BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WILLIAM CUSHMAN 



AVERY. 



Condensed from notes by his sister Miss Mary E. Avery. 



WILLIAM CUSHMAN AVERY, M. D., son of Rev. 

 John Avery, D. D., and Ann Paine, his wife, was 

 born in Edenton, N. C, Sept. 21, 1831. 



From his earliest years he evinced a love of knowledge. 

 He went to the root of all that he felt worth learning; 

 the more difficult the research, the more fascinating. 



He was tutored at home by his mother, until he entered 

 his teens. She recognized and appreciated his talents, 

 and furthered their development. He loved nature, espec- 

 ially in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. I remem- 

 ber when a child seeing him pore over his volumes of 

 natural history and filling a book with drawings of ani- 

 mals and of birds, sketches from nature, and copied from 

 these histories. 



He had such a love for drawing and painting, that at 

 one period he thought seriously of making this his life 

 work. He possessed great versatility of thought and 

 aptness of learning in almost every branch. 



He inherited a taste for languages from his father, who 

 was a graduate of Williams College, Mass. ; and after- 

 wards of Yale College in 1813. 



My brother, Dr. William C. Avery, graduated at Bur- 

 lington College, N. J. in 1851 or '52. His college life 

 was one of great happiness; wrapped in the pursuit of 

 learning he won the esteem of the professors and the 

 friendship of the students, many of whom were to be 

 noted men in the world. He seemed utterly free from 

 self conceit, so that none manifested envy towards him. 

 In regard to literary investigations he was thoroughly 

 self-reliant and self-sufficient, yet showing nothing of 

 arrogance towards others. 



After graduating at Burlington College, he taught 

 school for several years. He then studied medicine at 



