WALTER S. AVERILL, a prosperous agriculturist and well-known early settler of Chester Township, Ottawa County, was identified with the privations of the pioneer days of Michigan, and, being a man of enterprise and business ability, has aided in the development of the interests of his home locality and county. Born in the State of New York, April 17, 1842, our subject is the son of Samuel H. and Elizabeth (McFerren) Averill. His father was born in Vermont, November 22, 1797, and his mother in New York, March 21, 1806. They made their home for many years in the Empire State, but in the fall of 1848 emigrated to the West, and in the early winter of 1849 located upon the farm where they long resided.

                                                                                     

Taking from the Government eighty acres of land at a cost of $1.25 per acre, the father found himself left with the modest capital of seventy-five cents in ready money. He and his children with united effort toiled early and late to clear, cultivate and improve the land. He died December 16, 1886, when in his ninetieth year. During his many years of usefulness he occupied with fidelity various positions of trust and served several times as Justice of the Peace. He was the first man who in an official capacity gave orders to the township. The primitive method had been to personally notify each individual that at such a time and upon such an occasion they would be called upon to pay a certain sum.

 

Samuel Averill assisted in surveying most of the sections in Chester Township, and although he received only four days’ schooling he was one of the best-informed men in the township. Possessing excellent judgment and habits of close observation, he kept himself intelligently posted on all the public affairs of the day. He and his excellent wife were the parents of twelve children, seven of whom lived to years of maturity. Mary J. is the wife of Dolph Look, of New York; William B. resides in Casnovia; M. B. lives in Muskegon County; Eliza is the wife of John Hilton, of Porterville, Cal.; Edward F. resides in Chester Township; Elvira is the wife of David Waller, of Chester Township and Walter is the subject of this sketch. The mother passed away January 9, 1875.

 

Our subject came to this State at the age of eight years, and was educated in the common schools of the home neighborhood. The first school of the district was regularly established in 1852. During the first day’s session the teacher found but one scholar, a boy, who could correctly state what year of our Lord it was. After dinner the other scholars seized the unfortunate boy and gave him a thrashing. He immediately returned to his home and was never seen more in that schoolroom; thus was superior knowledge rewarded in the pioneer days. Upon his father’s farm Walter Averill attained to manhood, and immediately after his twentieth birthday enlisted, in 1862, in Company H, Twenty-first Michigan Infantry, and as a private was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland under the command of James Cavanaugh and A. A. Stevens. He actively participated in the battles of Perryville, Stone River and other engagements. He was twice wounded—first in the fight at Perryville, where he received a wound on the left side of his neck which stiffened the muscles and cords. In the battle of Stone River he had his foot shattered with a piece of shell, and for nineteen years has never worn a boot. As a partial compensation for the suffering resultant from his injury he receives a pension of $12 a month.

 

Discharged in July, 1863, Mr. Averill at once returned home and continued to assist upon the farm until the death of his mother. Soon afterward he was married, his father residing with him until he too passed away. The homestead reverted to Mr. Averill, who has through all the changing seasons industriously cultivated the fertile fields. Walter Averill was first united in marriage with Minerva Wood, a native of Ohio and the daughter of William Waller, an early settler of Chester Township, widely known and highly respected. The estimable young wife survived only one year and bore her husband one child, Alice. A second time entering the bonds of matrimony, our subject wedded Miss Anna B. Thatcher, a native of Pennsylvania and daughter of Edwin and Kate (Carpenter) Thatcher, pioneers of Ottawa County. Mr. and Mrs. Averill are the parents of four children: Ross G., Judd E., Hettie M. and Lee W.

 

Mr. Averill has held with ability various school offices and is interested in the conduct of public affairs. He is a stanch Republican, but without the aspirations of a politician, and is content to do his duty at the polls, being also ever ready to lend a helping hand in all matters of public welfare. He is fraternally connected with Ravenna Lodge No. 355, I. O. O. F., and is a valued member of Albert Sperry Post No. 337, G. A. R., at Ravenna. In the latter organization he has officiated as Quartermaster and officer of the order. Financially prospered, Mr. Averill owns fifty-five acres of highly cultivated land, which annually yield an abundant harvest. The improvements of the homestead are of a substantial and attractive character, the handsome residence, commodious barns and outbuildings denoting thrift and comfort.

 

Our subject has a store of interesting reminiscences of the past, and among other incidents relates that his father pounded the first bread out of corn raised upon the farm by means of a stump hollowed out and the use of a heavy wooden pestle. The pestle was used for this purpose for many years, and a number of persons came from a distance of four or five miles to thus pound their corn into meal. Soon after arriving in Chester Township, the father went to Steele’s Landing, a distance of fifteen miles, and purchased flour, which he brought home on his back. They had a team of oxen, but as no road was open they could not cross the thickly wooded land. The first team of oxen owned by our subject he bought in 1863, with money earned by clearing land. In this toilsome manner the pioneers gained their homes and money, and with unceasing industry promoted the growth and enterprises of the West, which to-day is rich in resources, manufactures and the energy of a people whose watchword has ever been "Upward and Onward."

 

 

 

Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, Pgs. 278, 281