John Thomas AVERILL, Congress, MN (1825-1889)

AVERILL, John Thomas, a Representative from Minnesota; born in Alna, Lincoln County, Maine, March 1, 1825; attended the common schools; moved with his parents to Montville, Maine, in 1838; was graduated from the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Readfield in 1846; taught school for a short time, and subsequently engaged in lumbering for one year; moved to Winthrop, Maine, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for three years; moved to northern Pennsylvania in 1852 and again engaged in lumbering until 1857, when he settled in Lake City, Minn.; engaged in mercantile pursuits and the grain business; member of the State senate 1858-1860; commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Sixth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, August 22, 1862; promoted to colonel on November 22, 1864; honorably mustered out on September 28, 1865; moved to St. Paul, Minn., in 1866 and engaged in the wholesale paper and stationery business; member of the Republican National Committee 1868-1880; elected as a Republican to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1875); chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Forty-third Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1874; resumed his business activities in St. Paul, Minn., where he died on October 3, 1889; interment in Oakland Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present