From 1820 to 1830, what is now called Henry County was called Lafayette or “Lillard” county and was comprised of what is now Lafayette, Johnson, Henry, ½ of St Clair, about 4/5 of Bates and all of Cass and Jackson Counties.
Henry County was organized on December 13, 1834 as Rives County but was renamed to Henry in 1841 to honor the Revolutionary War Patriot, Patrick Henry.
A Rev. Henry Avery, born in 1793 in Roane County Tennessee and his wife Elizabeth (Green) Avery born in 1798 in Barren County Kentucky came to Henry County in 1831 and settled in Tebo Township.
Henry Avery had enlisted with General Andrew Jackson as a private soldier at the age of nineteen and served during the entire war of 1812. They became close friends and remained so the rest of their lives. He later was engaged in general merchandising in Alabama during the years of 1818 through 1821. He closed his business and was appointed Secretary of State for two years.
He was engaged for nine years in farming in White County, Tennessee and then moved to St Louis, where he remained for a very short time before moving to Morgan County, Missouri. In 1831 he pre-empted 160 acres in Tebo Township in 1831. When he arrived in 1831 he was the only man that received a newspaper in the area. He subscribed to the Missouri Republican, published in St Louis. In 1838 he purchased 1,000 acres at $1.25 per acre and in 1839, 340 more.
The first county court was held at Henry Avery’s on the 4th and 5th days of May, 1835. The first cabin to be built with glass windows was built by Avery. He put in two sash with four lights each. Before the house was finished, a wagon box served as the sleeping place for the children, but it was summer and not cold. There were three settlements in Henry County in 1832 and they were known as the Fields settlement, and a settlement in the area of present day Windsor and there was also the Avery settlement.
He was an ordained Minister of the gospel in May of 1834 and continued to preach as long as his strength lasted. The very first marriage in Henry County was that of a couple whose names have been lost to time. They were married by Squire Henry Avery on the night of the 15th of May, 1832. They had come from some place south of Springfield and had ridden ponies for four days in search of a Justice or a Minister who could marry them. They had met some Indians who directed them to Squire Avery, describing him as a “heap big man with plenty of law.” It had just turned to night when they arrived, they were married and left at once, uncommonly happy, according to Squire Avery. What the Squire charged them for such happiness was not recorded.
Settlers were united together like a band of brothers. The danger and privation of the frontier had drawn them together. When a settler needed to erect a cabin on his claim neighbors would come from miles around to help him and give him a fair start.
Corn was the principal article of food and the wild game furnished the meat, and a cow was generally secured. Now and then a cup of coffee was enjoyed with a touch of sweetening from a bee tree. A juicy venison steak or a piece of turkey and cornbread composed the steady diet of the Pioneers. Store goods was not often seen or worn. The wife generally spun and wove homemade cotton for herself and her daughters. Dressed deer skins served for the men’s clothing and provided moccasins for everyone’s feet.
The first stores carried a stock of salt, tea, tobacco, cotton and yarns. They had iron for horseshoes, nails, etc and also powder, lead, shot and steel points for the plows. They carried a small amount of calico, ginghams, domestic cotton and a few boots and shoes. One staple article was Kentucky whiskey.
Settlers flowed in and the year of 1834 found many newcomers. The ones that had staked their claims in 1831-32 felt they were now living in a very populous county. Now neighbors might be within a mile or half mile of each other. The early settlers had come from Kentucky and Tennessee, North Carolina or Virginia. In the beginning they faced years of toil and hardship but for their toil they reaped and abundant future. One who came early on was Henry Avery. He lived a good life in what was to become Henry County and when he died on September 18, 1845 he left 220 acres to his son R.L. Avery. He had lived on the same farm for fifty-one years and for forty years lived in the first dwelling house erected in the county, the one with the first glass windows.
