James Avery (American colonist)

James Avery (b. 1620 – April 18, 1700) was an American colonial landowner, legislator, and a military commander in King Philip's War.

Avery was born in Cornwall and emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony as a child with his parents. As an adult he received several land grants in the vicinity of New London, in Connecticut.

Battles
Avery served as a captain in command of forty Englishmen from Stonington, Lyme, and New London. In 1676. He also served as captain of one of four companies which protected the frontier. In the Great Swamp Fight, a battle at Kingston, Rhode Island, Avery commanded a group of ally Pequot Indians.

General Assembly
He was Deputy to the General Court 12 times from 1656 to 1680.

Pioneer
Avery was among Groton, Connecticut’s early settlers, for whom Avery Point is named. A monument stands on the location of his 1656 home, called The Hive of the Averys. The home burned down in a fire started from an ember of a passing train on July 20, 1894.