Category: AYERS

Our Ayers Lineage

March 28, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

As it became clear that the Northern Ayers Line connects to the Southern Ayers Line, it also became possible to string together our entire Ayers lineage in North America. To do this, I used a timeline chart to show the life spans of each ancestor over the last four centuries. In the chart shown below, you can see the New England and New Jersey ancestors in Green on the left side, and then the Southern Ayers ancestors in blue on the right side.

**Ayers Lineage Timeline — Click to get a larger view**

The Southern Line starts with Nathaniel Ayers and I’ll be discussing him in my next post. Note that I’m still showing a dotted line between John Ayers of New Jersey and Nathaniel Ayers to indicate there are no actual records to tie them together, only DNA test results. The numbers next to each name indicate the generation back from myself shown at the very bottom.

To give a better perspective of time across the four centuries, I’ve added notations on the chart indicating when some major events or wars occurred. From now on as I talk about each ancestor in the Southern line, you might want to refer back this chart to get a feel for the time period in which each lived.

DNA Solves the Mystery

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.

Migration Map Partial — **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.

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.

Mayflower Connection?

March 24, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

Rightfully or not, many people like to claim they have an ancestral connection to one of the families that came aboard the Mayflower. Well, we AYERS that descend from John AYRE in New Jersey may have a rightful claim, but there is controversy about the true identity of a key individual. I’ll explain.

First some background is needed. George SOULE was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and one of the original 102 Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts Colony in 1620. SOULE was among the one half of the population that survived the first winter in Plymouth and was present at the time of the “First Thanksgiving” in 1621. About 1626 he married Mary BECKET. Their youngest daughter, Elizabeth was born in 1645. Unfortunately, Elizabeth had some scandalous troubles in her early life.

On 3 March 1663 Elizabeth SOULE, daughter of Mayflower passenger George Soule, and Nathaniel CHURCH, grandson of Mayflower passenger Richard WARREN, to whom she was engaged to be married, were each fined 5 pounds for fornication by the Puritan community. By late 1663, Nathaniel still had not fulfilled his promise of marriage, and on 5 October 1663 Elizabeth sued Nathaniel CHURCH for breach of promise, with betrayal, for 200 Pounds but only recovered 10 Pounds. On 2 July 1667, Elizabeth was in court again “for committing fornication for the second time,” and this time she was sentenced to suffer corporal punishment by being whipped at the post. No male partner was named in this action. If no male partner was named, she was therefore not caught in the act, as the first charge proves that the court had no problem fining and punishing both parties. Most likely, a growing belly in her unmarried state was the evidence of fornication this second time.

By March 1668, Elizabeth SOULE has married a man named Francis WALKER based on the recorded land transaction “George SOULE to daughter Elizabeth WALKER, wife of Francis.” Speculation is that George SOULE gave land to Francis WALKER as payment for marrying his daughter. This would also seem to reinforce the notion that Elizabeth had been expecting a child. Sometime after their marriage, Francis and Elizabeth moved to Woodbridge, New Jersey, like many others from Newbury, Massachusetts, and appear to have lived quietly there for the remainder of their lives.

Now getting to the controversy. As mentioned once before, there is a lack of records that far back in time in northern New Jersey. As a result there is much uncertainty of exactly how many children Francis WALKER and Elizabeth SOULE had including their names and dates of birth. However, it is a known fact that a woman named Mary WALKER married John AYERS, in Woodbridge about 1688, and it is from this union that our AYERS line of descendancy is based. Some researchers strongly believe that Mary was a daughter born to Elizabeth probably around 1668, while others just as strongly believe that there is not enough evidence to support that conclusion. The venerable Mayflower Society itself has wavered over the matter, but it currently is not convinced that Mary WALKER was Elizabeth’s daughter and thus not a Mayflower descendant from George SOULE.

So, do we descendants of John AYERS of New Jersey have a Mayflower connection? We may never know unless new evidence is found that convinces all parties that Mary WALKER was herself a true descendant.

AYERS of New Jersey

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.

Mary (Ayer) Parker Accused As a Witch

March 17, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

One of John AYER, the immigrant’s daughters was named Mary. She married Nathan Parker about 1652, and they moved from Haverhill to Andover where Nathan died in 1685. As a widow she was unfortunate to be involved with one of the greatest tragedies in early New England – The Salem Witchcraft Trials. [Note that Haverhill, Andover and Salem are all within about 10 miles of each other.]

There are many good accounts of the Salem Witchcraft Trials on the internet. I think the one below is the best summary of what happened to Mary and all the chaos surrounding the event. It is Taken from Womenhistory.blogspot.com Mary Ayer Parker.

The Year: 1692

From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. Another man of over eighty years was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft. Dozens languished in jail for months without trials. Then, almost as soon as it had begun, the hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusetts ended.

The Accusation

Mary Ayer, daughter to John and Hannah Ayer, married Nathanial Parker. She was 55 years old and a widow in 1692. Mary was accused of witchcraft, but refused to confess during the witchcraft trials saying, “I know nothing of it, there is another woman of the same name in Andover.” She was referring to her sister-in-law, Mary Parker, the aged and senile widow of Joseph Parker, who had a documented history of mental instability. Essex County Court records from the period show that both Joseph’s wife and his son Thomas were perceived to be mentally ill. And at the time, insanity was sometimes associated with other deviant behavior, including witchcraft.

In fact, there were not one but three other Mary Parkers in Andover. The reputation of “Mary Parker” was further tarnished by the lengthy criminal history of a fourth Mary Parker from Salem Town. Throughout the 1670s, that Mary appeared in Essex County Court a number of times for fornication offenses, child support charges, and extended indenture for having a child out-of-wedlock. She was a scandalous figure and undoubtedly contributed greatly to negative associations with the name Mary Parker.

A disreputable name could have been enough to kill the wrong woman, in a society where the literate were the minority, and the spoken word was the most damaging. Gossip, passed from household to household and from town to town was the most prevalent source of information. The damaged reputation of one woman could be confused with another as tales of “Goody so-and-so” filtered through the community.

William Barker Jr., who testified against Mary Ayer Parker, may have been confused as well. In his own confession, William accused a Goody Parker, but he didn’t specify which Goody Parker he meant. There was a good possibility that Barker heard gossip about one Goody Parker or the other, and the magistrates of the court issued a warrant for the arrest of Mary Ayer Parker without making sure they had the right woman. [Note: Goody seems to have been a common name used for older women…perhaps widows.]

The Trial

Generally, the process of the trials consisted of citizens making complaints against individuals who were then brought before magistrates for preliminary hearings. When the magistrates felt that there was sufficient evidence for a trial, the accused was jailed pending a hearing before a grand jury. And if those juries handed up a “true bill” (signifying evidence of misbehavior), a formal trial by jury could follow.

The formal trial followed 17th-century English precedents, in which the accused were not represented by lawyers but could question accusers and witnesses. Most, however, were not emotionally or intellectually equipped to defend themselves against a hanging court and hysterical witnesses – more than forty persons confessed to being witches. The historical irony is that only those who did not confess to being witches were actually tried and convicted.

Mary Ayer Parker was convicted on little evidence, and even that seems tainted and misconstrued. The Salem trials did her no justice, and her treatment was indicative of the chaos and ineffectiveness that had overtaken the Salem trials by the fall of 1692.In less than one month, she was arrested, examined, found guilty, and executed. Historians have paid little attention to her case, one in which it is nevertheless possible to discern where confusion and conspiracy could have arisen, leading to her untimely death.

The Execution

On September 17, 1692, Mary Ayer Parker was tried and condemned to death. On September 22, 1692, she and Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, and Samuel Wardwell were hanged on Gallows Hill.

John AYRE (AYER), The Immigrant

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.

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.

John AYRE (AYER), The Immigrant

March 16, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

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.

The Story of John Ayer of Haverhill, Massachusetts

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.

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.

Our EYRE Forebears in England

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).

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.

First A Word About Ancient Ancestors

March 13, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

Genetic DNA testing has become a useful tool for solving certain problems in family history research when a historical paper trail is elusive. There are two kinds of DNA that follow a straight line through our ancestors. Y-Chromosome DNA is passed from father to son on down the line and is very useful for determining paternal lineage. Mitochrondrial DNA (mtDNA) tracks the maternal side by being passed mother to daughter.

In March 2009, I was tested for a Y-Chromosome genetic profile, called a Haplotype, which tracks my AYERS surname lineage. In addition to my specific profile, the results showed that our AYERS line belonged to an ancient group of ancestors designated Haplogroup R1b.

Regardless of how one personally reconciles creation vs evolution theories, scientists have determined that human life on earth originated in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. When some of those ancient peoples eventually migrated out of Africa, they first went to the Middle East, and from there split into groups which migrated to other places. Each migrating group’s genes gradually became slightly different from the original African group allowing them to be traced with DNA. Our R1b group of ancient ancestors migrated to Asia and then on to Europe about 35,000 to 40,000 years ago as shown in the migration map below. Anthropologists call the R1b Haplogroup “The Artisans” who may have been responsible for the first cave paintings, and probably lived in present day England, France, Spain or Portugal.

Ancient Migration — **R1b Ancient Ancestors Migration Pathways**

About 70% of individuals currently residing in southern England are members of the R1b group. The significance to us is that all this DNA information very strongly supports that our AYERS ancestors came from England before crossing the Atlantic to North America. Although without DNA evidence, I also suspect that many of our other family surnames which originated in Europe may be R1b as well.

If anyone is interested in learning more about ancient populations and their evolutions, I highly recommend reading The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes which describes how MtDNA was used to discover that we are all descended from seven prehistoric women. I have a copy to lend to those interested.