Avery, David

Avery, David a Congregational minister, was born in Norwich (Franklin),. Conn., April 5,1746. He was converted under the preaching of Whitefield; fitted for college in Dr. Wheelock's school at Lebanon; entered the sophomore class, and. graduated at Yale in 1769; pursued theology under Dr. Wheelock; preached o. Long Island as a licentiate; was a missionary to the Oneida Indians.; was installed pastor at Gageborough, now Windsor, Vt., March 25, 1773, where he remained until he entered the army as chaplain, April 14, 1777. He was present when General Burgoyne was taken, when the Hessians were captured at Trenton, and at the battle of Princeton. After having served as chaplain over three years, he became pastor at Bennington, Vt., May 3, 1780, and was dismissed June 17, 1783. Then he settled at Wrentham, Mass.; May 25, 1786, where, after some difficulty, he was dismissed April 21, 1794; but he still preached at North Wrentham, where a Church was organized in 1795. Some time previous to 1798 he removed to Mansfield, now Chaplin, Conn., preached in vacant places, and made two missionary tours to Maine and New York. 'From 1798 to 1801 he. preached to a new society in Chaplin. The week he was to have been installed, pastor in Middletown, Va., he died at the residence of his daughter in Shepherdstown, Va., in the autumn of 1817.. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, i, 697.