William Franklin Avera, Ouachita County, AR

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SOURCE: Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
Contributed by Betsy Mills.
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Ouachita County, Arkansas - from Goodspeed's History of Arkansas

p. 653:
Hon. William Franklin Avera, editor and proprietor of Ouachita Herald, has
been a resident of this county the greater portion of his life, although his
birth occurred in Autauga County, Ala., December 23, 1846.  He was
taken by his parents to Camden, Ark., in January, 1848, and at the early
age of sixteen years he enlisted in the Confederate army, and was in the
artillery service, until the close of the war, being a member of the Fifth
Arkansas Battalion.  After his return from the war, he took a very active
part in opposing the "carpet-bag government," from 1868 to 1874, and in
the later year was elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature. 
Under the new constitution, which was adopted in 1874, he assisted in
thoroughly reorganizing the State Government, at the regular session of
1874-75, and at the special session of 1876.  In the latter part of this year
he was re-elected to the General Assembly for two years more, and again
in 1884, and during his entire official life he was an able, efficient servant
of the public.  He served prominently on the Ways and Means Committee,
and gained an enviable reputation by his thorough knowledge of State
finances.   In 1885 he was appointed postmaster of Camden by President
Cleveland, but was removed from the position by President Harrison, in
August, 1889, for political reasons.  In 1886 Gov. S. P. Hughes appointed
him a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Industrial
University at Fayetteville, and was reappointed to the position by Gov.
Eagle, in 1888, and is now serving the latter term.  He has also filled many
local positions of honor and trust, and in the discharge of his duties has
been faithful to every trust, and his career has been one of great credit. 
He has always been noted for his fearless and outspoken views, as well
as for his independence, and unfaltering devotion to the interests of the
people.  He has been for some time editor and proprietor of the Ouachita
Herald, and his son Preston is the publisher and business manager of the
same, and through its columns they espouse all worthy enterprises, and
yield no slight influence in directing the proper steps to be taken for their
successful conduct.  Mr. Avera was married, in 1868, to Miss Martha O.
Livingston, a daughter of a wealthy planter of Union County.  They have a
daughter and two sons.