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Many thanks to Sherri Sontag and Carol Norville Berning for information on the Avery and Boswell families.

In two sections: oral history and official paper trail

Oral History

Email from Carol Norville Berning stated that Sarah Elizabeth Avery (born 6-26-1882) was the daughter of Drury Avery and Lucy Catherine Boswell. Sarah Elizabeth became the 2nd wife of Milton Nathaniel Watson after the death of his first wife, Ella Gertrude Wesson. Milton's daughter by Ella, Buna Vera Watson (stepdaughter of Sarah Elizabeth Avery), was the grandmother of Carol Norville Berning. CNB said, Milton "married a second time to Sarah Elizabeth Avery...seven children were born to this second marriage and my grandmother (eight years old at the time) helped to raise them."

From "The John Thomas Boswell Family" by Sherri Sontag posted to Crockett County Page of TNGenWeb: Lucy Catherine Boswell b. 1845 d. after 1900. Lucy married Drury Vinson Avery Dec. 16 1866 in Gibson County, TN, the son of James Avery & Sarah Lanier. Drew was quite a character and eventually they would divorce. Lucy and Drew Avery had the following children: Idie, Mary, Martin Luther, Cleopatra, Minnie, Beulah G, and Elizabeth "Bettie" Avery. Drew was said to have went to jail for a short time and while he was gone, Lucy and her mother threw him out. When he returned he lived with the neighbors, the Raspberry Peal family. While staying with the Peal family, he fell in love and married Miss Harriett "Hattie" Peal on Dec 4 1884. Hattie is buried at Providence Cemetery in Crockett Mills, as the wife of DV Avery. She died 1929. It was assumed Drew was still alive at the time of her death or it is likely he was buried by his children, with Lucy, but their graves are unknown."

Sherri Sontag has additional information on Drew Avery on her website, www.ourtennesseefamilytree.com. In part it says, "Drew was a 'Ripsnorter.' He served in the Civil War as a Corporal in the Confederate Army. He was demoted to Private and his future brother-in-law, James Thomas Boswell, took over the roll to lead the company...Drew served time in the state pen for forgery and making counterfeit money for old man Robertson... Lucy divorced Drew while he was in the State Pen. Her mother, Elizabeth, came to live with her and help her with the children when her father had passed away in 1870. While Drew was away, rumor had it that old man Robertson, feeling somewhat guilty, left a bag of groceries on Lucy's doorstep several times. Drew came back to find himself without his family and moved in next door with the Raspberry Peal family. While Drew was living with the Peals, he fell in love with Harriett Peal.."

        On the same website she quotes the following story from a telephone interview with Wendell Avery of Alamo, TN, in reference to Drew's involvement in illegal dynamite fishing along the Mississippi River. "The Game Warden met Drew in town and asked how he was getting all his fish, and Drew (who was not supposed to know he was the game warden) took him down to the river to show him. Drew handed the game warden a stick of dynamite and said, 'You wanted to know how I got all the fish, right?' The Game Warden replied, 'What do you do with this?' Drew said, 'Well now sir, I recommend you throw it pretty quick!' As he laughed, the Game Warden threw the stick into the water and Drew, knowing he had been set up, knew the Game Warden would not be able to arrest him, since he had just done so himself."

The following story was related by a son of Vinas Hardison (Vinas was the grandson of Drew's cousin, W.A.G. Avery):        

        Vinas told a story, not sure of its veracity, of an Avery relative whom he thought was Tom Avery (note that Tom was Vinas' uncle, but was unlikely to be the correct Avery as he was a mill owner and a church goer and an upstanding citizen. Most likely the Avery meant was Drew, and the story simply got garbled down the generations). This Avery was a bootlegger, and the sheriff had it in for him. He would go out to Arkansas, pick up hooch, and come back on the train. One day he put about that he was making a booze run, took two empty suitcases, and got on the train. He returned with two suitcases, pantomiming their weight. The sheriff stopped him and ordered him to open the bags. This Avery said he couldn't do that, the bags were his property, the sheriff had no right. The sheriff insisted. "Alright," the Avery said, "but if you open the bags and there's any loss or damage to what's inside, I hold you responsible." Then he opened the bags, both at once.

            They were filled with live cats. The cats took off in every direction. Tom/Drew Avery told the sheriff, "Those were valuable cats, worth $25 a piece, and as you claimed responsibility, you now owe me $25 each for those cats." According to the story the sheriff had every boy in the county rounding up cats, which he'd bring to Tom/Drew Avery. Tom/Drew would look and say, "Naw, that's not one of my cats."

            Vinas's son followed this with the comment, "Of course cats would suffocate in a suitcase, but it makes a good story." It also says a little bit about the Avery family. At least one of them must've been regarded as something of a rascal. (Wendell Avery, in a phone conversation July 2007, agreed that this sounded like something Drew would've done, though he himself had no knowledge of that particular story.)

Official Paper Trail

1850 census, Gibson County District 4:

(household below his grandmother, Elizabeth, and aunt Winifred McEwen, household before his uncle John)

James Avery, age 28, born NC, estate value $400

Sarah, age 29, born NC

Drury age 6, born TN

Emeline, age 5, born TN

Troy, age 4, born TN

Rosanna, age 2, born TN

Anna, 1 month (census taken in October)

1860 census, Gibson District 10 (household below his uncle JW Avery)

J. Avery, age 38, born NC, real estate value $2600, personal estate $4000

Sarah, age 38, born NC

Drewry age 16

Troy, age 14

Rosanna, age 11

Sanny, age 10 (Ascenith)

James, age 4

Zilpha, age 1

Gibson County Marriages

D.V. Avery and L.C. Boswell 1866

1870 census, Dyer County, District 1, post office Friendship, household 26 (page 4)

Drew Avery, age 25, miller, --/$500, born TN

Lucy Avery, age 26, housekeeping

Idie Avery, age 3

Jas, age 5 months, born Nov 1869

1880 census, Crockett County, Crockett Mills Dist 9 Enum Dist 6 household 60

(his wife and her mother with the kids--is he in jail?)

Elizabeth Boswell, age 58, born TN of parents born in VA

Lucy Avery, age 37 (no relationship listed, and kids then listed relative to Lucy)

daughter Mary Avery, age 12

son Luther Avery, age 10

daughter Cleo P, age 8

daughter Minnie, age 6

daughter Bula, age 3

Dock Boswell, age 20 born TN of father born VA and mother born TN

wife Nancy L, age 19

1910 census, Crockett County, Civil District 9

D.V. Avery, age 66, in 2nd marriage for 23 years, farmer, TN-TN-TN

wife Harriet, age 62, in 1st marriage for 23 years, mother of 0, TN-TN-TN

granddaughter Nellie Jones, age 7, TN-TN-TN

hired boy Buck Terry, age 19, white, single, farm laborer working out, TN-TN-TN

12-11-1913 Tri-County News: Mr. Drew Avery of Crockett mills was here Monday...

5-7-1914 Tri-County News: Mr. Drew Avery was the only old veteran to board the Veteran's Special at Crockett Mills Monday morning. This is his first time to attend a reunion since the state went Republican.

1920 census, Crockett County, Civil District 9, household 31 (looks like Drew's Hattie, maybe)

H.A. or H.L. Avery, female, widow, age 73, manager-farmer, TN-TN-TN

4-24-1947 (Thursday) Crockett Times

(contributed to Crockett County page Rootsweb by Natalie Huntley)

Alamo TN: Services were held Thursday at Center Baptist Church for Mrs. Cleopatra A. Lewis, widow of R.B. Lewis of the Oak Grove community, who died at her home Tuesday night. Dr. S.R. Woodson officiated. Burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. She was 75.

        Mrs. Lewis was born and reared in Crockett County, the daughter of the late Mr. & Mrs. Drew Avery. She had lived in the Oak Grove community near Humboldt for more than 40 years. She was a member of the Center Baptist Church.

        She leaves five daughters, Miss Flora Lewis, Miss Auva Lewis, Miss Cary Lewis, and Mrs. Homer D. Barrix, all of Humboldt, and Mrs. W.W. Woodward of Fruitland, Tenn; a son, O.B. Lewis of Humboldt; two sisters, Mrs. Bedford Wright and Mrs. Milton Watson, both of Crockett Mills, Tenn., and a brother, Luther Avery of Cape Girardeau, Mo.

8-31-1957

Ronk Funeral Home Records (contributed to Crockett County page of Rootsweb by Tom Childers)

Beulah Avery Wright, born 7-4-1877 in TN, father Drew Avery, mother Lucy, died 8-31-1957, buried Providence Cemetery