Aveyrilla and Her Namesakes

 


The original Aveyrilla and her children

Aveyrilla Lankford must have been a special woman. Because of her, there are six women with the unusual name Aveyrilla or Avarilla in the family tree, including my great-great-grandmother, Avarilla Stephens. It’s easy to imagine the original Aveyrilla as a warm, loving woman, and maybe a lively, fun person. Otherwise, why would five of her children and a sister-in-law name their daughters after her?

     Aveyrilla was born in Nelson County, Virginia in 1816. Even today it’s a sparsely populated place along the beautiful Blue Ridge. Her father Edward was enumerated there in 1830, but sometime afterward they moved to Vigo County, Indiana, living in a community right on the Indiana-Illinois state line. (The county seat of Vigo County is Terre Haute.) Aveyrilla married James Madison Hood, a native of Tennessee, in Vigo County in July 1840. A year later, the first of their nine children was born. In 1860, they crossed the state line and settled in Coles County in the little community of Ashmore, Illinois. Coles County, historically, is known for three things: It was the home of Abraham Lincoln's father Thomas for the last twenty years of his life (and Abe's stepmother until her death in 1869). There was an event called the Charleston Riot. Thirdly, Coles County acquired the nickname the "Buckle on the Corn Belt."

     Coles County was settled largely by southerners like the Hoods, many of them from Kentucky, many of whom were Confederate sympathizers known as Copperheads. They strongly opposed Abraham Lincoln, the abolition of slavery and the draft. They stirred up racist fears of emancipated blacks taking over the North.

In 1864 there was an event known as the Charleston Riot in which after a day of heavy drinking Copperheads clashed violently with Union soldiers and local Republicans. Nine men were killed and a dozen wounded. The Copperheads, who were led by John H. O'Hair, sheriff of Coles County, were quickly run out of town after the affair.

In spite of Confederate sympathies and serious disputes, in the years 1861 to 1863 Coles County produced more Union soldiers than the quota set by the government. James and Aveyrilla's oldest son William was one of them. He joined the 34th Illinois Infantry, Company K in early September 1861. He was killed in December 1862 in Tennessee at age 19 and is buried at the Nashville National Cemetery.

Another son died at age 17. Daughter Lucy Ann never married, and lived with her parents all their lives, then with her brother Luke and his wife. Of the six remaining children, only one did not name a daughter after Aveyrilla. 

     Here’s the list of her children who honored her with a namesake:


  1. Mary Hood - Mary Avarilla Swinford (1876-1936) 

  2. James Wesley Hood - Avarilla Grace “Grace” Hood (1897-1978) 

  3. Elizabeth Hood - Aveyrilla Jane "Avey" McMillan (1881-1962) 

  4. Richard Hood - Aveyrilla Mae Hood (1892-1964) 

  5. Luke Hamlin Hood - Aveyrilla Mae “Mae” Hood (1897-1982)


     In addition, her sister-in-law, Hannah Berilla Hood named her first-born child Avarilla Stephens (1845-1887). 

Aveyrilla was widowed in 1900 after 60 years of marriage. She went to live with her son Luke in a full household with him, his wife Lucy, their five children ages nine and under, Aveyrilla's never-married daughter Lucy Ann and three hired hands (seven adults and five children). Aveyrilla died a year later in 1901.

     Avarilla is the feminized form of the name Averil. The name is reminiscent of singer Avril Lavigne’s name, though her name means “April” in French and is actually a different name. 

     Incidentally, names ending with “-illa” were popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. In our Barbour tree there is Savilla, Marilla, Florilla, Berilla and just plain Rilla in addition to Avarilla and Aveyrilla. 

Although Avarilla is a forgotten name today, a quick search in Newspapers.com from 1890 to 1900 for Avarillas yields many results all over the country. Avarilla Louise Barry got married in Tennessee. Avarilla Ball graduated from Belaire Academy in Maryland. Avarilla Mitchell died in Maryland in 1892 at age 82. Avarilla Hess, at age 14, was denied a marriage license in San Francisco, even though her mother gave her consent. Avarilla Clark gave a recital in Rochester, New York. Avarilla Pickard's husband filed for divorce. Avarilla Lambert was paid for land that was taken by eminent domain in Washington D.C. Avarilla Wilson visited friends in Neodosha, Kansas.

Aveyrilla is a different matter. From 1870 to 1920 the only Aveyrilla in the newspaper database was Aveyrilla Lankford Hood's granddaughter, Aveyrilla McMillan. In 1903 Aveyrilla McMillan got a marriage license in Mattoon, Illinois.

Do you have an Avarilla or Aveyrilla in your family tree?


Note: As mentioned above, Avarilla Stevens was my great-great-grandmother. She married Enos Patchett and they homesteaded in Kansas in 1869. Avarilla died suddenly in 1887 in Montgomery County, Kansas, leaving 10 children. I wrote about her in a January 2023 blogpost, "When Avarilla Hit the Dance Floor." Her mother went by her middle name, Berilla, which apparently she pronounced "Beriller."


Sources:


Coleman, Charles H. and Paul Spence. "The Charleston Riot, March 28, 1864," Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 33, No. 1 (March 1940), pp. 7-56.

"Crime and Punishment in Illinois:The Top Five Legal Cases on Coles County, Illinois, 1830-1900 - Charleston Riot," Localities, Eastern Illinois University, https://www.eiu.edu/localite/index.php


Copyright by Andrea Auclair ©2023




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