Author: Dennis

March 29, 2011 Dennis 1 comment

John Ayers of New Jersey died in 1732.  He left no will but did record the births of his nine children, including a son named Nathaniel born in 1700.  Unfortunately, no other records are available to help define Nathaniel’s life in NJ.

 

Instead, in 1723, a young man by the name of Nathaniel Ayers appears in Maryland where he is named in Baltimore County court records.  He is about the right age to have been the Nathaniel born in NJ, but is he in fact the same person?  The DNA test results previously mentioned indicate this is highly probable.  Although Nathaniel is listed as an immigrant in one reference book, I believe it was because he came to Maryland by sailing ship from NJ. He probably sailed up the Chesapeake Bay into the Patapsco River and disembarked at Elk Ridge Landing.  At that time, the Maryland colony had about 70 thousand residents, but Baltimore City would not be founded at the mouth of the Patapsco until 1729.

 

By about 1729, Nathaniel Ayers is married to Rhoda, last name unknown, and by 1733 they have three children, Ruth, John and Thomas who are registered in St. Paul’s Parish, one of 30 such territorial units established in colonial Maryland associated with the Anglican (later Episcopal) Church.

 

In the new colony of Maryland, all land was originally owned by Lord Baltimore and only at his discretion or his representatives could it be assigned to any tenant. Between 1663 and 1683, every adventurer who could claim to have brought five persons to settle in Maryland became entitled to a grant of 2000 acres.  After 1683, however, land patents (titles) were issued only against payment of money or tobacco.  At first the rate charged was 200 lbs. of tobacco for every 100 acres granted, but that rate increased with time.

 

Three separate documentary processes were required to authenticate new grants of land: (1) warrants, which were instructions to lay out a specified number of acres for a named person, (2) certificates of survey, which stated the exact location and boundaries of the new tract, and (3) patents, or essentially titles of ownership.

 

It appears that Nathaniel was actually in Baltimore County several years before he initiated the process for obtaining land.  Perhaps he didn’t have enough money when he first arrived.  Then between 1727 and 1745, Nathaniel obtained 4 separate grants of land on the north side of the Patapsco River in Baltimore County, and he is listed as a farmer and a carpenter in the records.  Since tobacco was the primary medium of exchange, it appears Nathaniel was farming successfully on his early land acquisitions and using his extra tobacco to add to his land holdings.  It is not known if he employed the use of slaves or not.

 

In those days, it was customary to name tracts of land after the owner or with whimsical names.  Nathaniel’s purchases, two of which are shown in the map below, were called:

Ayers Lott – 100 acres – 1727                    Ayers Desire – 28 acres – 1734
Bucks Range – 45 acres – 1745                 Nathaniel’s Hope – 15 acres – 1745

Nathaniel Ayers’ Land in Baltimore County

As can be seen, the land purchases of Nathaniel in Baltimore County were all near the Patapsco River not far from where the Ellicott brothers would later establish the new town of Ellicott Mills in 1772.

 

My father, Ira Ayers, knew nothing about his ancestors beyond his grandfather.  It is an ironic twist that in 1950 he purchased land only 4 miles upriver from where Nathaniel, his 6th great grandfather, purchased and farmed land 200 years earlier!!

 

March 26, 2011 Dennis 1 comment

As I mentioned back in my first post about our ancient ancestors from Europe, in 2009 I had a Y-Chromosome DNA test done to determine my genetic profile. The main purpose for this test was to solve a seemingly insurmountable problem about our Ayers lineage in North America. This mystery had become a brick wall in genealogy terms.

 

Our ancestors in New England and New Jersey whom I have already discussed, I call “The Northern Ayers Line”. The ancestors that I will be discussing in future posts are who I call “The Southern Ayers Line”.  The Migration Map below clearly shows the geographic separation of the two lines.  Although I, and other researchers as I later found out, strongly believed that the two lines were related due to circumstantial evidence, no official connection could be made due to the lack of actual records.

 

Incomplete Migration Map

 

Getting serious about solving the mystery, in the Fall of 2009, I joined a group of other Ayers folks around the country who also had DNA test results to compare.  As it turns out, most of the others had results that showed they belonged to haplogroups other than R1b.  This means those “Ayers” came from entirely different bloodlines, perhaps originating in Scotland, Germany or elsewhere.  However, there were a few other R1b’s like myself, and as time went on still more testers joined the group raising hope of a successful outcome.

 

Recall that Y-Chromosome genetic markers are passed from father to son down the line.  Without getting into the boring details, the basic approach is to compare Y-Chromosome markers with someone else to see how many matches you have. This allows you then to determine about how many generations back you had what’s called a Most Recent Common Ancestor or MRCA.  Then by comparing lineage charts you can typically pinpoint and name the MRCA.

 

After about a year, enough other R1b folks had joined our group so that we could definitively trace many relationships.  Finally by the Fall of 2010, several other testers and I were actually able to trace our MRCA all the way back to John AYRE, who came over from England.  This means that paper trail or not, my bloodline and thus our Southern Ayers line does in fact flow from the Northern Ayers line. By using DNA to solve the mystery, I had jumped over my brick wall!  See the now complete Migration Map below.

 

Complete Migration Map
Complete Migration Map

 

Note that the early migrations had to have been by ship since before about 1725, there were essentially no overland trails to be safely followed.

 

March 22, 2011 Dennis No comments exist

As previously mentioned, Obadiah Ayer married Hannah Pike, daughter of John Pike who also came over from England on The James.  This John Pike was the immigrant ancestor of General Zebulon Pike, the American soldier and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. His Pike Expedition in 1806 mapped much of the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase.

 

March 21, 2011 Dennis No comments exist

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.

 

Basking Ridge Church with original Oak Tree

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.

 

March 16, 2011 Dennis No comments exist

Before 1660, most of America’s immigrants came from England and, like most of those that would follow them, they brought their beliefs and traditions with them. They established the language, the laws, and the culture that would evolve into America. Our AYERS ancestors were among those that led the way.

John AYRE (or sometimes written AYER) was our first ancestor to arrive in America, and in genealogical terms he is called “The Immigrant” for this bloodline. Like many other immigrants of the time, John and his family most likely came primarily for religious freedom. It must have taken great courage to travel to the new world when he was already in his forties with a half-grown family.  They arrived in the Massachusetts colony in 1635 just 15 years after the Mayflower in 1620, and when there were only about 1000 people in the colony.  Most Massachusetts colonists were Puritans who wished to reform the established church of England, and largely Congregationalists who believed in forming churches through voluntary compacts.

Thanks to books and records preserved about the early New England colonists, other researchers have pieced together some interesting facts about John Ayre’s life.  I have provided several summaries on the Family Tree website (see link or right).  However, the best summary I have found is on the website of Janson Ayer and I’ll repeat selected portions below.

The Story of John Ayer of Haverhill, Massachusetts

This is the story, to the best of my (Janson Ayer) knowledge, of John Ayer and his time in Haverhill, MA. I want to thank people like Willis Brown, Robert Ayers, and Warren Ayer for sharing so much of their research and knowledge. Clearly their input has helped my research significantly and made this website possible.

The immigrant John Ayer was said to have come from England, arriving on The James in 1635 with his wife Hannah and their first 4 children – Thomas, Rebecca, Robert, and Peter. There is no documentation found for his journey, but in John’s case he came with money, and perhaps was one of the people who were not allowed to leave without surrendering money and property to the Crown. Per Willis Brown’s research, we place him on the James because of his later close association with other listed passengers on that ship, such as the Pike family, and his kinsman, John Evered alias Webb.

The James itself is a part of history, surviving the Great Hurricane of 1635. The James, out of Bristol, England, met the hurricane off the Isles of Shoals, (near the New England coast) there losing three anchors and being forced to put to sea, for no canvas or rope would hold. The storm winds drove her to within feet of the Pascataquack rocks. “At this moment,” wrote Increase Mather (his father, mother, and four brothers being among the one hundred passengers), “their lives were given up for lost; but then, in an instant of time, God turned the wind about, which carried them from the rocks of death before their eyes.” On Aug 13, 1635, The James manages to make it to Boston Harbor proper with “…her sails rent in sunder, and split in pieces, as if they had been rotten ragges…”

So were the parents of’ a great American family delivered from death at the hands of the tempest. Of the one hundred plus aboard the James, none were lost.

Pilgrim House

A farmer, John Ayre and his family resided in Salisbury, Massachusetts  from 1640 – 1646, and then moved to Haverhill in 1647, where they were one of the first families to own land.  John and Hannah had 5 more children – Mary, John Jr., Nathanial, Hannah, and Obadiah.

According to the “New England Heritage” John was made a freeman, and was a well-respected member of Haverhill.  A freeman in those days was not the opposite of a slave. A freeman was more of a citizen with benefits in the Puritan culture. The Church had to vote on who became a freeman, and the process and questions were excruciating.

To the best of our knowledge, our John was married once, to Hannah, whose maiden name is lost to history. She survived her husband, and was the mother of all of his children, easily proven by the land deeds of MA.

John passed away in Haverhill in 1657, his will was dated March 12, 1656.   His wife, Hannah, survived him, and died Oct. 8, 1688, having remained his widow. John AYER devised his homestead to his oldest son John Jr., a common practice for those times.

Note from Dennis:  The town of Ayer, Massachusetts, which in reality is a part of Haverhill, was named after the early AYER settlers.  No doubt it was because John AYER was one of the most prosperous land owners in the area. Below is a picture of the sign entering town which I took when Sheryl and I visited in Oct 2007.

March 15, 2011 Dennis No comments exist

According to some estimates there are upwards of 1,500,000 surnames in the United States.  According to the 2000 census, AYERS was ranked 812th, with about 38,836 occurrences of that name.  The less common variation AYRES ranked number 3025.

 

March 15, 2011 Dennis No comments exist

There are several dozen ways to spell the surname that our family knows as AYERS.  Some of these are just true variations of spelling like AYRES, AIRES, AERS, etc., mostly caused by illiteracy in early times.  Still other spelling variations are actually changes to different names like the German HERR.  Regardless, the prominent spelling where our ancestors came from in England was EYRE, but even that had changed over the centuries.

 

Our first AYERS ancestor who adventured to America in 1635 was John AYRE.  However, when he still lived in England, he spelled his name as EYRE.  Other researchers, from England and elsewhere, believe they have successfully traced John EYRE’s ancestry back 16 generations to about 1040 AD in France.  I have shown a common version of his lineage on the Family Tree website (see link on right column of this page).

Norman Conquest

 

Before that time, surnames were not commonly in use, as people in small villages went by their given names with perhaps a description added like John the Baker. There is one belief that the EYRE surname originated from the old French term “(h)eir” which referred to a person who was well-known to be the heir to a title or land. There is also the amusing legend that is told concerning Truelove a follower of the Norman, William the Conqueror, who aided him during the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD.  During the battle, William was unhorsed and his helmet beaten into his face.  Truelove, observing the incident, pulled the helmet off and horsed him again. The grateful King then said to his rescuer, “Thou shalt hereafter be called EYRE (or Air) for thou hast given me the air that I breathe.”  The legend ends with the new King after the battle granting extensive lands to the man as reward for his services.

 

Early records show the existence of a Truelove LeHEYR born about 1044 and the spelling suggests he may have indeed come over from France with the Normans.  One of Truelove’s descendants, Humphrey LeHEYR, was born about 1160, and it is known that a Humphredus LeEYR (or HEYR) accompanied King Richard on the Third Crusade to the Holy Lands. There is another legend that he rescued King Richard at the Battle of Acre in 1190.

 

The spelling LeHEYR lasted about 8 generations until it became LeEYRE and finally EYRE for the next 7 generations up to our John EYRE.  EYRE is still a common name in England today.  Note: The famous novel Jane Eyre authored by Charlotte Bronte was published in London in 1847.

 

So, where did our EYRE ancestors live in England?  The records indicate for the most part they lived in the county of Wiltshire which is located in the South Central part of the country about 100 miles west of London.  (see Map)  As a coincidence, I’ve been in Wiltshire before in 1978 when I visited the famous prehistoric Stonehenge monument on the Salisbury Plains. So, I once set foot in the general area where our Ayers ancestors lived without knowing it.

 

The Wiltshire area at that time was known for textile manufacturing.  John EYRE’s father Robert EYRE of Bromham was a fairly prosperous woolen manufacturer (clothier), however, he died in 1603 when John was still very young.  John’s mother, Cicely EYRE struggled to maintain the business especially as the textile industry waned during two economic depressions and she too died in 1619.

Besides the economic hard times, this period in history also brought religious and political strife to Wiltshire and other parts of England.  There was dissension and mistrust amongst all parties.  Caught in this upheaval, many Wiltshire citizens, including John EYRE, felt the new world might offer greater opportunities and security, so they loaded their families into ships and sailed to America.