Individual Details

The birthdate of David is actually his baptism date according to the Townsend Town History.

The Vital Records from Pepperell that are in print do not show a Daniel as a son of David & Sara, though there are children listed both before and after Daniel's birthdate. I don't know the source of the exact date of birth for Daniel but it did not come from the printed version of the Pepperell Vital Records. However, since there seemed to be two baptisms for a David, I thought perhaps one had been misread or transcribed wrong and this seems certainly to have been the case as noted below.

I ordered the film from LDS, #868604, Item 3, which is the record of the Church of Christ in Pepperell, 1742-1822. The film has many pages of church minutes, too faded too read - poor filming, old film, but the pages of the births, deaths, and marriages are readable.
The printed records state they are from the records of the Groton West Parish & First Parish Church in Pepperell. I believe the "First Parish Church" was Christ Church.

There are some important things to note about the film. There is a note stuck on the spine of the old ledger type book - probably by the person who did the filming. It says, "Vol. I, Copy of Records of the Church Christ in Pepperell. Copied from town records. 1742-1822. Index at back very interesting." The Index was filmed first. The title page inside the book reads "Copy of Records of the Church in Pepperell, 1747-1822, A Church Book". There is no indication of when the copy might have made but certainly it was done by hand in old script and was done many years ago, but this is apparently not the original.

Some of the interesting things about the Index included the fact that Baptisms were by Mr. Emerson on p.30, 33-55, and by Mr. Bullard on p.30, 56-70 and by other ministers on p.55-56, and 70. All of the baptisms of the Avery children are on the pages of Mr. Emerson, who must have been the pastor for many years. Reading through some of the notes, I discovered his name was Joseph Emerson. The Index points out the pages where a list of those killed at Bunker Hill may be found as well as the wounded and the list of Officers & Soldiers. Summaries are included - there had been 31 Confessions of Scandalous Sins.

I located several records of this family on the microfilm:
p.20
Sarah Avery was admitted on 17 Mar 1771. There was a number following the names of the people on this list which appeared to be their age. She was listed as age 35, or born about 1736.
p.51
Four of the children of David and Sarah Avery were baptized on the same day - 14 Jun 1771 - Ruth, Abigail, Elisabeth, and Daniel, Children of David & Sarah Avery, b.t. There were several families of children baptized in that year - not found in other years. Following the groups of children were the initials "b.t." - perhaps for Baptized Together? The names are very clear. The child was Daniel, the father was David. This has been transcribed in error as a child David.
p.52, just over a month later and, as you'll see below, eight days after the death of a daughter
28 Jul 1771 - David & Sarah, Children of David & Sarah Avery, b.t. Again this writing is very clear - child and father are both David.
p.52, later that same year:
13 Oct 1771, Ebenezer, son of David and Sarah Avery, was baptized. One would assume the other children were older and Ebenezer perhaps had been born recently.
p.54
John, son of David & Sarah Avery was baptised on 8 May 1774.
p.27
Sarah Avery was dismissed to another church. The entry states that on 28 Aug 1783, Sarah Avery was dismissed to the church in Jaffrey. [this would seem to place in question the reported death of David in Pepperell about 1790]
Two of the children of David & Sarah died in Pepperell.
p.94, both are listed
On 24 Oct 1770, a son of David Avery, aged 7 months, 14 days, died of "Quinzy" and on 20 Jul 1771, a daughter of David, aged 7 years 5 months 5 days, died of consumption - presumably this was Ruth, Abigail, or Elisabeth. No names were given for either of these children.

In with the church records of Church of Christ was the following found on p. 96 & 97 for the year 1776. The entry follows the date April 1834.
"A list of ye names of Soldiers from Pepperell who were engaged in ye Battle of Bunker Hill, having been recently made out by ye Survivers of the little band, it was thought that posterity would gladly receive any information respecting these of their fathers, who willingly & promply forsook house, friends & property to obey ye Call of their Country.
It will ever be ye glory of Pepperell that its number's so intimately associated with that of Prescott. Coming generations will do honor to these of her sons, who were so active in ye opening scenes of ye Revolution. Signed: Charles Babbidge.
Officers & Soldiers at Bunker Hil
Col. Wm Prescott, Maj. Woods......"
includes David Avery as one of the soldiers.
There is also a list of those killed in said Battle and those wounded. Avery not included on this list.
The book History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, published 1890 by J. W. Lewis & Co., p.231, also lists soldiers from Pepperell who were in Capt Asa Lawrence's company in Groton. Col. William Present was colonel. David Avery is listed therein.

The above proofs have been accepted by DAR and David Avery is one of my supplemental Patriot ancestors.

There is a gap in the death records from 1775 until 1780. Perhaps the church record books were hidden away during the war years.

Since Sarah Avery was dismissed to Jaffrey [Cheshire Co NH], I checked the censuses there:
1790 Census. Jaffrey, Cheshire Co, NH
Lemuel Serjeant: 2m +16, 2m -16, 5f [father of wife of Daniel Avery]
David Avery: 2m +16, 2m -16, 4f

The article on the Avery family found in the Collection of the Essex Institute, had followed David and wife Sarah to Pepperell and apparently found the baptisms of the children David and Sarah because they are the only two children listed. He believed the son David had been a Revolutionary soldier from New Ipswich NH. He was 18 in 1775 and born in Townsend. I believe this was an error - that David seems a bit too old to have been a son of David & Sarah of Townsend and then Cheshire Co NH.

Birth	4 Aug 1737	Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Military	1776	Capt Asa Lawrence's Company, Revolutionary War
Marriage		SARAH [Avery]

Spouse	SARAH [Avery] (1736 - )
Child	Ruth AVERY ( - )
Child	Abigail AVERY ( - )
Child	Elisabeth AVERY ( - )
Child	DANIEL AVERY (1768 - 1848)
Child	David AVERY ( - )
Child	Sarah AVERY ( - )
Child	Ebenezer AVERY ( - )
Child	John AVERY ( - )

Father	ROBERT AVERY (1704 - 1756)
Mother	SARAH PETTS ( - )
Sibling	Sarah AVERY (1726 - )
Sibling	Jonathan AVERY (1728 - )
Sibling	Abigail AVERY (1731 - 1810)
Sibling	Robert AVERY Jr. (1733 - 1757)
Sibling	Mary AVERY (1735 - )
Sibling	Elisabeth AVERY (1739 - )
Sibling	Anna AVERY (1742 - )
Sibling	John AVERY (1743 - 1760)
Sibling	Rachel AVERY (1746 - 1815)
Sibling	Lucy AVERY (1749 - )