Waightstill Avery was an early American lawyer and soldier.
Background
Avery was descended from the Plantagenet Kings of England, as well as several Magna Charta Sureties and William Marshal (1st Earl of Pembroke) through his grandmother Susan / Susannah Palmes (c 1665 - 2 October 1747, Groton Connecticut). He was a descendant of Christopher Avery (born England, died 12 March 1670) who had come to America in 1630 aboard the Arbella as part of the Winthrop Fleet.
Career
He is noted for fighting a duel with future United States. president Andrew Jackson in 1788. Avery married Leah Probart Francks (d 13 January 1832) on 3 October 1778 in New Bern, North Carolina. A grandson, Isaac East. Avery, served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, perishing at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Avery was elected to the colonial assembly in 1772 and served as attorney-general for the Crown.
In 1775 and 1776, Avery was elected to the North Carolina Provincial Congresses and in that capacity helped draft the first North Carolina Constitution. He was the first Attorney General of North Carolina (1777–1779) and a colonel in the state’s militia during the American Revolutionary War.
He also served in the North Carolina General Assembly (the House of Commons in 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1793, and the Senate in 1796). He was among the early instigators clamoring for the colony"s independence from Great Britain.
This evidence of displeasure was visited only upon those whom Cornwallis considered leading offenders.”
In 1788, Avery was challenged to a duel by Andrew Jackson, then a young territorial lawyer
Avery, also a lawyer, would often proclaim "I refer to Bacon"—meaning The Elements of the Common Laws of England, the noted law text written by Francis Bacon—when making a point. Jackson once replaced a copy of the text with an actual side of bacon in Avery’s saddlebags. When Avery criticized him for levity in the courtroom, “Old Hickory” issued the duel challenge.
The two men met on the field of honor, each intentionally missed the other while firing, and they left fast friends.
Avery County, North Carolina was named for him, as is the Waightstill Avery Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Brevard, North Carolina.
Membership
Another grandson was William Waightstill Avery, speaker of the North Carolina Senate and a member of the Confederate Congress.