William Franklin Avera was born at Autaugaville, Alabama, on December 23, 1846, and moved to Ouachita County, Arkansas, with his family before 1850. He enlisted in the Appeal Battery (or what was left of it after Vicksburg) sometime late in 1863 and served to the end of the war. He was active in the United Confederate Veterans, a member of Hugh McCollum Camp No. 778 of Camden, and died at Camden on November 19, 1904, at the age of 58. His widow, Martha O. [Livingston] Avera applied for and received a Confederate widow's pension in 1921.