Richard Avery of Virginia was of Pitminster, Somerset, and his ‘circle’ in Virginia included those of the same area – the Flood family of Bridgewater, and the Rose family of Shepton Beauchamp. He was ‘transported’ from Bristol to Virginia in 1665 by Anthony Fulgham, his neighbour in Pitminster. He was associated in Virginia with the Barker family of Bristol, who were an important factor in the Bristol/Virginia tobacco trade, the trade that Richard Avery migrated to Virginia to participate in. The dialect of his English region was that of the Bristol basin, which elongated vowels (ee-vee-rye), and had a vocabulary and accent (Robert Newton/Long John Silver), which was unintelligible to us today, and to contemporaries of different English regions. The English settlement of Virginia created ‘linguistic islands’. Richard Avery would have been well aquainted with apples and their intoxicating derivative – “zii-der”. The people of this account were the propertied class of the middle order.

RICHARD AVERY OF VIRGINIA

1. …
1.1. Richard Everye, of Pitminster; Somerset; Will proved May 3, 1586. My brother, William Every, to have my land in Taunton Deane, he to give to his sisters’ daughters £20 each on marriage. Residue to my said brother William.
1.2. William Everye.
1.2.1. William Everye, m. Agnes Hill, June 11, 1601, in Pitminster.

(1. Roger Hill of Taunton, Somerset, “Merchant”, b. Jan. 10, 1495. Will proved Apr. 8, 1546. He m. Margery, dau. of Humphry Wyndham, of Wiveliscombe.
11. William Hill, of Poundisford (in the parish of Pitminster), Somerset, Esq. Will proved Apr. 20, 1594, by son Roger Hill.
1.1.1. Roger Hill Esq., of Poundisford, gent. Will proved May 24, 1609, by son William Hill. To be buried at Pitminster. My friend John Pyne, esq., and my brother Alexander Hill, gent., overseers.
1.1.1.1. William Hill (often confounded with his uncle and namesake, and they with their grandfather).
1.1.2. Alexander Hill, of Taunton, Somerset, Gent. Will proved Jan. 28, 1613-14, by son Robert Hill Overseers, John Symes, esq., & Thomas Strowde, gent, both of Pitminster.
1.1.3. Mr. William Hill, m. Agnes Hill, who was bur. Aug. 10, 1591 in St. Mary and St. Andrew, Pitminster.
1.1.3.1. Agnes Hill, bapt. April 17, 1575, Pitminster (‘d.o William’), m. William Everye).

1.2.1.1. John Everye, recorded as having a dau., Anne, bapt. Jan. 12, 1629/30, and almost certainly the father of Richard Avery of Virginia, b. circa that date:
1.2.1.1.1. Richard Avery (m. Jane Rose), on whose death, William Rose Sr. became the guardian of his grandson, *John Avery, p. 61). Richard Avery departed from the Port of Bristol, in 1665. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, vol. 1, p. 56: Capt. Anthony Fulgham (of Pitminster), 1600 ac. IOW, July 12, 1665, for transportation of 30 people, inc. Richd. Avery. (B. 5, p. 253). Will of Richard Avery, proved Jan 5, 1685, Surry Co., names wife Jane, sons George, William, John,* and Thomas Avery, and “brothers” William Rose and Thomas Flood. Executors were wife Jane, William Rose, and Thomas Flood. Witnessed by William Browne, Thomas Flood, William Rose (B. 3, p. 45). He calls William Rose and Thomas Flood his “brothers”, i.e., William Rose was the brother of his wife, Jane, and Thomas Flood was Jane’s brother-in-law, husband of Ann Rose.
1.2.1.1.1. John Avery.*

(1. ‘Sergeant’ John Harris, bapt. 1589/90, in Blagdon (20 miles N. of Bridgewater), Somerset, br. of Joan Harris, bapt. May I, 1603, who m. (2) John Oson, bapt. Apr. 22, 1604, the father of Ann Oson (bapt. June 19, 1625), who m. James Derrick, July 20, 1648, cousin of Francis Derick Jr., bapt. March 10, 1607, in Long Ashton. Blagdon is also ca. 10 miles S. of Bristol, from whence the Barkers and Derricks.
1.1. Dorothy Harris, sold land to Francis Derrick Jr., inherited from George Cockett (her probable uncle), a reasonably common name around Blagdon, and, in the Bristol basin patois of the time, similar to Caucot, etc.
1.2. John Harris, infant in 1624, d., witnessed a bond of Robert Mosley to John Felton in 1654, concerning land “joyneing upon the lands which was John Harryes lyeing in the County of Surry in Virginia commonly called Upper Chippoakes”. (V.C.R, v. xi, p. 31). He probably m. a sister of John Barker Sr.
1.2.1. John Harris, m. Elizabeth Nicholson, d. bef. Feb. 11, 1699, when his estate was appraised by John Barker Jr. and Patrick Lashley Sr. (B.5, p. 165). Harris. Elizabeth: Leg.- Son, Joseph Harris, cow, pewter dishes, etc., and daughter, Mary Horne, pewter dishes, etc. Daughter, Jane Harris, 300 lbs. of tobacco at (her brother) John Nicholson’s, pewter, chest, etc. To dau., Elizabeth Harris, all the remaining part of my estate and makes her Exerx. Dated Mar. 23, 1710. Prob. May 16, 1711. Wit: Jethro Barker, John Cooke, *John Avery. Book 6, p. 55: John Averis 300 ac. in Surry Co. on N. side of Otterdam Swamp, adj. Jethro Barker. (1704, p. 622). John Avery’s dau. m. John Lashley, son of Walter Lashley and Hannah Barker, sister of John Barker Jr., and Joel Barker.*
1.2.1.1. William Harris, m. Elizabeth, her widow’s estate admon. by her son, (probably eldest) Henry Harris. R. June 16, 1711. Wit. John Barker Jr., Thomas Cotton. (B. 6, p. 620).
1.2.1.1.1. William Harris, lived adj. the land of Thomas Cotton).

Bridgwater (12 miles N. of Pitminster).

FLOOD

1. Edward FLood m. … Aug. 4, 1567. Will proved June 23, 1572, bequested to “Christopher Fludd my sonne one quarter of my goode sheep”.
1.1. Christopher Floudde, m. Joane Castlebrooke, Feb. 11, 1609. (A local toponym).
1.1.1. “Johannes Fludd”, bapt. Dec. 21, 1621 (“son of Xpofori”), made a deposition in 1652 stating that he was 30 years old, or thereabouts. He m. Mary Creede in Surry Co., Virginia, dau. of Ralph Creede, son of Edward Creed, Clerk, of Shirehampton (a tithing of Westbury-upon-Trim, Gloucestershire), whose Will was proved in Bristol, in 1649: “To Raphell, my disobedient sonn twelve pence in money (and prayer that he may reform his life”). As Ralph Creed, carpenter, he was deeded 150 ac. by Thomas Flood*, his brother, on August 27, 1661. Shirehampton and Bridgwater were connected on the main trading road which passed through Bristol.
1.1.1.1. John Flood, m. Ann, dau. of Thomas Blount, and sister of … Blount, wife of *Joel Barker
1.1.1.1.1. John Flood, m. Mary Howell, d. aft. June 20, 1715.
1.1.1.1.1.1. Jane Flood, m. Thomas Lane (b. ca. 1662), whose Will was proved Nov. 20, 1734, witnessed by Richard Ricks, Thomas Lanier, and William Barker.
1.1.2. ”Thomae Fludde”, bapt. April 19 1612 (“son of Christopher and Joan”).
1.1.2.1. Thomas Flood Jr., b. ca. 1637-1642, m. Ann Rose, b. ca. 1650-1655.

by m stanhope, copyright B.T. Shannon, as all articles concerning English ancestries of Virginian colonists.