Julius C. Averill
Julius Averill was born in May 1857, in Belmont New York. He was the son of Julius C. Averill (1805-1873) Sr. and Mary Richardson Averill (1825-1902). He was one of 10 kids. He grew up in the village of Belmont and was educated at the Belmont Union School. He spent some time working as a wood mechanic in his early 20’s, before entering into a career as a businessman.
In the early 1880’s, Julius Averill began a career as a dry goods merchant. U.S. dry goods merchants and stores specialized in selling textiles, clothing, cloth-based household items, and related items. In the early 1880’s, Averill partnered with M.H. Yale and ran the dry goods store Yale and Averill, in Belmont. He remained in businesses with Yale up to 1885.
In 1885, Averill had moved to Angelica, New York. Julius Averill married his wife Capitola (Lilly) Averill by 1883. They had six children: Clarence J. (1883-1956), Dora Frances (1889-1962), Ruth L. (1889-d.), Esther L. (1894-d.), Inez M. (1897-d.), Irene L. (1897-d.).
By 1888, Averill was running his own dry goods store in Angelica and continued to do so throughout the following decade. The store was located on the corner of West Main and Olean Streets. It carried a variety of products, including textiles, clothes, hats, shoes, teacher’s uniforms, and various household products. The store was locally successful and marketed itself to customers throughout Allegany County. Throughout the 1880’s and 1890’s, Averill made a number of expansions to the store and to its selection of products. Averill weathered some hardships, such as getting robbed in 1889 and having his store damaged by a fire in 1893; but he managed to keep the store going.
In 1896, Averill established a new partnership with Levi Bronson and the store was renamed Averill and Bronson.
Julius Averill was an involved member of his community and the local Baptist Church. He served as the president of the Allegany County Baptist School Association in 1889, 1890, and 1892, and was its treasurer in 1893. In 1890, he helped form a town Sunday School association in Angelica and served as its first vice-president.
In 1890, he served as secretary of the Angelica branch of the Royal Templars (a fraternal temperance organization which admitted both men and women as equal members, and whose work including promoting temperance, engaging charitable work, and proving benefits to a member or their family following the death or disability of a member).
He participated in various community events, such as the 1896 Angelica Town festival and an 1897 town baseball game to raise money for the local fire department. In 1898, he was part of the county committee of the State Charities Aid Association.
Julius Averill was involved with the Prohibition Party in Allegany County. In 1889, he served as one of the members of the executive committee for the Allegany County Prohibition Party. In 1897, the Allegany County Prohibition Party nominated Averill as its candidate for state assembly. He was part of the Prohibition Party ticket for countywide offices; which included George H. Eldridge of Cuba for County Sheriff, George Rosa of Wellsville for County Clerk, Myron Morgan of Rushford for County Superintendent of the Poor, and Dr. Burdick of Genesee and Dr. Remington of Granger for County Coroners.
Averill ran against Republican candidate Almanzo W. Litchard and Democratic and Populist Party candidate Harry W. Breckinridge. Averill received 486 votes (5.86%) and came in third place to Litchard and Breckinridge. Page 7 Averill had his strongest performances in the towns of Genesee (16.92%), Rushford (13.83%), Wirt (13.02%), West Almond (11.97%), Cuba (11.06%), and Bolivar (9.41%). In Genesee, he only came 7 votes behind the Democratic candidate. The distribution of his vote results was similar to the other Prohibition Party candidates for countywide office that year. Out of the six candidates for countywide office, Averill received the lowest number of votes, while Eldridge received the largest number of votes (606 votes and 7.30% of the total vote).
Though when it comes to state assembly races, Julius Averill was one of the Prohibition Party’s strongest performing candidates that year. Out of the Prohibition Party’s 1897 Assembly candidates, Averill was the second- strongest-performing candidate in terms of total number of votes and was the 6th strongest performing candidate in terms of percentage of the vote. Overall, Averill had a fairly strong performance as a Prohibition Party candidate for state assembly at the time.
In the later part of his life, Julius Averill got involved with the insurance business. By 1895, Averill was an insurance agent with a regional branch of the Provident Loan and Trust Company. He would later work as an agent for Equitable Insurance Co. in 1898 and Mutual Life Insurance Co. in 1900. As part of his work with Equitable Insurance Co. and Mutual Life Insurance Co., Averill would spend parts of the late 1890’s and early 1900’s working in Baltimore, while still maintaining his primary residence in Angelica.
In 1901, while in Baltimore, Averill contracted malaria and spent some time recovering in a Baltimore hospital.
Julius C. Averill spent the last years of his life in Angelica. In 1902, he sold his house on East Main Street and purchase a homestead in the northern hills of the town.
Julius C. Averill died of pneumonia on 27 February 1904. He left behind a $2,700 estate to his wife. His funeral was held at their home and the ceremony was performed by the town’s Baptist minister. Averill was buried in the Until the Day Dawn Cemetery in Angelica.
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-- Contributed by Jonathan Makeley
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