Family History - Ayres Family History
The early history of the Ayres family appears to be lost in confusion over names. Certainly, the antecessors of this family prior to the arrival of John at Ipswich, cannot be easily traced. The prime biographer of the family, William Henry Whitmore, in his excellent genealogy states flatly: 'I know nothing of his parentage'. In an article which he wrote for the New England Historical and Genealogical Register in 1863 he says thus: 'Having spent some time in tracing the early generations of two distinct families of Ayres and Ayers I desire to preserve the result. Savage, (renowned biographer of early New Englanders), in his account, makes a mistake which escaped my notice till my attention was called to it by Mr. Melvin Lord. Captain John Ayres of Ipswich and Brookfield was not the son of John Ayres of Haverhill. I have carefully examined the deeds of Salem, and have careful copies of the town records of Ipswich and Haverhill, and these show that the mistake had been made by confounding two persons of the same name. It has been suggested that he was the John Eyre, grocer of Norwich, England, age 40 in 1637, who went to Holland, but this seems highly improbable.'
SOURCE: Quaboag Plantation - Alias Brookfield: A Seventeenth Century Massachusetts Town by Louis E. Roy, M. D., West Brookfield, MA; Worcester, MA: Heffernan Press, Inc., 1965. The following information has been transcribed as found. In Chapter VII is an excellent biography of Captain John Ayres (pages 222-230) along with other information. The entire transcription can be read at Gloria Odom's site.
History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Embracing a Comprehensive History of the County from... By Abijah Perkins Marvin is available by searching Google Books.
Register Report for Capt. John Ayres and his Descendants
Other books on the Ayers or Ayres Family include:
- Whitmore, William Henry. A Record of The Descendants of Captain John Ayres, of Brookfield, Mass. Boston: T. R. Marvin & Son, 1870. 55 pages with index; in book size abt. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. Notes by transcriber Gloria Odom: To my knowledge, this book would no longer be under copyright; it is presented in its entirety with slight changes in format. Descendants have found that the author's work is not without error, but it does represent a quality beginning for recording the descendants.
- Temple, J. H., History of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Preceded by an Account of Old Quabaug, Indian and English Occupation, 1647-1676; Brookfield Records, 1686-1783. With a Genealogical Register. Published by The Town of North Brookfield, 1887.
- Misc Ayres Resources on Capt John & Family Includes calendar "double dating" system.
- History of Barnard Vermont with Family Genealogies; 1761-1927 By William Monroe Newton; includes those pages pertaining to the AYRES Family.
Each of the above sites will open a new browser window. Information on those sites has been transcribed and shared by Gloria Odom.
Vital Records of Brookfield Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849. Published by Franklin P. Rice. 1909. These are scanned images of the birth, marriage, and death records for the surname AYRES/AYERS. This file is in PDF format so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The following abbreviations are used:
- GS1 gravestone Brookfield Cemetery
- GS2 gravestone Evergreen Cemetery, East Brookfield
- GS3 gravestone Old Cemetery, North Brookfield
- GS4 gravestone Walnut Grove Cemetery, North Brookfield
- GS5 gravestone Ragged Hill Cemetery, West Brookfield
- GS6 gravestone New Cemetery, West Brookfield
- GS7 gravestone, Old Cemetery, West Brookfield
The following surnames are also included: Births - Babbit, Babbitt, Bacon, Badger, Bailey, Bal, Balcom, Baldwin, Ball Marriages - Atwood, Austin, Avery, Avry, Axdel, Axtell, Aynsworth, Babbet, Babbit Deaths - Babbit, Babbitt, Babcock, Babit, Bacon, Baldwin, Ball, Bancroft, Banister
Will of Captain Moses Ayres born 3 Dec 1725 in Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts; died 6 Dec 1796 in Brookfield.
Will of Moses Ayres, Jr. born 30 Jan 1751 in Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts; died abt 1825 in Barnard, Windsor County, Vermont.