Hastings DeJournette Avery (1859-1924)

From the 1905 Arkansas legislative composite photograph.

  The Strangest Names In American Political History begins a nearly month-long visit through Arkansas to profile several of that state's oddly named political figures. The first to be profiled is Hastings DeJournette Avery, an obscure physician from Lincoln County who was elected to one term in the state house of representatives. As details regarding Avery's life remain scant, his profile here will be brief. 

  Born in Mississippi on August 6, 1859, Hastings DeJournette "H.D." Avery relocated to Virginia to pursue study at the Emory and Henry College and later enrolled at the Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. After completing studies at the latter school Avery entered the law department of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, his dates of enrollment being unknown at this time.

  Around 1880 Avery relocated to Arkansas, where for several years he followed a career in teaching. He married in the mid-1880s and had two sons, Thomas Irvin (1888-1903) and Hastings Palmer (1892-1973). Avery and his wife were residents of Lincoln County following their marriage, and in September 1892 he was appointed to succeed G.A. Bryant as Lincoln County circuit court clerk, the latter having died several days previously. In a special election held that November, Avery was elected to a term of his own, serving until 1894.

  In 1896 H.D. Avery set his sights on a seat in the Arkansas Senate, but as a "warm advocate" of the gold standard (a hot button issue in the 1896 election year), he was defeated. Following his loss, Avery turned his attention to medical studies, and by 1900 was practicing medicine in the town of Garnett. He reemerged on the political scene in 1904 when he announced his candidacy for the house of representatives, with the Little Rock, Arkansas Democrat remarking:

"He cares not to have his name bruited in the mouths of men, or for the emoluments of office, but loves the excitement of a public campaign. He has always been an uncompromising Democrat."

From the Little Rock Arkansas Democrat, December 4, 1904.

  That November Avery won the election and shortly after his election was queried as to his stances on several political hot button issues of the day. He would come out in favor of the King anti-trust bill, favored legislation that would "expedite the completion of the state capitol", favored a railroad commission law, and remarked that in "consonance with my prejudices" he favored segregation of the state school tax, though he "doubted its constitutionality and its soundness in Democratic policy." 

  During the 1905-07 session, Avery was a member of the committees on Apportionment, Memorials, and the Practice of Medicine. In addition to the man highlighted today, this session of the legislature was peopled with several other oddly named figures, including Xenophon Overton Pindall, Arlander Denson DuLaney, Uratus Lee Meade, and Euphrates Garrett, all of whom have been profiled here in past years. After leaving the legislature little is known of Avery's life, excepting note of his death on May 12, 1924, aged 65. He was survived by his wife Frances and both were interred at the Palmyra-Star City Cemetery in Lincoln County.