Dear List: What follows is more information on the descendents of Thomas AVERA, Sr, 1761, and Richard INGRAM, 1780, of Johnston Co NC. My motivation for posting this information to the various Roots-Lists is to give researchers some of the necessary information they need to sort out their own ancestors if they descend from either or both of these men and to receive additional information from other researchers and descendents. Complicating matters are a number of mistakes and errors that have been passed on to new researchers of these two men and their descendents. I suspect that these mistakes and errors partially resulted from the following three situations: (1) The twenty years that separate the death of Thomas AVERA, Sr. from, his friend and contemporary, Richard INGRAM and the difficulty this caused in accepting that three of their children married each other; (2) The many early descendents of these two men who have names that echo each other to say nothing of others in Johnston Co NC who had the same names but who were not direct descendents or, perhaps, not even related; and, (3) The likelihood that earlier researchers did not adequately study related Court Minutes, Deeds, and Estate Files in both Johnston and Cumberland counties, NC, before drawing up pedigree charts based on easily accessible Wills. However, this particular Post results directly from a query that an AVERA descendent sent that was based on the belief that Thomas AVERA, Jr.’s son, William AVERA, married Elizabeth INGRAM, the daughter of Richard INGRAM, 1780. Of course, this would have been impossible, but the errors and difficulties multiply from there. There is more to the query than this issue alone, but it will take a second Post to address some of the other parts to this query. Therefore, in a later Post, I will address the confusion around who the parents were of the AVERA who married Bryant RHODES and went to Greene Co GA and which William AVERA (AVERY) died in Greene Co GA about 1825. Of course, any help solving this puzzle will be appreciated. In the meantime, I hope that the following will be of help. It is impossible for Richard INGRAM'S daughter, Elizabeth INGRAM AVERA, to have married the William AVERA who was the son of Thomas AVERA, Jr. Richard ’s daughter, Elizabeth, married a William AVERA before 5 Dec 1780. The proof of this is that Richard’s daughter is named Elizabeth AVERA in his 5 Dec 1780 Will. William, the son of Thomas AVERA, Jr. was still a young boy in 1780. In fact, he was still a minor in Aug 1789—almost nine years after Richard INGRAM’S Will was signed naming his daughter Elizabeth AVERA. “Johnston County Court Minutes: 1787-1792, Book IV,” Transcribed and Reproduced by Wenette Parks Haun, shows that during the August 1789 Term of Court: Alexander AVERA, Esq. of Cumberland County was appointed guardian to William, Mary, Thomas, Zilpha, and Kedar AVERA orphans of Thomas AVERA, Jr, deceased. Then almost seven years after that, during the May 1796 Term of Court, Zilpha AVERA, orphan of Thomas AVERA, Jr, deceased, who would have had to have been at least 14 by then, asked the Court to appoint Zadock STALLING as her guardian. (See Haun, 1793-1797, Book V.) This means that Zilpha AVERA was born before May 1782 but after May 1775. (You will note later in this Post that Richard INGRAM had grandchildren of a very similar age.) Note how three of Thomas AVERA Jr’s children echo the names of Thomas AVERA, Sr’s children. These are, of course, the minor children of Thomas AVERA, Jr. and, in part account for the confusion in AVERA pedigree charts that are not based on complete research. In addition to the five children who were assigned a guardian, Thomas AVERA, Jr. named four other children in his 1787 Will. Two daughters, Edith and Ann, had already married men with the surname of STALLING, and the other two not treated by the Court as minors were Barsheba and Winifred. I believe that the William AVERA who married Richard INGRAM'S daughter, Elizabeth, is the son of Thomas AVERA Sr, 1761. As I stated in the annotations to Thomas AVERA, Sr’s Will, I believe that three children of Richard INGRAM married three children of Thomas AVERA, Sr. John INGRAM married Mary AVERA. William AVERA married Elizabeth INGRAM, and Samuel AVERA married Zilpha INGRAM about 10 Feb 1779. The only one of these AVERA-INGRAM marriages that has been absolutely proven is Samuel AVERA to Zilpha INGRAM, but BUSSEY researchers have long accepted that Mary AVERA married John INGRAM and there is much circumstantial evidence that William AVERA, the son of Thomas AVERA, Sr, married Elizabeth INGRAM. Some of the children of John INGRAM and Mary AVERA were grown when John’s father, Richard, died between 5 Dec 1780 and Feb 1781 when the Will was probated. However, as numerous Court Records show, two of their children, John and Thomas INGRAM were minors at the time. A Family Bible in the BUSSEY Family has January 17, 1771, as the date of birth for Thomas INGRAM, and this would make him about 10 years old when his grandfather died and about the same when his father died. John INGRAM was alive when Richard died, but his own Estate was inventoried in Nov 1781, just a few months after Richard’s death. During the August 1794 Term of Court, “John INGRAM, orphan of John INGRAM deceased, being of proper age came into Court and chose for his guardian Thomas Ingram….” (See Haun, 1793-1797, Book V, p. 41.) The math works for Thomas being 23 by the August 1794 Term of Court, and John would have had to have been at least 14. This would put John’s birth year at no later than 1780, but it was probably a few years earlier than this. I think that this change in guardianship was likely in preparation for John to accompany Thomas on their move to GA to join their double Uncle and Aunt, Samuel and Zilpha INGRAM AVERA, and their other double Uncles, Isaac and Arthur AVERA. Thomas and John INGRAM arrived in Lincoln Co GA in time for Thomas to marry Rebecca BUSSEY, daughter of Hezekiah BUSSEY and his wife Amy FLEMMING, on July 28, 1799. John INGRAM later married Rebecca’s sister, Nancy BUSSEY, about 1809. A number of AVERA researchers are interested in Samuel and Zilpha INGRAM AVERA, and so I add that, based on my own research, I believe that Samuel AVERA was in Wilkes Co GA by 1787. My reasoning is as follows: There is a notation in the Johnston Co Minutes for the August 1787 Term of Court that suggests that Samuel AVERA was already in GA by then. This notation had to do with Johnston Co NC taxes owed for the Year 1786. There is an entry in these Minutes that was later marked through by different ink than the original. The entry read: “Samuel AVERA has removed out of this State and has no property in this County but Land.” (See Haun, 1787-1792, p.13. Note that I have verified this by examining the original Court Minutes housed in the NC Archives, and it was during this examination that I noted the differences in ink. Nevertheless, I really do not understand the meaning of the entry except that it suggests that Samuel AVERA had already gone to GA by Aug 1787. This is consistent with another entry in Johnston Co Deed Book W-1, pp 88-89 that states that Samuel AVERA had given William AVERA of Cumberland Co his power of attorney on 15 Nov 1786. I believe that these two records taken together constitute proof that Samuel AVERA was in GA by 1787. Please let me know if you can help add to or correct any of the foregoing. Yours, Franklin Ingram, f_w_i@email.msn.com