Here is a very informative e-mail from George Quillen. Thanks George!!
A little more information that may be of use to you and others. You may already have this info but in case you don’t here it is:

There seems to be some debate concerning the birthplace of Thomas Avent and if he is married to Margaret Elizabeth Gooch.
Frieda Sims Nelson in her book “Andrew Baker and His Descendants”, gives the following:
“Thomas Avent was a French Huguenot who fled first to England. Then Came to America in 1698. He became a large landowner, a Justice of the Peace and a Colonel in the Colonial Wars. He is listed in Agnew French Protestant Exiles Vol. II. The Avent Bible is filed with the National Huguenot Society of USA. Also listed in “History of Virginia” by R.A. Bruce Vol. 5 page 438. Huguenot Soc. of London, Denizations and Naturalization of Aliens in England 1509-1603, Société De L’Histoire du Protestantism's Francais Index A-G, books “McDowells and Connections” by John H. McDowell and “Avents and Their Kin” by Mamie Lee Avent Parker and Claude Hunter Moore.”
In a 1977 letter from Mrs.. Sims to my brother she wrote “My sister and I belong to the Huguenot Society on Thomas Avent and to the Magna Carta Dames of Society on William Claiborne. We will also be members of a Royal Society of Descendants of Royalty.
Earl D. Smith in his book “Forebears & Kin of John Tyson Smith and Nancy Melvlina Skaggs” references the McDowell and “Avent & Kin” books.
By virtue of Mrs.. Sims membership in the Huguenot Society would seem to confirm Thomas’ background. I don’t believe that we can state with certainty that Thomas was born in France, but evidence seems to point that way.
Perhaps there are those who have access to the referenced material and could confirm these facts.
Hope this gives some insight. George Quillen