child Alexander Denton Miller
- Alexander Denton Miller (1915-2003) married 1939 Mildred Irene Weaver (1915-1998) child Christina
- George Edward Brown (1938-2001) married 1960 Christina Miller (Living)
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The remainder of this rather lengthy research report documents the process and conclusions reached during this research.  It is not necessary to read the rest of this report to accept the conclusions but it is offered if one needs to understand how the conclusions were reached and to assess the integrity of the conclusions.
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The descendants of Arvilla Jane Avery are well understood by the family.

But the ancestors of Arvilla are not well understood and documented, particularly into the 1700s.  But, indeed, this is where we needed to research the relationship, if any, between Christina and myself.

The documented ancestry of Arvilla Jane Avery starts with the 1900 Federal census of Lewisboro, Westchester Co., NY wherein Denton Miller is shown as a Head of Household with Arvilla his wife at age 44.

Denton A. Miller is shown in the 1910 census of Lewisboro but Arviila is not.  This is explained by Denton Miller’s headstone which includes the date of Arvilla’s death as 16 Feb 1902.

Moving backward in time from 1910, the 1880 census of Pound Ridge, Westchester Co., NY finds Denton A Miller and “Orvilla J. Miller” as son-in-law and 22-year-old daughter respectively of “Neh. C. Avery”, the 68-year-old head of the Household.  This is one of several explicit proofs that Arvilla’s father was “Nehemiah Avery”.  No wife of Nehemiah Avery is listed in the 1880 census.

The 1870 census of Pound Ridge again shows Arviila Jane as a 14-year-old female in the household of 58-year-old Nehemiah Avery and 54-year-old “Mrs N. Avery”.  This proves the middle name of Arvilla Jane Avery.  The name of of “Mrs. N. Avery” may be a census error for “Mrs. M Avery” since other evidence proves her name was “Mary A. Avery”.  Furthermore, the headstone of Mary Ann, wife of Nehemiah C. Avery, shows that she died in 1874 which explains why she appears in the 1870 census but not in the 1880 census.

The 1860 census of Pound Ridge again shows Arvilla J. Avery as a 4-year-old female in the household of “Nemiah Avery”, age 48 and Mary A. Avery, age 44.

The 1850 census of Pound Ridge shows the household of Nehemiah C. Avery, age 38 and Mary A. Avery, age 34 but not Arvilla because Arvilla was not born yet.

Having established that the parents of Arvilla Jane Avery were Nehemiah C. Avery and Mary Ann Avery, their respective headstones give their respective birth and death dates: Nehemiah b. 28 Jan 1812 d. 2 Feb 1884, Mary b. 8 Jan 1816 d. 10 Apr 1874.

Incidentally the headstone of Mary AnnAvery not only confirms that she was the wife of Nehemiah C. Avery, but also that she was the daughter of David and Esther Finch.

The focus of the research now turns to the parents of Nehemiah C. Avery.  We know that he must have been of child-bearing age in 1812.

The most important clue is from the 1850 Pound Ridge census of the household of Nehemiah C. Avery which shows Mary A. Avery, but not Arvilla.  In that census there is another family household in the same dwelling as Nehemiah and Mary.  This household shows 76-year-old male Henry Avery and 61-year-old “Alby Avery”.  The two household families in the same dwelling indicates a close relationship between the two family households with Henry Avery being 38 years older than Nehemiah.  This could be explained by Henry Avery being Nehemiah’s father but is not proof.

Another piece of evidence is from the 1840 census of Pound Ridge.  The 1840 census did not name anybody except the head of the household but did classify the household residents by age.  The household of Nehemiah C. Avery shows:
- 1 male age 0-5
- 1 male age 10-15
- 1 male age 20-30 - This is Nehemiah himself at age 28.
- 1 male age 60-70 - This MIGHT be the Henry at age 66 from Nehemiah’s dwelling in the 1850 census
- 1 female age 0-5
- 1 female age 20-30 - This is Mary Ann herself at age 24
- 1 female age 60-70 - This MIGHT be the Alby at age 56 from Nehemiah’s dwelling in the 1850 census

So, at this point we know that Nehemiah C. Avery’s father MIGHT be named Henry Avery and his mother MIGHT be named “Alby” and his parents would have to be of child-bearing age in 1812.  The census won’t be much help so we have to look at other sources.  The question we are asking is “Who are the Henry Averys in 1812 and do any of them have a son made Nehemiah?”

The next important piece of evidence is an 1853 Surrogate Court document in which “Abigail Avery” says she is the widow of the late Henry Avery of Pound Ridge who died on 17 June 1852.  Henry did not leave a will so Abigail is listing “kindred” and the first name is Nehemiah C. Avery!  So we now know that a Henry Avery who died in 1852 had a “kindred” relationship with Nehemiah C. Avery and we might surmise that it was a very close kindred relationship because Nehemiah is the first named.  We can also conjecture that the wife of Henry Avery, named “Alby” in the same dwelling 1850 census might actually have been named “Abigail” or “Abby” and that the same Henry Avery, aged 76 in the 1850 census might have died shortly after in 1852.  By the way, if Henry was 76 in 1850 and Alby/Abby/Abigail was 61 in 1850, that would have placed them as 38 and 23 in 1812 - certainly of child-bearing age.

In conclusion, there does not appear to be any logical conclusion other than that the father of Nehemiah C. Avery was Henry Avery who married Abigail (surname unknown).

We found the probable census entries for Henry Avery and Abigail in 1850 and 1840 as discussed earlier.  Can we find them earlier?  If Henry was 76 in 1850 and 66 in 1840, then he was 56 in 1830.

The 1830 census did not name anybody except the head of the household but did classify the household residents by age.  There was only one Henry Avery household in the 1830 census of Pound Ridge.  That household of Henry Avery shows:
- 1 male age 15-20 - This would be Nehemiah at age 18.
- 1 male age 50-60 - This would be Henry himself at age 56
- 1 female age 50-60 - This would be Abigail if we accept as truth her age of 60-70 from the 1840 census

The 1820 census did not name anybody except the head of the household but did classify the household residents by age.  There was only one Henry Avery household in the 1820 census of Pound Ridge.  That household of Henry Avery shows:
- 1 male under 10 - This would be Nehemiah at age 8
- 2 males age 10-15 - These males would be 20-25 10 years later in 1830.  They would probably be out in their own households in 1830 so that is probably why they do not appear in the 1830 census of the Henry Avery household.
- 1 male age 16-25 This male would be 26-35 10 years later in 1830.  He would probably be out in his own household in 1830 so that is probably why he does not appear in the 1830 census of the Henry Avery household.
- 2 males age over 45 - One of these would be Henry at age 46, the other MIGHT be Henry’s father who we don’t know yet.
- 1 female age over 45 - This would be Abigail at age 45-50 if she was 55-60 in 1830 census

The 1810 census did not name anybody except the head of the household but did classify the household residents by age.  There was only one Henry Avery household in the 1810 census of Pound Ridge.  That household of Henry Avery shows:
- 3 males under age 10
- 1 male age 10-15
- 1 male age 26-44 This would be Henry himself at age 36
- 1 female age 10-15
- 1 female age 16-25 This does not match Abigail’s estimated age of 35-40

The 1800 census did not name anybody except the head of the household but did classify the household residents by age.  There was no Henry Avery household in the 1810 census of Pound Ridge but there was one Henry Avery household in an adjacent town of Salem.  That household of Henry Avery shows:
- 1 male under 10
- 1 male age 26-44 - This would match Henry himself at age 26
- 1 female under 10
- 1 female age 26-34 - this would match Abigail at age 25-30 (now estimated to be 26-30) 

There is no Henry Avery household in the 1790 census in either the towns of Salem or Pound Ridge or any other town in Westchester County, NY.  We therefore conclude that Henry, at approximate age 16 in 1790, is living in the household of his father.  There are 8 Avery households in the 1790 census of Westchester County.
- James Avery in the town of Bedford
- Thaddeus Avery in the town of Mount Pleasant
- Ebenezer Avery in the town of Pound Ridge
- Elisha Avery in the town of Pound Ridge
- Enoch Avery in the town of Pound Ridge
- John Avery in the town of Pound Ridge
- Solomon Avery in the town of Pound Ridge
- William Avery in the town of Salem

The entry for Elisha is undoubtedly for Elisha Avery, The Elder - the earliest known individual of the so-called “Pound Ridge Averys”.  He is estimated to have been born circa 1720 and died circa 1808. The Journal of Judge Ezra Lockwood gives the children of Elisha Avery, the Elder as:
- 1 - (the earliest and oldest) son Enoch Avery who married Dorcas Woolsey. From other sources we know that Enoch was born between 1740-1745.
- 2 - son Ebenezer Avery. Lt. in Rev War
- 3 - dau. Judith who married (1) Enoch Harris and (2) Daniel Dixon
- 4 - son John Avery who married Abigail Knapp
- 5 - son Solomon Avery who married (1) ___ Marshall and (2) Increase Miller
- 6 - dau. Freelove (other sources say dau. Freelove married Increase Miller, a male, not son Solomon
 - 7 - son James
 - 8 - dau. Elizabeth who married Henry Varnall
 - 9 - dau. Susanna who married David Rundle
 - 10 - (the last and youngest) son Henry

In the census for the towns of Pound Ridge and Bedford, we find 5 of the 6 sons of Elisha Avery, the Elder as heads of their own households.  We DO NOT find Henry in his own household. Remember, Henry is the youngest son of Elisha.  And the Henry who we have been following back would be about age 16 in 1790 and probably living in the household of his father.

Looking at the 1790 census of Pound Ridge in the Elisha Avery, the Elder household, we find:
- 1 male age 16 or older - This would be Elisha Avery, the Elder, himself
- 1 male under age 16 - this might be Henry, if Elisha, the Elder is his father.
- 1 female - This would probably be the wife of Elisha, the Elder.

So we can conclude that the father Henry Avery MIGHT be Elisha Avery, the Elder and that a good estimate of the birth year for Henry Avery is 16 years before 1790 or circa 1774.

BUT what about the other Avery households in Westchester County?  Might Henry come from those households? Specifically:
- Thaddeus Avery in the town of Mount Pleasant?
- William Avery in the town of Salem?

The will of Thaddeus Avery of Mt. Pleasant, 20 miles from Pound Ridge, written in 1827 names his heirs and there is no mention of a Henry Avery.  So it is unlikely that Thaddeus Avery is the father of Henry Avery.

Looking at the 1790 census of Salem in the William Avery household, we find:
- 1 male age 16 or older - This would be William Avery, himself
- NO male under age 16 - So no evidence of Henry in this household
- 1 female - This would probably be the wife of Elisha, the Elder.

So we now conclude that Henry Avery is the son of Elisha Avery, the Elder of the Pound Ridge Averys.

We can now conclude that the ancestors of Arvilla Miller are as follows;
- Elisha Avery, the Elder (ca 1720-ca 1808) m. ________ child Henry Avery
- Henry Avery (ca 1774-1852) m. Abigail ______ child Nehemiah C. Avery
- Nehemiah C. Avery (1812-1884) m. bef 1835 Mary Ann Finch (1816-1874 child Arvilla Avery

Jon Avery has proven descendancy through Meyer Every/Avery (b. circa 1710, d.circa 1762) of Duchess Co., NY and has common DNA with the Pound Ridge Averys so Meyer Every/Avery and Elisha Avery, the Elder have common male ancestors.

Note - The common male ancestor between Meyer Every/Avery 1710-1762) of Dutchess Co., NY and Elisha Avery, the Elder of Westchester Co., NY has not been identified.  But the common time frame and somewhat close geography of the two individuals suggest that they MIGHT even have been brothers!