This article relates to Stephen AVERY (Stephen AVERITT) of Craven and Beaufort Counties, husband of Nancy GARDNER and later Nancy Ada FOY, and father of Nancy, Enoch, Allen, Lewis, Noah, William, Patsy, Julia Ann, Susan, Pollie Ann, and Nancy Augusta AVERY, all of Beaufort County.
Today I received detailed bastardy bonds for my 4th-great-grandmother Selah AVERITT from the NC Archives. (After her illegitimate children were born, she married John HOLMES of Chocowinity.)
This post will only discuss the bonds related to a child Selah had with Thomas HARDY of Craven County. She did have a daughter before Stephen. Her name was Serenia AVERITT, though I am unaware of what became of her, or who her father was.
On November 30, 1824, Selah AVERITT appeared before John CHAPMAN and Seth CHAPMAN, Justices of the Peace, as a single woman, with child, and said the father of the child she was carrying was Thomas HARDY.
The following May 2, 1825, Selah again appeared before the county justices, this time delivered of her son, who she called Stephen. She was with her brother, Enoch AVERITT, and Joseph HARDY (I’m unsure of his relationship to Thomas HARDY) who served as bondsmen.
I don’t know much about Stephen AVERITT, but I will detail what I have here.(NOTE: Everything after the 1850 census is assuming the Stephen AVERY on the 1860 and 1870 census is the same Stephen AVERY. It’s hard to know with certainty since the only child that apparently survived from 1850 to 1860 is Enoch.):
- Based on Selah’s bastardy bond, he was probably born about April 1825.
- Married Nancy GARDNER (1824–?) 12 Sep 1845 (Craven, North Carolina); James Averitt, bondsman. She likely died in the early 1850s, since Lewis, born about 1853, was Ada FOY’s son.
- Noah Avery 1847–1900 m. Caroline HOLMES (daughter of Alpha MORRIS and William HOLMES)
- Nancy Avery 1848–1860
- Enoch Avery (Averitt) 1850–
- Allen Avery 1850–1860
- Married Nancy Ada FOY (abt. 1830-?) probably in the early 1850s, after her 1850 bastardy bond. The following children appear on the census with Stephen AVERY and Ada FOY, though I’m doubtful that they are all Stephen’s. Ada FOY has a bastardy bond recorded with William LANCASTER as bondsman in 1850 in Craven County.
- William J. Avery 1850– m. Sarah BRANTLEY (daughter of Asa BRANTLEY and Betsy WHITEHURST)
- Lewis H. Avery abt. 1853–1933 m. Sophia (last name unknown)
- Martha “Patsy” Ann Avery 1854– m. Daniel C. IRELAND
- Annie Avery 1858–
- Julia Ann Avery 1860–1941 m. Israel Sherlie HENRY, 2nd m. Charles SMITH
- Susan Avery 1864–1937 m. James William BUCK
- Pollie Ann Avery 1866–1961 m. Marcus Washington ANDERSON
- Nancy Augusta Avery 1869–1950 m. Tilman SAWYER
Several of the children’s death certificates name their mother. Lewis (d. 1933) gives his mother as Ada Avery, Pollie Ann (d. 1961) as Ada Foy, and Nancy Augusta (d. 1950) as Nancy Foy. Julia Ann’s 1941 certificate says only “Couldn’t find out.”
In 1872, John HOLMES, the stepfather of Stephen AVERITT (Stephen AVERY) names Enoch AVERY, Stephen’s son from his first marriage to Nancy GARDNER, in his will. Click here to read more about that.
