Avery family.

The Marsh family and the Avery families were united by the marriage of Sarah Craig Marsh (1818-1878) to Daniel Dudley Avery (1810-1879) in 1837.

Daniel Dudley Avery's parents were Captain Dudley Avery (d. 1816) and Mary Ann Browne Avery (fl. 1807-1828). In 1807, Captain Avery left Onondaga County, N.Y., for Cincinnati, where he met and married Mary Ann Browne, daughter of Reverend John W. Browne. The Averys moved to Baton Rouge, La., where Captian Avery worked as a physician. He also served in the state legislature, and in 1813, was appointed justice of the peace of East Baton Rouge Parish.

Sarah Craig Marsh's parents were John Craig Marsh (1789-1857) and Eliza Ann Baldwin Marsh (d. 1826). John Craig Marsh was born at Cherrry Bank Farm, Rahway, N.J., on 28 July 1789. He acquired Petite Anse Island Plantation, later known as Avery Island, ten miles south of New Iberia in Iberia Parish, La., probably in early 1818. Petite Anse Island is a salt dome which rises approximately 180 feet above the surrounding marsh. Besides mining salt, Marsh operated a sugar plantation on the island's fertile soil.

John C. Marsh took with him to Louisiana his wife, Eliza Ann Baldwin Marsh; his older son, John C. Marsh, Jr.; his daughter, Sarah (Sally) Craig Marsh; and several other relatives. He left George Marsh, his second son, with his parents in Rahway. Two other daughters, Margaret (who married Ashbel Burham Henshaw) and Eliza Ann (who married William Robertson), were born on Avery Island. John C. Marsh, Jr., died in 1820 and Eliza Ann Baldwin Marsh died in 1826. After Eliza's death, John C. Marsh married Euphemia Craig, widow of his close friend and business partner, William Stone (fl. 1819-1827).

John C. Marsh was assisted in operating his sugar plantation by his second son, George Marsh (d. 1859), who appears to have joined his family at some point and was the primary manager of the plantation during the 1840s. In 1849, John Marsh sold his interest in the plantation to two of his sons-in-law, Daniel Dudley Avery and Ashbel Burnham Henshaw. He eventually returned to New Jersey and died there in 1857.

Daniel Dudley Avery was born in Baton Rouge on 12 April 1810. After his graduation from Yale College in 1830, he studied law with Thomas Gibbs Morgan and was admitted to the bar in 1832. He settled in Baton Rouge, where he built up an extensive law practice. Also in 1832, he was elected to the General Assembly as the representative from Baton Rouge. He also served as prosecuting attorney for the Florida District and was elected circuit judge in 1860. He resigned that position in 1862 when New Orleans was taken by Union forces. Avery held joint ownership of Petite Anse Island Plantation with George Marsh and Ashbel Burnham Henshaw until 1854, when he bought Henshaw out.

Daniel Dudley and Sarah Marsh Avery had six children: Mary Eliza (b. 1838); Sarah Marsh (b. 1840); Dudley (b. 1842); John Marsh (1844-1891); George Marsh (b. 1846); and Margaret (b. 1848).

During the Civil War, Avery went first to Petite Anse Island and then to Texas to avoid Union soldiers. His son Dudley enlisted in the Delta Rifles and fought under Albert Sidney Johnston in the Shiloh campaign. He was wounded and, after recuperating, joined the 18th Louisiana Regiment west of the Mississippi under Lt. General Richard Taylor. Avery's son John deferred going into the army to produce salt for the Confederacy at Petite Anse. John Marsh Avery later enlisted in the army.

After the war, both Dudley and John Marsh Avery became active in Louisiana politics. Dudley served as president of the Police Jury of Iberia Parish, state senator, and delegate to the Democratic National Convention. John served as state senator. Dudley married Mary Louise Richardson, and John remained a bachelor.

Mary Eliza Avery married Edmund McIlhenny, and Sarah Marsh Avery married Paul B. Leeds. George died in infancy.

(This note was adapted from a sketch written in 1951 by Joseph S. Clark, descendant of the Averys.)