Avery, Samuel, 1731-1806

Samuel Avery (1731-1806) was a land speculator in colonial America.

Samuel Avery was born October 17, 1731 in Groton, Connecticut, the fourth of eleven children of Humphrey and Jerusha (Morgan) Avery. Sometime before 1760 Avery married Sybil Noyes, daughter of William and Sybil (Whiting) Noyes. Sometime after the birth of their only child (Sybil, who married Ezra Stiles Jr., whose papers are included in the Stevens Collection), Sybil Avery died and Samuel married Mary Ann Rose, who bore him five children (Samuel William, Mary Ann, John Humphrey, Susan and Isabella).

Educated as a lawyer, Avery emigrated to Vermont sometime in the 1770's and settled in Westminster, presumably to oversee his land interests. He had purchased large tracts of land from an indian trader named Col. John Henry Lydius, who bought 14,000 square miles of land from the Mohawk Indians in 1739. Avery was the apparent owner of some 50,000 acres, originally a Massachusetts grant bordering the Otter Creek to the north and south, which was confirmed to him by Gov. Shirley in 1744. In 1772 Avery petitioned the New York government to confirm his grant but encountered great difficulty in doing so because his claims were now actually under Vermont's jurisdiction. Vermont initially refused the claim, and it was not until 1789 that Avery was able to secure the rights to his lands. Avery's claims of about 52,000 acres were situated in Orleans, Essex, Franklin, Addison, Chittenden, Caledonia and Windham counties and included many mountainous areas. Some of Avery's lands were channeled due to "squatter sovereignty", but, in all, his claims were considerable. There are still tracts of land in Vermont known as Avery's Gore in both Franklin and Essex County.

In 1795 Avery moved to the Susquehanna Valley region of Pennsylvania, where he was among the proprietors of claims in the Wyoming Valley area. He encountered similar difficulties as those in Vermont and lost most of his lands to the heirs of William Penn. Avery purchased territory in Oswego, New York in 1802, built a great mansion and established himself as one of New York's most wealthy men. Samuel Avery died in Oswego in 1806.