• The Averys of Ledyard and neighboring towns are descendants of James Avery, who was born in England about 1620, and who, with his father Christopher, came to this country with Gov. Winthrop’s Company in 1630. They lived at first in Boston or Salem, afterwards in Gloucester. About 1650, James, with his wife, who was Joanna Greenslade, of Boston, and his three oldest children, moved to New London.74, p 92

• By 1653, James had moved his interests to the east side of the “Greate River,” now Groton. Here he was granted one of the “Poquetonnock Grants” to the north, as well as a “farm” to the south, in Groton. Between these grants and continued land purchases, James probably owned as much as a thousand acres in what is now the New London, Stonington, and Groton area.
In 1656, he built a house on his south Groton farm and lived there until his death in 1760 [sic]. This home in Groton was to become known as the “Hive of Avery,” lived in by an unbroken line of Averys until it was destroyed by fire in 1894.2211, p 6