Col. Thomas Avent (c1671 – 1757) arrived in the Virginia Colony around 1701, and settled in Sussex County, Virginia. He gathered through both grant and purchase, extensive tracts of land in SE Virginia and NE North Carolina, along the trade route now occupied by Interstate 95, between Emporia VA and Roanoke Rapids NC.

He most likely originated from the Devonshire England, as that seems to be the traditional AVENT homeland.

His immediate descendants established themselves in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi.