The youngest son of John AYRE, the immigrant, was Obadiah, born about 1635.  In 1659 Obadiah married Hannah PIKE, the daughter of John Pike who had also come over from England on the same ship as John AYRE.  “Obadiah and his brothers Robert and Thomas received from their father land and they were to maintain the fences and pay all rates on this land. He also received two oxe and two cow.”  However, land in the area was rocky and farming must have been difficult.

In 1664, the English claimed the area settled by the Dutch further south.  As they pushed out the Dutch they renamed New Amsterdam as New York, and New Netherlands as New Jersey. The English governor of the New Jersey colony began attracting people to the area by offering land and guaranteeing religious freedom.  In return for the land, the settlers were supposed to pay a yearly tax called a quitrent.

As a result, about 1667, a number of persons from Newbury, Massachusetts sailed southward and settled Woodbridge, Middlesex County, in northeast New Jersey. John Pike was one of the leaders, and Obadiah AYER and his family joined his father-in-law as one of the migrating group.  Obadiah received several parcels of land for a total of 171 acres.  Woodbridge was so called in honor of the Rev. John Woodbridge, of Newbury, Massachusetts. It is presumed that this distinction was conferred upon him by his friends and admirers, who came from New England.

Obadiah and Hannah had a large family with about half born in Massachusetts and half born in New Jersey.  Their oldest son, John, born about 1662, married Mary WALKER about 1689 in Woodbridge.  The area prospered and attracted many others who occupied the land so completely that many of the young generations sought other locations.  So, in 1710, John and his family moved to Basking Ridge, NJ in Somerset County about 20 miles to the northwest of Woodbridge, where he was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian church and a principal donor of the land for church use.

John AYERS and Mary also had a large family.  However, records of their deaths and marriages, etc., simply don’t exist.  No doubt this is due to courthouse fires and other mishaps over the centuries.  Some of their offspring went off to seek opportunity in other colonies, but most remained in the Basking Ridge, NJ area.  Many of the original AYERS of New Jersey are buried in the cemetery at the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church.