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THE AYRES AND AYER FAMILIES

(Communicated by William Henry WHITMORE, ESQ.)



NOTE: Reg. represents other issues of NEH & GR.

Numbers following a name represents generations.


Brackets [ ] inserted by transcriber.




Having spent some time in tracing the early generations of the two distinct families of AYRES and
AYER, I desire to preserve the result.  Savage [another author] in his account makes a mistake which
escaped my notice until my attention was called to it by Mr. Melvin LORD.  Capt. John AYRES of
Ipswich [MA] and Brookfield [MA] was not the son John AYER of Haverhill [MA].  I have carefully
examined the deeds at Salem [MA], and have careful copies of the town records of Ipswich [MA] and
Haverhill [MA], and these show that the mistake has been made by confounding two persons of the
same name.  First, I will give the:

Descendants of John AYER of Haverhill, Massachusetts

He was of Salisbury and Haverhill - and had children: 
2. John 2
3. Robert 2
4. Thomas 2
5. Peter 2
6. Obadiah 2
7. Nathaniel 2
8. Hannah 2
9. Rebecca 2 who m. John ASLET, 8 Oct. 1648
10. Mary 2

His will [John AYER] was proved 6 Oct. 1657 (Reg., VI, 207), and in 1692, his widow Hannah
deeds land to son Robert, and was joined by ch. John of Ipswich, Peter and Nathaniel of Haverhill.
This shows conclusively that John Sr. had a son John (not the Brookfield Capt. John who was killed
in 1675), who was living in 1692.  The records show this also by giving his marriages and issue.

John 2 AYER, Jr., m. 5 May 1646, Sarah WILLIAMS, and had:

John 3 b. 18 March 1647-8
Zecheriah 3 b. 24 Oct. 1650
Nathaniel 3 b. 13 March 1654-5
Joseph 3 b. 16 March 1658-9
Sarah b. 17 Jan 1661

His [John 2 AYER, Jr.] wife [Sarah WILLIAMS] dying 25 July 1662, he m. 2nd Mary WOODDAM,  26
March 1663, and had Samuel who died at Andover 6th Oct. 1670 (Reg., II, 377), I presume.  He
was of Ipswich [MA], 1693-4.

Thomas 2 AYER of Haverhill [MA] (died 9 Nov. 1686) m. 1 April 1656, Elizabeth HUTCHINS, and had:

John 3 b.12 May 1657 (at Newbury)
Elizabeth 3 b. 23 Dec. 1659
Mary 3 b. 22 March 1660-1
Love 3 b. 15 April 1663
Two sons b. 16 Jan. 1664-5, died days after
Thomas 3 b. 9 June 1666
Samuel 3 b. 11 July 1671, d. 15 July 1672


Peter 2 AYER of Haverhill (died 2 Jan. 1698-9) m. 1 Nov. 1659, Hannah ALLEN, and had:

Ruth 3 b. 30 Oct. 1660
Hannah 3 b. 21 Aug. 1662
Abigail 3 b. 4 July 1664
Mary 3 b. 6 Aug. 1666
Martha 3 b. 1 Mar. 1667-8
Samuel 3 b. 28 Sept. 1669
William 3 b. 23 Sept. 1673, d. 20 Nov. 1675
Rachel 3 b. 18 Oct. 1675, d. 21 May 1678
Ebenezer 3 b. 22 May, 1678, d. 10 Oct. 1695


Obadiah 2 AYER of Haverhill, m. 19 March 1660-1, Hannah PIKE, and had:

John 3 b. 2 Mar. 1662-3 (at Newbury, MA)
Sarah 3 b. 5 Mar. 1664-5, d. 13 Feb. following
A son, b. 1 Nov. 1666, d. 14 same month
Samel 3 b. 13 Sept. 1667, d. 26 Dec. following

He [Obadiah 2 AYER and Hannah PIKE] moved to Woodbridge, New Jersey, and  there had:

A son b. Oct. 1670
A child b. 4 April 1674
Thomas 3 b. 3 Oct. 1675
Mary 3 b. 16 Feb. 1680, d. 23 Feb. 1698-9
Sarah 3 b. 13 Apr. 1683, d. 8 Nov. following
A dau. b. 7 Sept. 1685

I presume two of these unnamed children were Obadiah and Joseph, who were with John
and Samuel settled at Woodbridge [NJ].


Nathaniel 2 AYER of Haverhill (d. 17 Nov. 1717) m. Tamesin TURLOAR (d. 13 Dec. 1700) and were
married 10 May 1670, and had:

Hannah3 b. 2 June 1671
Hannah 3 b. 19 Dec. 1672
Elizabeth 3 b. 19 Aug. 1674
Nathaniel 3 b. 15 Nov. 1676
Abiah 3 b. 5 Feb. 1678-9
Obadiah 3 b. 30 Jan. 1680, d. 6 April following
Ruth 3 b. 30 Dec. 1680, d. 24 Apr. 1682
A child b. 5 Sept. 1683, d. 9 Sept.
Benjamin 3 b. 9 Aug. 1684, d. 17 June following
Mary 3 b. 9 Sept. 1687
Ruth 3 again b. 12 May 1689

I shall not attempt to trace the marriages and issue of these grandchildren of John AYER, Sr., 
though I have them, except in one or two instances.


John 3 AYER, son of John 2 AYER, died no doubt unmarried, as on 23 Sept. 1683, his father 
presented his inventory (Reg., XV, 331, lines 11-18).  Zechariah 3 AYER, another son of John 2 
AYER,  was alive at Newbury, 24 Oct. 1696.


  

I now proceed to the family whose name was commonly spelt AYRES.  I have already shown 
(Reg., V, 56) that there was a Moses AYRES of Dorchester, 1667, whose son came to 
Boston and left issue.
There were also at Ipswich [MA], Samuel and John AYRES, living at the same time, but between 
whom no relation is known to have existed.

Samuel AYRES, Sr., of Ipswich (died 17 Feb. 1696-7) (perhaps the apprentice mentioned by Savage -
see  below #) had:

Samuel 2 b. 14 Sept. 1658
John 2 b. May 1661
Joseph 2 b. 29 Oct. 1664
Mary 2 b. 22 June 1667
Susan 2 who m. Thomas WAIT on 21 Nov. 1677

And perhaps he [Samuel AYRES, Sr.] had married a second wife, Mary JOHNSON of Hampton,   14
Dec. 1681.

Of his three sons, John 2  [b. May 1661] died no doubt 23 Nov. 1690, and made his brother Joseph
executor (Reg. XV, 331, line 8).  He was a cordwainer, and, I think, did not marry.

Samuel 2 AYRES  [b. 14 Sept. 1658] of Ipswich m. I suppose, widow Mary FULLER (published 23 June
1721) and had:

Samuel, b. 17 Feb. 1722-3 d. 5 Dec. following
Lydia b. 31 July 1728, d. 10 Aug. following
Samuel b. 8 Feb. 1729-30, d. 12 March following
Susanna b. 1 Oct. 1732, d. 12 Nov. following

Samuel 2 AYRES [b. 14 Sept. 1658] died 21 Oct. 1743, age 87, and left his property to his 
brother Joseph’s children.  The dates and circumstances seem conclusive that this was the 
son of Samuel, Sr.

Joseph 2 AYRES [b. 29 Oct. 1664] (d. 4 Mar. 1730) of Ipswich, a tailor, m. Margery (___), and had:

Mary b. 10 Aug., 1694
Sarah b. 6 May 1696
Elizabeth b. 21 Sept. 1699
Deborah b. 8 April 1701
Joseph baptized 4 Nov. 1705

If these records be properly placed, it would seem that Samuel Ayres left but one grandson, while
John Ayer had fourteen, all but one of whom married.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


# Research by transcriber Gloria ODOM:  William Henry WHITMORE, the communicator of the
information included here, identifies Samuel AYRES, Sr. apart from any other lineage.  However, he
also published a book called A Record of the Descendants of Capt. John AYRES of Brookfield, MASS
in Boston in 1870 - a xerox copy of the book is in Gloria’s possession.  In this book he includes quite
a descendancy, and I have selected the following lineage that I believe are my direct ancestors:
	Generation 1 - Capt. John AYRES
		          2- Samuel AYRES md. Abigail FELLOWS
			  3- Samuel AYRES, Jr. md. Eliner/Eleanor RANDALL
				[son of Samuel]
			  3- Unknown child
				[son of Samuel]
			      4- Samuel AYRES md. Martha BELL
				[this Samuel son of the Unknown child]
			         5- Asa

I believe from records I have compiled, that the Unknown child 3 is probably the SAME PERSON 
as Samuel AYRES, Jr  3  who md. Eliner RANDALL.  And, that Samuel AYRES, Jr. is probably 
the SAME PERSON as the Samuel AYRES, Sr. that Mr. WHITMORE describes here.  Therefore, 
there would have been three generations of Samuels named, each the son of the generation before.
  I am yet working on reconciling the dates, children and information, but believe this is probably the 
correct presentation of my direct lineage to Capt. John AYRES of Brookfield, MA, from Asa on up.  

Therefore, I do NOT believe Samuel AYRES, Sr. was the apprentice mentioned by another author,
Savage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Descendants of Capt.  John AYRES of Ipswich, MA & Brookfield, MA

I now turn to Capt. John AYRES of Ipswich and Brookfield.  I have shown that Savage was wrong in
giving him Sarah WILLIAMS for a wife, and I doubt not that Susanna SYMONDS, dau. of Mark
SYMONDS was his only wife.  It has been suggested that he was the John EYRE, grocer of Norwich,
England, aged 40 in 1637, who went to Holland (Reg. XIV, 327), but this seems highly improbable.	 

I notice in the Historical Collection of the Essex Institute, I, 95, that William LAMSON of Ipswich died,
leaving 8 children before 29 March 1659; and his widow Sarah desired to marry one Thomas
HARTSHORNE of Reading, but her brothers, William FELLOWS and John AYRES opposed it, 1661.
Now as John AYRES md. a SYMONDS, and we learn of no other daughters of SYMONDS except those
recorded by Savage, it seems probable that this Sarah LAMSON was own sister of John AYRES.

We learn from deeds at Salem [MA], that John AYRES lived at Ipswich, 1648, and as a tenant on Mr.
John Norton’s farm.  In Nov. 1672, he seems to have sold out all his rights in the town, including
those derived from his father-in-law, Mark SYMONDS, and he was killed by the Indians, 3 Aug. 1675
[Brookfield, MA].

I find on the original inventory presented by his widow, “I have seven sons and one daughter.”  She
died 8 Feb. 1682-3.  I suspect that she was related to Samuel SYMONDS, at least Mrs. Rebecca
SYMONDS, his widow, having the distribution of some charity, gave a portion of [it] in 1682 to Mrs.
AYRES.  I have already (Reg., XV, 332) shown from deeds the names of those eight children, 
they were:

John 2
Samuel 2
Thomas 2
Joseph 2
Edward 2 b. 12 Feb. 1658
Mark 2 b. 14 Dec. 1661
Nathaniel 2 b. 6 July 1664
Susannah 2, the daughter, md. a DAY and had a son Robert DAY of New Roxbury, 1716

John 2 AYRES, [son of Capt. John AYRES] I suppose was of Ipswich, and had by wife Mary (___):

A child, b. Sept. 1677
Abigail b. 14 May 1680
Ruth d. 24 Dec. 1685

He seems to have had no issue [does that mean descendants/grandchildren??], and I think died at
Boston 12 Aug. 1711, aged 62; but I am not sure that I identify the right man.

Samuel 2 AYRES, [son of Capt. John AYRES] of Newbury, m. 21 March 1677, Abigail FELLOWS, dau.
of William FELLOWS, probably his own cousin, by whom he had:

Mary 3 b. 13 Jan. 1677-8
John 3 b. 16 March 1678-9
William 3 b. 26  Jan. 1681-2
Ephraim 3 b. 13 Feb. 1686-7
Stephen 3 b. 13 Mar. 1689
Jabez 3 b. 27 Dec. 1690
Samuel 3
Joseph 3
Ebenezer 3
Edward 3

These names I add from a deed of 5 Oct. 1717 of the mother and brother of Stephen to his widow.

I may here add that Jabez is recorded as the child of Samuel and Sarah AYRES - yet his first wife was
Abigail, his widow was Abigail, and in 1701 William FELLOWS in a deed mentions “my brother-in-law
Samuel AYRES who m. with my sister,” and I think it more probable that the clerk made an error, than
that Samuel had three wives, two of the same name, and married the second so soon after the death
of the first.  I have given (Reg., XV, 332) the descendants of this Jabez.

Thomas 2 AYRES, [son of Capt. John AYRES] of Newbury, m. Hannah ERRINGTON, 21 March 1677
and had:

Thomas 3 b. 25 Jan. 1678-9
Hannah 3 b. 2 Aug. 1680
Rebecca 3. b. 27 May 1682
A dau. b. at Ipswich, June 1686
Abraham 3 b. 18 June 1688
Sarah b. 29 Aug. 1690
Mehitable b. 5 April 1697


Joseph 2 AYRES, [son of Capt. John AYRES] of Ipswich, m. Sarah CALDWELL 9 June 1684 and had:

Sarah 3 b. 5 Aug. 1685
Elizabeth 3 b. 28 Jan. 1687 m. Aaron KIMBALL 5 Feb 1716-7
John 3 b. 26 Feb. 1692-3
William 3 b. 13 Sept. 1696
Benjamin 3 b. 16 Dec. 1700.  

I think he [Joseph 2 AYRES] m. a second wife, widow Hannah DUTCH, published 21 April 1714.  
A deed recorded at Worcester, 1741, but dated 14 Jan. 1716, is from Thomas, Mark and Edward 
AYRES, all of Portsmouth; Nathaniel AYRES, blacksmith, of Boston; Samuel of Ispwich, son of 
Samuel AYRES, deceased; and Robert DAY of New Roxbury, whose mother was Susanna AYES 
[should be AYRES] -- to Joseph AYRES of Ipswich, selling all the land at Brookfield, formerly 
possessed by our honored father John AYRES.

Of Mark 2 and Edward 2, I know only that they were of Portsmouth and Kittery.  Nathaniel 2 of
Boston, I identified in a previous note (Reg., XV, 56).
 
I will notice but one or two of these grandsons of Capt. John ARYES, whose names may be 
confounded with others.  We have seen that John AYER, Jr., went to Ipswich, after Capt. John 
AYRES had removed, thus causing one confusion.  We now see that Samuel AYRES, Sr., the 
apprentice no doubt, had sons Samuel and Joseph married at Ipswich, at the same time that Capt.
 John AYRES’s two sons of the same name had families.  I hope that I have kept them distinct, and 
identified them by reference to deeds. 

A third Samuel 3 AYRES, son of Samuel and Abigail (FELLOWS) and grandson of Capt. John AYRES,
md. Eliner RANDALL of Ipswich 7 June 1715, and had:

Martha 4 b. 2 Mar. 1718
John 4 b. 22 Nov. 1719, d. 20 Feb 1720-1
John 4 b. 17 Sept. 1721
Elizabeth 4 b. 6 Oct. 1723, d. 9 of same month


His [Samuel 3 AYRES] wife [Eliner RANDALL] d. 31 Oct. 1734 and he md. 2nd Hannah GOLD
(published 31 Dec. 1737).

Jabez 3 AYRES, [son of Capt. John AYRES] m. Rebecca KIMBALL 8 Dec. 1718, and lived at Rowley
whence he removed to Brookfield.  A deed dated 2 June 1721, shows that she was the dau. of Henry
KIMBALL of Haverhill.

The records show that Henry KIMBALL, m. Hannah MARSH 14 Dec 1677, and had:

Hannah b. 7 Oct. 1678
Mary, b. 24 July 1680
Judith b. June 1682
Elizabeth b. 21 Mar. 1683-4
Sarah b. 13 Sept. 1686
Abigail b. 7 Apr. 1689
John b. 27 Sept. 1691
Rebecca b. 12 Oct. 1694

His [Henry KIMBALL] wife and son John were killed 15 March 1698-9.  She [Hannah MARSH] was
 the dau. of Onesiphorus MARSH, who mentions in his will his granddaughter Rebecca KIMBALL; 
and this explains why she named her child Onesiphorus AYRES.

Onesiphorus 4 AYRES [son of Jabez 3 AYRES & Rebecca KIMBALL] of Brookfield, m. Anna 
GOODALE, 1759; she was the dau. of Solomon GOODALE, and b. 18 June 1740.  Her father was 
son of John 3 GOODALE (b. 10 Aug. 1681) who m. 8 Sept. 1703, Elizabeth WITT, dau. of John WITT, 
and d. 11 May 1752.  John 3 GOODALE was son of Zecheriah 2 and Elizabeth (BEAUCHAMP) 
GOODALE, and grandson of Robert 1 and Katherine (___) GOODALE.

Solomon 4 GOODALE, m. Anna (HINDE) widow of Samuel WALKER, 18 May 1732, of whom more
anon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Transcribed by Gloria ODOM - 11/11/1997.

I double-checked my typing to check for errors, but I guarantee only that I have done my best.
I have xerox copies of these records in my possession, from the volume above stated.
Paragraphing was changed for use here, to make the information more readable.

PLEASE NOTE:
Researchers - any material presented should be VERIFIED before accepting it as FACT.  Mr.
WHITMORE, who comminicated the information here, was I’m sure, a very good genealogist in his
day.  However, he has mistaken some information that has been presented, and omitted other.
PLEASE - verify your information from ORIGINAL SOURCES for dates and relationships.