John Ayres, Jr.

Biography

Memento Mori Fugit Hora Here lyes ye body of John Ayres aged 62 years & 11 months who departed this life ye 12th of August 1711

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ayres-617

John Ayres Jr. was born in Oct 1648 [1] [2] [3] the son of Captain John Ayres and Susanna (Symonds) Ayres, probably in Ipswich, Massachusetts. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] He grew up in Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts, but moved with his parents to Quaboag Plantation (later Brookfield, Worcester Co., Massachusetts) about 1667 when he was about 18 years of age. [2] He became active in the affairs of the new settlement along with his father. On 9 Oct 1670 his name appears along with that of his father and brother, Samuel, on the Petition for Incorporation requesting a grant of additional lands at Quaboag to provide an inducement for increased settlement. [2]

On 28 Aug 1672, John married Abigail Hovey, the daughter of Quaboag neighbors, Daniel Hovey and his wife, Abigail (Andrews) Hovey. [2] [8] [9]
Unfortunately life on the plantation was not to remain peaceful. On June 20, 1675 a band of Pokanoket attacked several isolated homesteads in the small Plymouth colony settlement of Swansea. Laying siege to the town, they destroyed it five days later and killed several people, kicking off what became known as King Philip's War. The war quickly spread, and soon involved the Podunk tribe. During the summer of 1675, the Native Americans attacked at Middleborough and Dartmouth (July 8), and Mendon (July 14). [10]

Capt. Wheeler with about twenty of his troop joined Capt. Hutchinson and marched on 28 July 1675 from Cambridge into the Nipmuck Country. They arrived at Quabaog (Brookfield) on 1 Aug 1675. The next day, Capt. Hutchinson, accompanied by the troopers, scouts and "three of the chief men of Brookfield," including John's father, John Ayres, went to meet with the local Nipmuck tribe. They were ambushed en route and eight men were killed instantly including Sergeants John Ayres and William Pritchard, and Corporal Richard Coye; five more were wounded. In the fight that followed, the remaining troops, while wounded, managed to escape and made their way back to Brookfield. They sounded the alarm and about 80 people from 14 families (including John and his mother and siblings) prepared to defend themselves at Ayres' Tavern. [7] Meanwhile the Indian force reached Brookfield and began to pillage the outlying homes and buildings and lay siege to the tavern. On 3rd Aug, they gathered hay and began to burn the town. Travelers saw the fires from a distance and brought the alarm to Marlborough. [11]

Maj. Willard arrived with reinforcements during the night of 4 Aug causing the Indians to withdraw on 5 Aug. Additional troops from Boston arrived on 7 Aug. [11] While there had been only a few additional deaths, the town was destroyed. Over the next month everyone gathered whatever they could salvage of their belongings and evacuated for safer places. John took his wife, mother, and other siblings and returned to Ipswich, where they still had other family. [2] [4] The Court ordered the residents to evacuate the town and not return for twelve years. [7]

John's first wife, Abigail, died on 2 Jan 1677 possibly in Brookfield. [12] She was interred in Copps Hill Burying Gound, Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts. [13]

John remarried shortly thereafter to Mary [14] and had three children, all recorded at Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts: [15] [4] [6] [7]

1. A child believed to have been named John (but record is torn), b. Sept. 1677
2. Abigail, b. 14 May 1680, and
3. Ruth, b. 22 Nov 1685; d. 24 Dec 1685

Sometime thereafter, John and Mary are believed to have moved to Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, [4] [6] where John was employed as a barber. [6] [3] On 10 Aug 1711 at age 62, John left all of his property to his wife, Mary and died two days later. [4] [6] [3] He is interred in the Copps Hill Burying Ground in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts. [1]

Research Notes

A child of John and Mary was born in Sept. 1677 in Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts. The first name is uncertain since the page on which it was recorded was torn. [10] Some researchers identify that child as John, [11] [12] [7] but Graves [1] identifies the son, John, being born in 1674, and the child born in 1677 as Ann, who married John Lawson.

Hoyt, David W. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts. (Providence, RI, 1897-1919) I:41.

John Ayres (John), of Ipswich, [b. ab. 1649?]; m. Mary (--). He perhaps rem. to Boston and d. Aug. 12, 1711, aged 62. Will of John Ayer of Boston, "barber," Aug. 12, Aug. 16, 1711; gave all property to wife Mary. [Boston Probate.].

Their children (born at Ipswich):

• 1. John b. Sept. 1677
• 2. Abigail b. May 14, 1680
• 3. Ruth b. Nov. 22, 1685, d. Dec. 24, 1685

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Origins

In 1703, Samuel, John and Thomas were appointed executors of the estate of John Sr. On Jan 14, 1716, as recorded in Worcester in 1741, the land formerly possessed at Brookfield by John Ayres Sr., was conveyed to Joseph Ayres of Ipswich by Thomas, Mark, Edward, and Nathaniel, sons of Sgt. John; and by Samuel, son of Samuel and grandson of Sgt. John; and by Robert Day, son of Suzannah (Ayres) (Day) and grandson of Sgt. John.

References

1. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ayres-617
   1. Find A Grave Profile for John Ayres Jr. (1648 - 1711) buried at Copps Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8434379
   2. Roy, Louis E., Quaboag Plantation alias Brookefield, Massachusetts Published by L. E. Roy, Hefernan Press, Worcester, MA (1965) 308 pages https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Quaboag_Plantation_alias_Brooke...
   3. WeRelate Profile of John Ayres (aka Ayers) (est 1649 - 1711) http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:John_Ayers_%286%29
   4. Whitmore, William Henry. Descendants of John Ayres of Brookfield Mass (T. R. Marvin, Boston, Massachusetts, 1870) - Second Generation, pages 10 - 12; Person No. 2
   5. Treman, Ebenezer Mack. The History of the Treman, Tremaine, Truman Family in America (Press of the Ithaca Democrat, 1901) Person No. 360000; Page 1233. Person No. 370240 Page 1242.
   6. Hoyt, David W. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury Massachusetts (Providence, Rhode Island, 1897) - Person No. 90 on Page 41, 42, 155
   7. Miner Descent - Account of the Seige of Brookfield - Aug 1675 and Bio of John Ayres, owner of Ayres' Tavern Miner Descent - Brookfield
   8. Pynchon, John, Magistrate Book, 1639 - 1702, Connecticut Valley Historical Society, Springfield, Massachusetts, p. 255.
   9. Daniel Hovey Association, The Hovey Book (Press of L. R. Hovey, Haverhill, Massachusetts, 1913) (574 pages) page 15.
   10. Wikipedia Article - King Philip's War
   11. Bodge, George M., Soldiers In King Philip's War (Pub. by Author, Boston, Massachusetts, 1891) (408 pages) page 61 - 63
   12. WeRelate Profile of Abigail (Hovey) Ayres] (abt 1650 - 1677)
   13. Find A Grave Memorial for Abigail (Hovey) Ayres died 2 Jan 1677 at the age of 27 years
   14. Miner and Hammatt suggest this Mary was Mary (Wooddam) Ayer, but Hoyt and Whitmore and others disagree, having her the wife of John Ayer Jr., son of John Ayer instead.
   15. Vital Records of Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts
2. A record of the descendants of Captain John Ayres of Brookfield, Mass by Whitmore, William Henry, 1836-1900. Page 10. Archive.Org
3. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Susanna_Symonds_%285%29
4. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ayers-1120
   1. Graves, John Kimball. Some Seventeenth-century New England Settlers: Ayer, Aires, etc. (Published by Author, 1963, 52 pages.)
   2. Graves thinks that John's mother was Mary because he was unaware of his father's first wife, Abigail, who he married in 1672 and then died in 1677. His father married his second wife, Mary after that - too late to be this John's mother.
   3. Birth year is calculated from death record in Newbury that shows he was buried in April 1744 at age 70, making his birth year about 1674.
   4. Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 - Newbury, Massachusetts, Death Records