Ayres, Justin - biography
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Ayres, Justin - biography
| CDavis9347 (View posts) | Posted: 14 Sep 2001 2:14PM GMT |
Classification: Biography
Surnames: Ayres, Whitmore, Norton, Hawkins, Clarke, Rice
This is not my family and I have no further information.
from reprint of “Clarke County Historical and Biographical Record†by Lewis Publishing, 1886. p. 110.
JUSTIN AYRES. - In the year 1870 a pamphlet was published by William Henry Whitmore, of Boston, Massachusetts, containing as complete a record of the AYRES family as it was possible to collect. To him we are indebted for collecting in available form much information regarding the AYRES family. Mr. Whitmore says: “Captain John AYRES was of Ipswich in 1648 and was then a tenant of John Norton’s. I know nothing of his parentage. He removed to Brookfield, Massachusetts, when the settlement of that place was commenced, and in 1672 sold all his rights at Ipswich. He was killed August 3, 1675, with seven others, at the battle at Brookfield with the Indians.
Though he had received large grants of land at Brookfield--some 2,000 acres-- his family undoubtedly returned to Ipswich and its vicinity, the settlement having been broken up and rendered unsafe. His widow presented an inventory of his estate now recorded at Salem, Massachusetts, on which she wrote, “I have seven sons and one daughter.†Of the seven sons the third one was Thomas of Newbury and Ipswich. He again had two sons, Thomas and Abram. This Thomas-- the third generation from our progenitor, Captain John-- was born January 25, 1678, or 1679. Of his children nothing is known to us at present, but as Thomas has been the name of sire and son for several generations, and as ninety-one years elapsed between the birth of this Thomas under review and the generation following, of which we have definite knowledge, we reasonably suppose that the fourth generation from Captain John was also Thomas. Thomas, as tradition has it, having been the family name running back to the original stock from which we are descended, and the lapse of ninety-one years between the birth of Thomas in the third generation and Thomas of Boston, are the circumstantial facts which point to there being an intervening generation named Thomas.
Thomas of Boston, of the fifth generation, followed the life of ocean sailor. He, while sailing in British waters or in a British port, was captured and pressed into the British naval service to fight against his own country. In the memorable battle off the coast of Scotland, in September, 1779, he was captured by the American privateer, Paul Jones, and returned to his native land. In this terrible battle he was Captain of a gun, and afterward related a story of a little Yankee gunner who was also impressed into the service, who threw the cannon ball out of the port-hole instead of putting it in the cannon’s mouth -- which may have had an influence in the termination of the battle.
Thomas, having been gone from home seven years, was supposed to be dead, and upon his return found his wife married again. Being of a peaceable nature he did not disturb the relations of wife with second husband.
He had two sons, Thomas and John-- the sixth generation in descent. John was a soldier in the war of 1812, was captured by the British and died a prisoner on shipboard on the way to Halifax. Thomas removed from Boston to Windsor County, Vermont, where he bought a farm. After selling the farm he removed in 1815 to Summit County, Ohio, then Portage County, with family, among which was five sons--John, Stephen, Thomas, Justin and Orrin.â€
Justin, the only one of the five now living-- the others having all died in California-- was born in Windsor County, Vermont, March 29, 1808. His mother, Polly (Hawkins) AYRES, was a native of Connecticut. Justin was raised to manhood on his father’s farm, then in the wilderness of Northern Ohio. He remained in Ohio until 1868, with the exception of two years in Pennsylvania, engaged as foreman in the construction of the Pennsylvania canal, and eight years more or less of the time in Wisconsin in manufacturing lumber.
In 1868 he came to Clarke County, Iowa, and settled on the farm where he now lives. Justin AYRES was married to Angeline Clarke, daughter of Johnson Clark, in Ohio, May, 1835. To them were born seven children, but five of whom are living-- Homer Clark, Frances Kimball, Alma L., Charles Thomas and Grace M. Rice. Thomas Corwin AYRES died September, 1847, aged nine years; George W. died January 4, 1864, aged eleven years. Angeline AYRES died in Ohio, September, 1866, aged fifty-two years.
Justin AYRES, the seventh generation from Captain John, their ancestor, as near as can be learned, is a typical AYRES of the early stock. About medium height and compact build, is rugged and tenacious of life. An independent thinker, very firm in his opinions, and always looks for the whys and wherefores before forming them. He has never had official aspirations and never filled any but some minor offices. He has always been a consistent temperance man, as he was anti-slavery until the war disposed of that question. Fugitive slaves not a few found aid and comfort under his roof in the days of such events. During the few years of old age passing he has read, and written not a little for the press upon the topic of “Government Loans to the People.†The idea is to furnish the people a currency, based upon property instead of bonds (promises to pay) and the interest to inure to the benefit of the whole people as a revenue to the Government instead of going to the coffers of banking corporations.
from reprint of “Clarke County Historical and Biographical Record†by Lewis Publishing, 1886. p. 110.
JUSTIN AYRES. - In the year 1870 a pamphlet was published by William Henry Whitmore, of Boston, Massachusetts, containing as complete a record of the AYRES family as it was possible to collect. To him we are indebted for collecting in available form much information regarding the AYRES family. Mr. Whitmore says: “Captain John AYRES was of Ipswich in 1648 and was then a tenant of John Norton’s. I know nothing of his parentage. He removed to Brookfield, Massachusetts, when the settlement of that place was commenced, and in 1672 sold all his rights at Ipswich. He was killed August 3, 1675, with seven others, at the battle at Brookfield with the Indians.
Though he had received large grants of land at Brookfield--some 2,000 acres-- his family undoubtedly returned to Ipswich and its vicinity, the settlement having been broken up and rendered unsafe. His widow presented an inventory of his estate now recorded at Salem, Massachusetts, on which she wrote, “I have seven sons and one daughter.†Of the seven sons the third one was Thomas of Newbury and Ipswich. He again had two sons, Thomas and Abram. This Thomas-- the third generation from our progenitor, Captain John-- was born January 25, 1678, or 1679. Of his children nothing is known to us at present, but as Thomas has been the name of sire and son for several generations, and as ninety-one years elapsed between the birth of this Thomas under review and the generation following, of which we have definite knowledge, we reasonably suppose that the fourth generation from Captain John was also Thomas. Thomas, as tradition has it, having been the family name running back to the original stock from which we are descended, and the lapse of ninety-one years between the birth of Thomas in the third generation and Thomas of Boston, are the circumstantial facts which point to there being an intervening generation named Thomas.
Thomas of Boston, of the fifth generation, followed the life of ocean sailor. He, while sailing in British waters or in a British port, was captured and pressed into the British naval service to fight against his own country. In the memorable battle off the coast of Scotland, in September, 1779, he was captured by the American privateer, Paul Jones, and returned to his native land. In this terrible battle he was Captain of a gun, and afterward related a story of a little Yankee gunner who was also impressed into the service, who threw the cannon ball out of the port-hole instead of putting it in the cannon’s mouth -- which may have had an influence in the termination of the battle.
Thomas, having been gone from home seven years, was supposed to be dead, and upon his return found his wife married again. Being of a peaceable nature he did not disturb the relations of wife with second husband.
He had two sons, Thomas and John-- the sixth generation in descent. John was a soldier in the war of 1812, was captured by the British and died a prisoner on shipboard on the way to Halifax. Thomas removed from Boston to Windsor County, Vermont, where he bought a farm. After selling the farm he removed in 1815 to Summit County, Ohio, then Portage County, with family, among which was five sons--John, Stephen, Thomas, Justin and Orrin.â€
Justin, the only one of the five now living-- the others having all died in California-- was born in Windsor County, Vermont, March 29, 1808. His mother, Polly (Hawkins) AYRES, was a native of Connecticut. Justin was raised to manhood on his father’s farm, then in the wilderness of Northern Ohio. He remained in Ohio until 1868, with the exception of two years in Pennsylvania, engaged as foreman in the construction of the Pennsylvania canal, and eight years more or less of the time in Wisconsin in manufacturing lumber.
In 1868 he came to Clarke County, Iowa, and settled on the farm where he now lives. Justin AYRES was married to Angeline Clarke, daughter of Johnson Clark, in Ohio, May, 1835. To them were born seven children, but five of whom are living-- Homer Clark, Frances Kimball, Alma L., Charles Thomas and Grace M. Rice. Thomas Corwin AYRES died September, 1847, aged nine years; George W. died January 4, 1864, aged eleven years. Angeline AYRES died in Ohio, September, 1866, aged fifty-two years.
Justin AYRES, the seventh generation from Captain John, their ancestor, as near as can be learned, is a typical AYRES of the early stock. About medium height and compact build, is rugged and tenacious of life. An independent thinker, very firm in his opinions, and always looks for the whys and wherefores before forming them. He has never had official aspirations and never filled any but some minor offices. He has always been a consistent temperance man, as he was anti-slavery until the war disposed of that question. Fugitive slaves not a few found aid and comfort under his roof in the days of such events. During the few years of old age passing he has read, and written not a little for the press upon the topic of “Government Loans to the People.†The idea is to furnish the people a currency, based upon property instead of bonds (promises to pay) and the interest to inure to the benefit of the whole people as a revenue to the Government instead of going to the coffers of banking corporations.