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

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!!