Capt. John Ayers of Ipswich, MA
Capt. John Ayers
of Ipswich, MA

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Prepared By: Arlene L. Brown Ackermann
4989 SE Hanson Circle
Stuart, FL 34997-1714
(772) 781-4393
Send email to preparer:
[email protected]
Created with Ultimate Family Tree, ver 2.7
22 Apr 2003

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Dec 2009 UPDATE INFORMATION

Since first posting this database online in April 2003, I have spent considerable hours updating and documenting the information; however ... because the genealogical software program, Ultimate Family Treem (UFT), that I used to create this database is no longer being supported or available, I have transferred all my databases over to The Master Genealogist (TMG).  This has resulted in my going through the hoops of a whole new learning curve.  Add to that the fact that I have had to use a third-party software called "Second Site" to generate the HTML code ... another learning curve.  At my age (age 69y in 2009), going through one learning curve is nerve wracking enough, let alone handling two at the same time.  It is my hope to get these files updated as quickly as I can with all the new data that I've been accumulating since Apr of 2003; however, it just hasn't been as easy as I anticipated.

In 2004-2005 we had three devasting hurricanes (Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma) to add to our woes here in Florida.  Now that we've pretty much recovered from the damage done to our home and property, I'm hoping to get my research activities back "up to speed."  For those of you who have been so great to send me emails and "corrections" to this database, I do thank you and hope you'll understand that with over 200 emails a day, it's become increasingly difficult to answer each and every one right away.

The PRIMARY source for information in this family database was abstracted from "The Ayres and Ayer Families," communicated by W. H. Whitmore, Esq. and appearing in New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) Register 17:307-310 (Oct 1863).  I have added very little to Mr. Whitmore's account here ... but ... I do have more information available offline.  The database you see here does not represent all the information I have on this family ... please contact me for additional clarification and current research results.  That said ... on to Mr. Whitmore's article ...

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 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 and Brookfield was not the son of John Ayer of Haverhill.  I have examined the deeds at Salem, and have made copies of the town records of Ipswich and Haverhill, and these records 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.

He was of Salisbury and Haverhill - and had children:  John, Robert, Thomas, Peter, Obadiah, Nathaniel, Hannah, Rebecca (who m John Aslet, 8 Oct 1648), and Mary.  His will was proved 6 Oct 1647 (NEHGS Register 6:207) and in 1692 his widow Hannah deeds land to son Robert, and was joined by children 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: ...

... 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, daughter of Mark Symonds was his only wife.  It has been suggested that he was the John Eyre, grocer of Norwich, Eng., aged 40 in 1637, who went to Holland (NEHGS Register 14:327), but this seems highly improbable.

I notice in the Historical Collection of the Essex Institute (1:95) that William Lamson of Ipswich died, leaving eight children before 29 March 1659; and his widow Sarah desired to marry one Thomas Hartshorne of Reading, but her borthers, William Fellows and John Ayres opposed it, 1661.  Now as John Ayres m 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, 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.

I find on the original inventory presented by his widow, "I have senve 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 in 1682 to Mrs. Ayres.  I have already (NEHGS Reg. 15:332) shown from deeds the names of these eight children, they were:  John, Samuel, Thomas, Joseph; Edward (b 12 Feb 1658), Mark (b 14 Dec 1661), and Nathaniel (b 6 Jul 1664), Susanna (the daughter, married a Day and had a son Robert Day of New Roxbury 1716). ...

... I will notice but one or two of these grandsons of Capt. John Ayres, 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 Ayres, son of Samuel and Abigail (Fellows) and grandson of Capt. John Ayres, married Eliner Randall of Ipswich 7 June 1715 and had:  Martha (b 2 Mar 1718), John (b 22 Nov 1719, d 20 Feb 1720/1), John (b 17 Sep 1721), Elizabeth (b 6 Oct 7123, d 9 of same month).  His wife d 31 Oct 1734, and he married Hannah Gold (pub. 31 Dec 1737). ...

UPDATE (3 Dec 2009): My husband of over 40 years is currently undergoing chemotherapy for Stage 4 Colon Cancer and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).  Unfortunately, I will be unable to maintain my research on this family line until further notice.

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FAMILY HISTORY DISCLAIMER

All the family information I�ve published here is information I believe, based on research conducted by me and others, to be accurate.  However, there are significant variations in base reliability of the many different sources I and others have used, so please don�t take any of it as gospel.  (Better still, please email me if you see anything that you believe needs to be corrected!!!)  Feel free to use this information to determine whether or not I may be researching families of interest to you; however, you do not have permission to publish in any format (including online databases) any of the information contained herein without my specific permission.

Most of the information contained herein has been converted from old versions of PAF (Personal Ancestral File), Commsoft software (RootsM, RootsII, RootsIII, Visual Roots, etc.), and FamilyTreeMaker (FTM) and I'm trying very hard to update all the information and include all my sources - it's an exhausting job!!!!  My personal database now contains over 150,000 individuals and is growing every day.  However, I�m publishing it online now so others can find helpful connections, NOT to contribute to the already vast supply of genealogical misinformation floating around.  I will update and/or change files as need necessitates.  But ... if you do find connections and information that are new and interesting to you, please do NOT add it to your database(s) without first contacting me regarding sources for and reliability of the information.  I am extremely interested in discovering all individuals who are interested in and/or working on my lines.

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Table of Contents

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Surnames

Aleman, Anthony, Ayer, Ayers, Ayers-Shotwell, Ayres, Barlow, Beaney, Belknap, Blackwood, Bradley, Bridges, Brown, Buchholz, Calef, Carleton, Carlton, Clark, Clement, Clements, Colson, Corliss, Crane, Cronk, Dole, Doughty, DuPuis, Dustin, Duston, Ebler, Ela, Elam, Emery, Fountain, Franco, Fulmore, Greenlaw, Guptil, Hall, Hamilton, Harris, Haynes, Hilyard, Holmes, Holt, Johnson, Kingsbury, Ladd, Langmaid, Lank, Libby, Little, Lomax, Loura, Lowell, Madison, Martin, Mathews, Mitchel, Newman, Pavano, Peacock, Pettingell, Phinney, Polley, Porter, Quimby, Randall, Riley, Shaw, Shepard, Shotwell-Crane, Smith, Sprague, Staples, Stubbs, Trihias, Walker, Webster, Wentworth, White, Wood, Zarrella

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Last updated: 27 NOv 2009