James Averill (Sr.) was the eldest son of Henry Ketcham Averill (1798–1881) and Elizabeth (Platt) Averill. He was born on March 10, 1825, in Plattsburgh, New York, and baptized James Kent Platt Averill, but he dropped the middle names and was known as James Averill. He prepared for the profession of the law and practiced in Plattsburgh, Champlain, and Rouses Point, dying in Champlain on March 13, 1903.
He married Julia Jeannette Evans on March 2, 1846, in Grafton, Vermont. Julia was born on July 9, 1826, in Rockingham, Vermont, and died on December 23, 1897.
They had four children:
Susan Elizabeth Averill (born June 26, 1847, in Plattsburgh), who married lawyer Sylvester Alonzo Kellogg on September 5, 1866.
Jeanette Evans Averill, who married Plattsburgh lawyer Royal Corbin. Royal was a descendant of the first settlers of Champlain and was related to Martha Corbin, who married Champlain founder Pliny Moore.
James Averill Jr., who was born in Rouses Point, became an insurance agent, and was a prominent industrialist in Champlain.
Credit: Google Books. Genealogical and Family History of Northern New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1. William Richard Cutter, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910. Page 143.