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NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL & GENEALOGICAL REGISTER
Volume 15 (XV), Oct. 1861, Pages 331-332
Communicated by William Henry WHITMORE
GLEANINGS #6
NOTE: Reg. represents other issues of NEH & GR.
#31.
In my last, I noted several AYER families, not descended from John of Haverhill [MA]: I have now to
add another.
Samuel AYRES, Sr., was of Ipswich, and his will proved 29 March 1697, mentions sons Samuel and
Joseph, dau. Mary, and grand-dau. Susanna WAIT. Of these, Samuel appears to have d. s.p., as his
will of Oct. 30, 1743, mentions wife Mary, and sister Mary, and leaves all his property to the children
of his brother, Joseph, of whom Joseph is to have a double portion.
But there was a John AYRES of Ipswich who d. 23 Nov. 1690, a cordwainer, who appointed his
brother Joseph administrator, and from the coincidence of names, I presume him to have been
another son of Samuel, Sr.
But again, on the 23 Sept. 1683, John AYRES of Ipswich (probably the same man) presented an
administrator’s account of the estate of his son John of Andover, deceased, who seems to have been
young and unmarried, and who owed debts to his father and to his brother Zachary.
This latter item serves to identify Zachary AYRES who is said to have m. Elizabeth CHASE at Andover,
27 June 1678. Perhaps John, the father, had also lived at Andover, as we find Samuel, son of John
and Mary AYRES, died there 5 Sept. 1670.
We find by the Reg. VII, 78-9, that Samuel Sr., and John, were living in Ipswich in 1678 -- and I think
we may presume that John was the eldest son of Samuel -- but who was this Samuel, Sr.?
If John were his son we must first fix his probable age. If John’s son Zachary was m. in 1678, his
father must have been at least 40 years old - -i. e., b. in 1638, and Samuel, the supposed father of
John, would be at least 20 years younger. In this case, he could not be the “apprentice” who came
here in 1637, aged 15.
Now in all this confusion only a few things seem very sure:
1. John of Ipswich was probably son of Samuel, Sr., for excepting the latter’s son, we know of no
Joseph to whom he could be brother.
2. Samuel, Sr., must in that case have been born as early as 1618, and was not the apprentice, unless
the latter’s age was incorrectly given - - or, unless Zechariah of Andover was not married so soon.
We must leave this point still in doubt, for others interested in the family to investigate.
[This Samuel AYRES, Sr. is probably one of the descendants of Capt. John AYRES of Brookfield, MA.
This lineage is currently in the process of being identified and hopefully proven by descendant
Gloria (ODOM) TROMMLER, who is also the transcriber of this material. 11/11/1997]
#32.
We will now proceed to the DESCENDANTS OF JOHN AYER OF HAVERHILL, who d. March 31, 1657.
He had ch: John, Nathaniel, Obadiah, Robert, Thomas, Peter, Hannah, Rebecca, and Mary. Rebecca
m. John ASLETT or AISLEBEE (see Reg. VIII, 227) Oct. 8, 1648.
Of the sons, Nathaniel, I presume, d. young, as I find no trace of him, and Savage has no
corresponding person. Obadiah was of Newbury, and had a son John.
Robert was of Haverhill [MA], and left large issue, all of whom I trust will be noted in Mr. Chase’s
promised history. The County Records at Salem have several wills and inventories, especially, I
would note, of his sons, Samuel and Timothy.
Thomas (died Nov. 9, 1686) m. Elizabeth HUTCHINS, April 1657, and had:
John b. May 4, 1657
Elizabeth b. Dec. 23, 1659
Mary b. Mar. 22, 1661
Love b Apr. 15, 1663
Two sons b. in 1664; d. same year
Thomas b. June 9, 1666
Samuel b. July 11, 1671; d. July 1672
Peter was, like the last name, settled at Haverhill [MA] and by wife Hannah ALLEN had:
Ruth
Hannah
Abigail
Mary
Samuel
William
Rachel
Ebenezer
Thus far we have traced, adding much to Savage’s account.
The oldest son John m. 1st, Sarah WILLIAMS, and had a dau. Sarah by her. His second wife was
Susannah SYMONDS, but by which wife respectively were his children, I do not know. He removed
to Brookfield, was a Captain, and was killed by the Indians Aug. 3, 1675.
[NOTE ERROR: This second wife is in ERROR! Susannah SYMONDS is wife of Capt. John
AYRES of Ipswich & Brookfield, MA who died in 1675 killed by Indians. Mr. Whitmore was
confusing two John’s with similar surnames & in close proximity in MASS., & corrects his error at
Reg. Vol. XVII (17), Oct. 1863, Pages 307-310.
It is worth your research to go to the CORRECTED information. Therefore, information that follows
below is also much in error, but may give some clues to follow in research, so I have included
it here. Again, some of this info. pertains to Capt. John AYRES’ descendants of Ipswich &
Brookfield, MA and some to John AYERS’ descendants of Haverhill, MA - - - THIS IS
IMPORTANT!!]
His family was of course scattered, and we will now try to trace them. In May 1703, his sons Samuel,
John, and Thomas, were appointed administrators, and in 1713, Thomas, Joseph, Mark, Edward, and
Nathaniel, “brothers,” claimed the estate. Samuel we know was dead in 1714, as it was then so
stated by his son Edward. John, we presume, was also dead; and these seem to have been the
oldest sons.
In 1714 the heirs were Edward, son of Samuel; John, son of Edward; Abraham and Thomas, son of
Thomas; Nathaniel, son of Nathaniel; and John, William and Benjamin, sons of Joseph. We will see
where these children were settled after the Brookfield settlement was destroyed. Edward, Mark, and
Nathaniel, sons of Capt. John, doubtless settled in New Hampshire, as Savage notes person of these
names as living there 1685-9. Thomas went without doubt to Newbury, and is the one mentioned by
Savage, as we can hardly suppose there were two Thomases each having a son Abraham. Joseph’s
locality is still unknown. Nathaniel and John, perhaps, came to Boston, and were the persons
mentioned in Gleanings, No. 26, (ante pp. 56-7) as the circumstances agree, viz: Nathaniel’s having a
son of the same name, and John’s dying in 1711 without children. The Boston, John’s birth seems
conclusive, and he died just before the date of the deed in which his name is omitted from the list of
heirs.
There remains now only Samuel, whom I presume to have settled like Thomas, at Newbury, and to be
the one mentioned by Coffin [another author], who had a son Jabez, b. there 27 Dec. 1690; because a
Jebez AYRES, the only one I have yet found, settled at Brookfield when it was resettled, and tradition,
as given by his grandson, says that he was a descendant of Capt. John. I can hardly conceive of any
other person than a descendant returning thus to the town.
I am aware that this record is very incomplete, and largely conjectural, but I hope some one may be
interested enough to confirm or confute my conclusions.
#33.
[NOTE: This Jabez AYRES is probably grandson of Capt. John AYRES (Generation 1) who died in
Brookfield, MA and son of Samuel AYRES (2), making Jabez AYRES (3).]
Jabez AYRES of Brookfield, by wife Rebecca (___) had:
Stephen, b. Aug. 3, 1719
Eliphalet b March 4, 1722
William b 28 Feb. 1723-4
Micajah b. Sept 24, 1729
Onesephorus b. Apr. 7, 1733
Stephen b. Feb. 12, 1735-6
Jabez b. Apr. 26, 1737
Of these, Onesephorus m. Feb. 1759, Anna GOODALE, and had ten children; of whom John b. April
10, 1779, m. Nov. 5, 1803, Rebecca LOMBARD, (see Reg. XII, 251) and died Aug. 22, 1830, leaving one
son, John, and three daus. Lovice, Mary, and Rebecca; of whom, Lovice m. Charles O. WHITMORE of
Boston.
NOTE: It will be noticed that Jabez had a son Stephen, as had also his supposed father. Such
coincidences strenghten any conjectural pedigrees.
[see Reg., XVII (17), Oct. 1863, Page 309 for more on Jabez]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transcribed by Gloria Odom - 11/11/1997.
Brackets [ ] inserted by transcriber.
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.
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