The Ayers history in Massachusetts and before

Ammi Ayers Swasey's father was Nathaniel Ayers and his father was Capt. John Ayres who died in 1675. They are on my father's mother's family tree...early New Englanders...the Ada Swasey Rogers Family Tree.

Ammi's grandfather was John Ayres, Captain, who was killed in King Phillips war, by Indians.  Also he was part of colonial settlers who started a town of Brooksfield, MA, with someone having purchased it (formerly Quaboag) from the Indians.  However there were some Indians who disagreed and attacked the settlers, killing 7 men who barricaded themselves in Ayres Tavern.

But on one sheet of paper, the marriage records of New England prior to 1700, there are 10 John Ayers, or Ayres, or Ayer listed.  Only one has a death date of 1675, and he is listed as John Ayer (-1675) married to Susanna Symonds (1617-1653) c. 1644 or ca. 1642.

I look at his children, so I can determine that he's my ancestor for sure!

Several family trees show John Ayers dying in 1694, and looking at this list, there are 2 marriages listed for that "John Ayers, (-1694+) 1/wf Sarah Williams (-1662) on 5 May 1646, Haverhill MA."  And 4 lines down is the same "John (-1694+) 2/wf Mary Woodham in 1663 also Haverhill."  But though there are ancestry trees by other members that have the John Ayers who died in 1675 at the Tavern, killed by Indians, they are having him marry Sarah, but not Mary Woodham, and they all have him dying in yet another town.

So I'm leaning toward the original information.

OK, on October 28th, 1717.

"A Petition of Thomas Ayres, Joseph Ayres, Mark Ayres, Natt'll Ayers, & Edward Ayres, Sons & Heirs of John Ayres heretofore of Quaboag alias Brookfield, Dec'd Intestate, Shewing that in or about the Year 1669, the Petitioners Father with others bought & purchased of the Indian..."

I don't have the original, and the copy I read is cut off there. 

So this John Ayres, killed in Brookfield did have a son Nathaniel, who was also named as a blacksmith from the source I'm reading.

John Ayers' (b. 1623 or 25, d. 1675) wife was finally determined to be Susanna Symonds (b. either 1617 or 1623, d.1682 or 83). The different dates do get confusing, and Ancestry usually lists only one set, but with alternates available.

Susanna Symonds Ayers was the source of a document about her husband and her children. 
It is mentioned in an earlier genealogical document from 2003.  I'll include it because it does seem to quote an original source.  Talking about her husband John Ayers, she is mentioned only as "his widow."

"His widow presented an inventory of his estate, now recorded at Salem, on which she wrote, "I have seven sons and one daughter." Although the births of these children are not all recorded, I think to arrange them chronologically.

  i John2
 ii Samuel2
iii Thomas2
 iv Joseph2
v Edward2 b. 12 Feb. 1658.      
 vi Mark2 b. 14 Dec. 1661.        
       (all recorded at Ipswich)
 vii Nathaniel 2 b. 6 July, 1664.   
 viii Susanna 2 b.? ; m. (???) Day."

I don't know what the numeral "2" represents after their names.  

Susanna Symonds' parents were Mark Symonds (1584-1659) and Joanna (maybe Edgar) (1588-1666).  Joanna was born in Essex County, England, probably in the town called Birch.

Here's a nice replica of old town architecture from another Essex town, Wedens Ambo.  This name means there were two nearby towns called Wedens, and they combined into this new name.

Wedens Ambo, Essex, England

Joanna (Edgar?) Symonds (1588-1666) is the earliest matriarch I've found on this line of ancestors.

Her death is listed in Ipswich MA in 1666, on April 29...in the following record.  The scribe for this entry has wonderfully legible handwriting.
  

Nathaniel Ayers, blacksmith, and wife Amy Cowell Ferber Ayers

There have been several of my ancestors who were blacksmiths.  As a person who also works with my hands as a craftsman, I think this is the best of our perhaps inherited talents...as well as having children to pass them along.

Nathaniel's wife was Amy Cowell Ferber Ayers...she had first married Jethro Ferber and had one son.  But after the death of Jethro, she married Nathaniel.  He was part of her inventory and administration of the probate for her first husband in 1686.

Nathaniel and Amy had 2 children, Capt. Edward Ayers and Amy Ayers Swasey.  Amy Swasey became my great times six grandmother.

Amy Cowell Ayers had been born in New Hampshire...the daughter of Agnes Harvey and Edward Cowell, Sr.  He has an interesting story attached to his life, also in battle with Indians.  But I think it is also likely that his son, Edward Jr. was the one told about in the story.  I'll share it with you and you can figure it out...tomorrow.

Back to the life of Nathaniel Ayers and Amy his wife.  Living in Portsmouth NH in early settlement days, they were active in establishing this port town.  This was Amy's home town, while Nathaniel had been born in Ipswich, moved to the ill-fated town of Quaboag, then lived in Ipswich with his mother's family probably...until he married at age 22 to the widow Amy Cowell Ferber who had a 4 year old son...and property from her father.

When Amy's father died, in 1677,  the probate court of New Hampshire (May 1682) gave her and her first husband, Jethro Ferber guardianship of her little brother, Samuel, who was just 9 in 1677. They were to educate him and clothe him until he was 14 years old.  Remember all the troubles with the Massachusetts courts which Nathaniel's mother, widow of Nathaniel's father, encountered after he died in Quaboag in 1675 (see posts of last 2 days here.)

Jethro Ferber died in 1682, and Amy had married Nathaniel Ayers by 1686 the year of the probate of Ferber's estate.   Nathaniel and Amy's first child was born in 1684, so I wonder if there was also a marriage that took place before the record that is posted at Ancestry.  He was definitely her husband when the courts in 1686 had Ferber's probate settled, as he is listed as such in the record.

I am not sure how he ended up being buried in Boston, in 1731, near his 2 brothers' graves.  His wife Amy died 5 years later in Portsmouth, NH.

Birth: Jun., 1664 Death: Dec. 4, 1731 Inscription: Here lyes buried ye body of Mr Nathanie Ayres aged 67 years & 6 mo dec'd December ye 4th 1731 Burial: Copps Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Nathaniel Ayers - Birth: Jun., 1664 Death: Dec. 4, 1731   Parents: John Ayres (____ - 1675) Susanna Symonds Ayres (____ - 1683)  Siblings: John Ayres (1648 - 1711) Samuel Ayres (1657 - 1713) wife: Amy Cowell Ayers (1657-1736)

Captain John Thomas Ayers/Eyre Sr. 1592- 1657

Captain John Thomas Ayers/Eyre Sr

1582–1657

BIRTH 2 SEP 1592 • Corsham, Salisbury, Wiltshire Co, England

DEATH 31 MAR 1657 • Haverhill, Essex, Mass.

Below- an old book illustration of his birthplace in England, and his birth date varies from 1582-96.  I'm going with the1592 for my ancestry tree at this time.

Wiltshire Architecture of the Sixteenth Century  "The hamlet of Hawkstreet, Brougham parish, where this farm manor house stands, the likely birthplace, in 1596, of John Ayer of Haverhill, Massachusetts.  Larger than his own two-story home would have been, the building shows clearly in this review the lofts and local style of architecture familiar to him."

Haverhill MA 1850 illustration

He lived most of his life in Haverhill MA

Located on the Merrimack River, it began as a farming community of Puritans, largely from Newbury Plantation. The land was officially purchased from the Pentuckets on November 15, 1642 (a year after incorporation) for three pounds, ten shillings.^[3] [4]Pentucket was renamed Haverhill (after the Ward family's hometown in England) and would evolve into an important industrial center, beginning with sawmills and gristmills run by water power. In the 18th and 19th century, Haverhill developed woolen mills, tanneries, shipping and shipbuilding. The town was for many decades home to a significant shoe-making industry. By the end of 1913, one tenth of the shoes produced in the United States were made in Haverhill, and because of this the town was known for a time as the "Queen Slipper City". The city was also known for the manufacture of hats. Wikipedia HERE.


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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, met the hurricane off the Isles of Shoals, 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. 

John and his family resided in Salisbury, MA from 1640 - 1646. Some people report that he lived in Ispwich for a time. We know this not to be true, as he was recorded as such in many family histories because he was made a Freeman in the Ipswich court. However, the court at that time traveled, and it was just a stroke of fate that it was in Ipswich when the issue of Freeman status for John and his son John was taken up by the court. The will of John also comes into the same category. He never lived in Hampton, but that is where the court was at the session that considered his estate.

John and family moved to Haverhill, MA in 1647, there 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 benifits. The Church had to vote on who became a freeman, and the process and questions were excrutiating.

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. Below is a quote from Willis Brown in regards to Hannah and her maiden name:

"First and possibly foremost, John Ayer was not married to Hannah Evered. He was married to Hannah, who was not an Evered. A very early researcher, perhaps as early as 1860, identified her as Hannah Green(?) with the question mark next to it. He left us no notes, or lists of reference. I have found nothing that would indicate where he developed that theory. The earliest identification that I have found of the wife of John Ayer as Hannah Evered was a newspaper genealogy column known as "The Boston Transcript." According to that source Hannah was listed in the will of John Evered alias Webb, therefore she must be his sister. She was not listed in that will. In fact, Hannah was still alive when the will was offered for probate, she was not mentioned and did not inherit. John Evered alias Webb did mention his cousins as the children of John Ayer: and not as the children of his sister Hannah. I think John Evered alias Webb knew what he was doing and I do not try to second guess him. In some so-called family trees, Hannah has been added as a sibling of John Evered alias Webb, but that is not supported by English records." John passed away in Haverhill in 1657. his will was dated March 12, 1656, proved Hampton Ct. Jun 8 1657. His wife, Hannah, survived him, and died Oct. 8, 1688, having remained his widow. John Ayer devised his homestead to his son John Jr.

"This is the story, to the best of my 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 above information comes from Melinda Wilson, from Rootsweb, also quoted a Find A Grave site

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I am also using 1598 as the date of his wife, Hannah's birth (one of several given).  When she lived to 1688, it would have been very difficult to have been born in 1582 as some records state, not to mention having her last few of the 10 children so late in her life.  They were my 9th great grandparents on Ada Swasey Rogers family tree.

Our ancestor was their daughter Rebecca Ayer Aslett 1623-1671 who married John Aslett.

And we also have Captain John and Hannah Ayers/Eyre as our 9th great grandparents through their son Captain John Ayers (1623-1675) descendants as well...through his son Nathaniel Ayers (blacksmith) 1664-1731, also on the Ada Swasey Rogers tree.