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Farming For A Better Future, page 119
Rebecca Harris (c. 1879-1956), another landowner lived in Avery Negro Town in 1940. Harris and her daughter, Jessie, washed laundry in their home while her son, Herman, and grandchildren probably ran the family farm. Rebecca's husband, Lee Harris (born c.1880), bought the farm in the 1920s and Lee passed away in the 1930s. Their son, Jessie and his family own a farm next door to Rebecca in 1940, most likely on land that was originally his parents' farm. Averyville Originally known as Averyville, the community east of Stevenson later shortened to simply Avery was established during Reconstruction by a Quaker missionary named Wilmer Walton. Using funds from a Quaker foundation called “Friends' Association for Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen,” Walton worked to open a school for freedmen and their children as early as 1865. The school and subsequent community were named for Charles Avery, a Pennsylvania minister and businessman who was known for his support of African American education. The school successfully enrolled about 75 students, however, it closed by (Left) Photograph of Union Troops at Stevenson Depot, Circa 1863 (Public Domain) (Below) Excerpt of 1910 Census Record Showing George Tally Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com) the early 1870s due to KKK violence and threats that drove away teachers and some students. During the short-lived Averyville School, one noteworthy student to attend was William Hooper Councill (1848-1909). Councill attended the school for about three years before becoming a teacher and beginning his highly successful career as an educator. By 1869, he moved to Huntsville and established the Lincoln Normal School for teachers of color. Four years later, Dr. Councill, whose only formal education was received at Averyville School, opened the Huntsville State Normal School for Negroes??"what would later be Alabama A&M University. The name Avery appears to have been associated with Stevenson's African American community since the establishment of the original freedmen's colony in the 1860s. While the location of Avery is immediately east of Stevenson along Old Mount Carmel Road, according to various maps throughout the 20th century, Avery was most likely originally positioned where New Town is today. The USGS topographic map from 1936 marks Avery as the area to the northwest of County Road 75 and County Road 85, including the Rosenwald school. Sometime between 1940 and 1950, the neighborhood on the south side of Old Mount Carmel became Avery and the neighborhood containing the Rosenwald school was labeled New Town. This change may be 119 - DEKALB, JACKSON & MARSHALL - (4647)