Tag: Quakers

April 7, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

As can be clearly seen from stories up to now, our Ayers ancestors possessed a pioneering spirit that kept urging them ever onward to new lands of promise and hope.  Nathaniel Ayers in North Carolina was like those before him.

 

Up until the mid 1700s, the French had control of land west of the Appalachian Mountains, and essentially kept the English settlers hemmed in the East by playing the Indians against them, and by relying on the seemingly insurmountable mountains.  However, after the British defeated the French and Indians in 1763, the French conceded all contested lands to the Mississippi River. This initially was a cause for celebration for the settlers wanting to move to the new frontier lands. However, the royal proclamation of 1763 did much to dampen that celebration as it in effect closed off the frontier to colonial expansion, ostensibly to calm the Indians and regulate trade and settlement.

 

Daniel Boone, the legendary wilderness scout, was born in Pennsylvania and raised as a Quaker. Like the Ayers family from Maryland, Daniel’s family was one of the many that migrated southward, settling in western North Carolina in 1750.  As a young man, he was known to be fearless and for taking long hunting expeditions into Indian territory.  The region beyond the settled borders of Virginia and the mountains was called Kentucky and it was a total wilderness. Despite the proclamation and some resistance from American Indian tribes such as the Shawnee, in 1775 Daniel Boone blazed his Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains over into Kentucky.  He pushed even further into the state beyond the mountains and founded the Fort Boonesboro settlement in the fertile central region.  See map at the end.

 

After the colonists finally defeated the British in the Revolutionary War, all the land to the Mississippi was then ceded to the Americans, and some adventurers began traveling there. However, in the early years, many travelers fell victim to hostile Indians. Soon though, with this new opportunity to homestead and a new route through the mountains marked by Boone, more than 200,000 settlers migrated to the Kentucky frontier by 1800.  Nathaniel Ayers and his family from North Carolina were among these early pioneers.

 

It is believed Nathaniel’s wife was Mary Leake and they had at least one child in NC about 1794, named Bailey Ayers. Kentucky was admitted as a state in 1792, and the Wilderness Trail was widened to accommodate wagons pulled by oxen.  It is difficult to pinpoint, but it is believed the family relocated to the new state around 1800.  We know for certain though, that by 1810 they were living in Wayne County, KY, a mountainous area near the border with Tennessee. The family had 3 males and 6 females.  It took hardy souls to homestead in this area, which was nothing but wilderness, and still occupied by scattered Indians.  At this time there were less than 800 families in the county. Settlers lived within riding or walking distance of each other and they had large families, with their children and grandchildren inter-married into each others families. This area today is part of the Daniel Boone National Forest.

 

Nathaniel Ayers is mentioned as helping with a land survey in 1808 in Campbell County, Tennessee, and in county court records in 1815 and 1818.  At that time Campbell County was larger than today and the western part of it was just across the state border from Wayne County, KY.  Did he actually move to TN for a time?  I think the answer is probably not because he apparently lived in an area close to the border between KY and TN which was in dispute and not officially settled until 1820.  So, the border moved around him.

 

Nathaniel then disappears from all other records until he applied for his Revolutionary War pension from Laurel County, KY in 1836.  It must be assumed he was living with the family of one of his daughters and was not a head of household.  It is also assumed that he died sometime after 1836 in Laurel County which is a short distance northeast of Wayne County.

 

When Nathaniel Ayers first came into Kentucky, why did his family settle in the mountains instead of pushing further into the central area of KY where the land was certainly more amenable to farming?  One strong possibility was that he already knew other family or friends who had previously relocated there.  Another reason is that all the best lands had already been settled on before he arrived.  The actual reason is unknown today.  Whatever the reason, the mountain way of life he entered set the course of history for the next five generations of Ayers families.

Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road 
April 3, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist

Folks, this is a little longer post than normal, but it contains a lot of historically important information to help put our ancestors lives in perspective. Sorry, but you gotta learn some history.

 

The Revolutionary War started in Massachusetts in 1775.  However, by 1779, the British had been slowly driven from most of the North, and in frustration shifted their hopes to military campaigns in the South.  They were hoping to take advantage of much loyalism in the Southern back-country.  In 1780, after first taking South Carolina, the British Army, commanded in the South by Lord Cornwallis, was ordered to reclaim North Carolina from the rebels and push on into Virginia.  Refer to the map at the end of this post for battle locations.

 

As mentioned earlier, Thomas Ayers had several sons in his family.  While residing in Surry County, NC, they were drawn into the war.  Although much of the time they were involved in informal, but violent, battles between loyalists and rebels, one of them also participated in two major battles with regular British troops which turned the tide of the war in the South.

 

It is not known if Thomas’ family, like his father’s, were also Quakers who were against violence. However, it is known that some Quakers, out of necessity, temporarily suspended their memberships during the war and then rejoined afterwards.

 

The extreme delay of providing pensions to veterans after the war was a sad, drawn out affair, and not until a Special Act of Congress in 1832 were pensions made available to the majority of surviving veterans. Fortunately, due to these detailed pensions applications in which they had to explain when and where they fought, we are able to get a glimpse into the lives of our Ayers ancestors during the war.  I’ll try to capture some of the significant highlights below.

 

In 1780, Thomas Ayers Sr., was about 46 years old, his son Nathaniel about 25 years old, son Elihu about 19 and son Thomas Jr. about 9.  While it would be unthinkable today, Thomas Jr., when still only a young lad, saw much violence and fighting action as he later stated in an affirmation for another pension applicant:

“I was too young to be put on a list of soldiers but I prefomed a voluntary servitude as hard as any soldier that is against Tories.  I had to run many a time when over powered by them to save myself.  I fought in my Father’s place he being old. Old and young had to fight it was a time of trouble in this country as I before stated the Tories was so bad.”

 

Elihu Ayers saw the most service.  He first entered as a volunteer private in the militia in January 1778.  He served a little over 12 months during which he only participated in skirmishes against the Tories (loyalists) and not against the foreigners.  He traveled the area around Surry and Wilkes counties defending Whigs (rebels) and their property from the ravages of the Tories.  During this term of service, he was present and assisted in “half hanging” William Combs whom they let off on promise of better behavior, and in hanging two other men condemned by a Court Martial.  He obtained a discharge from this term of service which was some years afterwards burned in his Father’s House.

 

Elihu entered his next tour of duty in April 1780.  Initially, he again was employed in the surrounding country to keep down the Tories and retaking and restoring property to the Whigs taken by the Tories.  Then in the Fall of 1780, he was marched to South Carolina where he participated in the famous Battle of King’s Mountain. The British, under Colonel Ferguson, fought in their traditional close-packed European fashion. The frontiersmen, however, played by different rules, moving from tree to tree picking off Ferguson’s men with their long and much more accurate frontier rifles. Many British were killed with few prisoners taken, and Elihu Ayers personally witnessed the death of Colonel Ferguson. King’s Mountain was a stunning defeat for Lord Cornwallis. After that General Washington sent one of his most experienced officers, Nathaniel Greene, to the South to drive the British out.

 

Elihu returned to North Carolina for a short furlough, but in the Spring of 1781, he was marched to the very important battle of Guilford Courthouse in Guilford County, NC, which was only 50 miles from his home in Surry County. There, he was part of the militia who panicked and ran from the scene of action. It was a terribly bloody battle from which the Americans, led by General Greene finally retreated, but it left both sides grieviously wounded. The battle was significant, however, in that Cornwallis began to fully realize that he could no longer count on the Loyalists for help, and that victories in the Carolina territory would always elude him.  Frustrated he turned his attention back to Virginia where he was also unsuccessful and the war finally ended with an American victory at Yorktown later in 1781.

 

In 1786 Elihu married Lydia Owen and they later moved to Patrick County, VA.  He finally received a pension beginning in 1834 until he died in 1844.  You can read a complete transcription of Elihu Ayers’ pension application in his own words here (R335).

 

Meanwhile, Thomas Ayers’ oldest son, Nathaniel, who is our direct ancestor, was also called into service as a militia man in August of 1780.  He too was marched to South Carolina to the Battle of King’s Mountain.  However, he did not participate in the battle, as he had been sent to a powder maker, for powder.  As it turned out, the Tories had already taken the powder maker, and his powder and the main battle was over before Nathaniel returned.  He met the victorious soldiers with the prisoners and marched with them and was held in service until some time in November or December and was discharged.

 

In February, Nathaniel was again called into service with the same militia company.  The object was to join General Greene’s forces, but they kept missing them as Greene, endeavoring to avoid an early engagement with Cornwallis kept changing his positions.  As a result, they never did join with Greene before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. On the other hand, they frequently fell in with parties of the enemy and had little skirmishes. He was then discharged in May 1781.

 

Since Nathaniel Ayers did not complete at least six months service, he was deemed not eligible for a pension.  You can read a complete transcription of his pension application in his own words here (R336).

 

I wonder if the Ayers clan in North Carolina, was aware that some of their cousins back in New England and New Jersey also fought and helped win the Revolutionary War.

 

I heartily recommend viewing “The Patriot” movie released in 2000 starring Mel Gibson, which does a very creditable job in depicting the horrific conditions and events in the Carolinas during the Rev War.

Revolutionary War in the South
April 3, 2011 Dennis 1 comment

Folks, this is a little longer post than normal, but it contains a lot of historically important information to help put our ancestors lives in perspective. Sorry, but you gotta learn some history.

 

The Revolutionary War started in Massachusetts in 1775.  However, by 1779, the British had been slowly driven from most of the North, and in frustration shifted their hopes to military campaigns in the South.  They were hoping to take advantage of much loyalism in the Southern back-country.  In 1780, after first taking South Carolina, the British Army, commanded in the South by Lord Cornwallis, was ordered to reclaim North Carolina from the rebels and push on into Virginia.  Refer to the map at the end of this post for battle locations.

 

As mentioned earlier, Thomas Ayers had several sons in his family.  While residing in Surry County, NC, they were drawn into the war.  Although much of the time they were involved in informal, but violent, battles between loyalists and rebels, one of them also participated in two major battles with regular British troops which turned the tide of the war in the South.

 

It is not known if Thomas’ family, like his father’s, were also Quakers who were against violence. However, it is known that some Quakers, out of necessity, temporarily suspended their memberships during the war and then rejoined afterwards.

 

The extreme delay of providing pensions to veterans after the war was a sad, drawn out affair, and not until a Special Act of Congress in 1832 were pensions made available to the majority of surviving veterans. Fortunately, due to these detailed pensions applications in which they had to explain when and where they fought, we are able to get a glimpse into the lives of our Ayers ancestors during the war.  I’ll try to capture some of the significant highlights below.

 

In 1780, Thomas Ayers Sr., was about 46 years old, his son Nathaniel about 25 years old, son Elihu about 19 and son Thomas Jr. about 9.  While it would be unthinkable today, Thomas Jr., when still only a young lad, saw much violence and fighting action as he later stated in an affirmation for another pension applicant:

“I was too young to be put on a list of soldiers but I prefomed a voluntary servitude as hard as any soldier that is against Tories.  I had to run many a time when over powered by them to save myself.  I fought in my Father’s place he being old. Old and young had to fight it was a time of trouble in this country as I before stated the Tories was so bad.”

Elihu Ayers saw the most service.  He first entered as a volunteer private in the militia in January 1778.  He served a little over 12 months during which he only participated in skirmishes against the Tories (loyalists) and not against the foreigners.  He traveled the area around Surry and Wilkes counties defending Whigs (rebels) and their property from the ravages of the Tories.  During this term of service, he was present and assisted in “half hanging” William Combs whom they let off on promise of better behavior, and in hanging two other men condemned by a Court Martial.  He obtained a discharge from this term of service which was some years afterwards burned in his Father’s House.

 

Elihu entered his next tour of duty in April 1780.  Initially, he again was employed in the surrounding country to keep down the Tories and retaking and restoring property to the Whigs taken by the Tories.  Then in the Fall of 1780, he was marched to South Carolina where he participated in the famous Battle of King’s Mountain. The British, under Colonel Ferguson, fought in their traditional close-packed European fashion. The frontiersmen, however, played by different rules, moving from tree to tree picking off Ferguson’s men with their long and much more accurate frontier rifles. Many British were killed with few prisoners taken, and Elihu Ayers personally witnessed the death of Colonel Ferguson. King’s Mountain was a stunning defeat for Lord Cornwallis. After that General Washington sent one of his most experienced officers, Nathaniel Greene, to the South to drive the British out.

 

Elihu returned to North Carolina for a short furlough, but in the Spring of 1781, he was marched to the very important battle of Guilford Courthouse in Guilford County, NC, which was only 50 miles from his home in Surry County. There, he was part of the militia who panicked and ran from the scene of action. It was a terribly bloody battle from which the Americans, led by General Greene finally retreated, but it left both sides grieviously wounded. The battle was significant, however, in that Cornwallis began to fully realize that he could no longer count on the Loyalists for help, and that victories in the Carolina territory would always elude him.  Frustrated he turned his attention back to Virginia where he was also unsuccessful and the war finally ended with an American victory at Yorktown later in 1781.

 

In 1786 Elihu married Lydia Owen and they later moved to Patrick County, VA.  He finally received a pension beginning in 1834 until he died in 1844.  You can read a complete transcription of Elihu Ayers’ pension application in his own words here (R335).

 

Meanwhile, Thomas Ayers’ oldest son, Nathaniel, who is our direct ancestor, was also called into service as a militia man in August of 1780.  He too was marched to South Carolina to the Battle of King’s Mountain.  However, he did not participate in the battle, as he had been sent to a powder maker, for powder.  As it turned out, the Tories had already taken the powder maker, and his powder and the main battle was over before Nathaniel returned.  He met the victorious soldiers with the prisoners and marched with them and was held in service until some time in November or December and was discharged.

 

In February, Nathaniel was again called into service with the same militia company.  The object was to join General Greene’s forces, but they kept missing them as Greene, endeavoring to avoid an early engagement with Cornwallis kept changing his positions.  As a result, they never did join with Greene before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. On the other hand, they frequently fell in with parties of the enemy and had little skirmishes. He was then discharged in May 1781.

 

Since Nathaniel Ayers did not complete at least six months service, he was deemed not eligible for a pension.  You can read a complete transcription of his pension application in his own words here (R336).

 

I wonder if the Ayers clan in North Carolina, was aware that some of their cousins back in New England and New Jersey also fought and helped win the Revolutionary War.

 

I heartily recommend viewing “The Patriot” movie released in 2000 starring Mel Gibson, which does a very creditable job in depicting the horrific conditions and events in the Carolinas during the Rev War.

Rev War in the South
March 31, 2011 Dennis Ayers No comments exist
Colonial Wagon Road

In 1746 Nathaniel Ayers began selling his land in Baltimore County, Maryland.  By about 1755, he and his wife, Rhoda, and family had migrated to Halifax County in southern Virginia (near Danville today), on the border of North Carolina.  Why did they leave what appeared to be a prosperous livelihood in MD?   Why did they undertake such an arduous journey which took them over 300 miles to the south?  The answers are not known for sure, but it is believed that religion was a primary factor along with a desire for more land, and perhaps opposition to slavery.

 

After 1735, as the supply of land grew short in colonies farther north, numerous farmers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Virginia began packing their possessions and making the long journey to the Southern Piedmont in the Virginia colony.

Quaker Man

 

In addition, it seems that Nathaniel converted to the Quaker religion in Maryland, perhaps when he married Rhoda.  The Quakers were one of the first groups to oppose slavery, which was heavily employed by most tobacco farmers. In the 1750s, there was a large Quaker migration to the frontier areas of Virginia and North Carolina, and Nathaniel’s family probably joined in with others from Pennsylvania and Maryland moving southward. The proceedings of the Quaker South River Monthly Meeting (held near what is today Lynchburg, VA) show that Nathaniel  Ayers was accepted into membership in 1758. This Quaker Meeting covered many of the southern VA counties including Halifax County.

 

Also, in 1758, Nathaniel purchased 116 acres of land on Little Double Creek. In 1767, the western part of Halifax County where Nathaniel and his family lived became Pittsylvania County, and not long after that he was granted 200 acres on branches of the Dan River.  Before he died, he also acquired another 600 acres of adjoining land. In 1760, Nathaniel and several of his neighbors are credited with “laying a road”.

 

Nathaniel Ayers died in early 1777, and his will was probated at the courthouse in Chatham, in Pittsylvania County.  His oldest living sons, Thomas and Moses were the executors.  Mentioned in the will were his wife Rhoda and 5 surviving children.

Nathaniel Ayers in Pittsylvania County, VA

The map above shows the general Piedmont area where Nathaniel settled.  I have been to this area on a research trip in 2006.  Pittsylvania County and the surrounding counties in both VA and NC contain beautiful gently rolling farmland as far as the eye can see.  One can certainly understand why northern colonists migrated to this area.