David
Ayers was born January 8, 1744 in Basking Ridge, Somerset County, New Jersey, the son of Moses Ayers and wife Jane Chambers. He
came to Lower Mount Bethel as a young man. He had been married to Elizabeth, who died in 1777
after the birth and death of their son William. They are buried in the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church Cemetery.
About
this time David came to Lower Mt. Bethel, Northampton County, Pennsylvania and
was a member of the Hunter Martin Settlement and sometime after that married Elizabeth
McDowell.
His
service in the Revolutionary War is noted in the Pennsylvania Archives 5th
Series, Vol. 8, pages 384, 385 and 607. He served as a private 8th class in the 5th Battalion, 7th company, under Capt. Hugh Gaston, Northampton County,
Pennsylvania, 1780. The DAR lists
him as Ancestor #: A004071.
 |
| http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp |
Records
show that he owned land in the
vicinity of Richmond, Northampton
County, Pennsylvania, extending from Richmond to Gruvertown. He built a large house and mill which was of great use to the
settlers in the area.
Shull
says, “the vigorous personality of the man and his unflinching integrity, gave
him great influence. He was looked
to for the soundness of his
judgment and his strong practical sense, and for a great many years was the
justice of the peace in the township.
He was a stanch Presbyterian and a large contributor to the beginning of
the local church…”
He
had two sons, David and Moses, of whom David pushed on into the new country of
Ohio, and Moses stayed on the homestead. Moses married Mary Britain and had a daughter Jane, who married Henry Rasley. Their daughter Sarah Rasley married William McEwen and were the great grandparents of my mother, Lois McEwen Hughes.
David Ayers is buried in the Scotch-Irish Cemetery, Martins Creek, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. This cemetery is associated with the people who were a part of the Huter Martin Settlement of Lower Mount Bethel, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
David Ayers is buried in the Scotch-Irish Cemetery, Martins Creek, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. This cemetery is associated with the people who were a part of the Huter Martin Settlement of Lower Mount Bethel, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
The tombstones were inscribed
Ayers,
David Esq. d.
1-25-1835, 91y
Ayers,
Elizabeth, wife
of David Ayers, d.
2-13-1815, 78y
Researching
David Ayers provided an
interesting tidbit when I realized
that his descent from Thomas Eyre
(1549 - 1629) made my parents 10th cousins. Oh Yeah, that is bound to happen when you start climbing the
family tree.
My
mother descends from John Ayers whose descendants, migrated out of Massachusetts
and into New Jersey, finally crossing the Delaware River and arriving in the Hunter Martin Settlement in Lower Mount Bethel, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania. This is David's line.
My
father descends from Robert Eyer, John’s brother. Catherine Eyer, Robert’s daughter, married Charles
Chauncey. Chauncey descendants migrated across Massachusetts, into New York and
finally into Bradford County, Pennsylvania.
It
is a long story so I will attach a
page showing the line of descent from Thomas Eyre, making my parents 10th cousins.
Sources:
- The
Early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches, and Genealogies, Theodore Frelinghuysen Chambers, Dover Printing Company, 1895, page 244, online
ebook.
- Miller, Ketchledge, Martin, Thompson, Brittain, Ayres, Raub Genealogies, Shull, Horatio Gates, Easton, Pa. : The author, 1929.
Please see this list of all My Revolutionary War Ancestors.
I welcome your comments. Please consider joining
this BLOG as a follower or member.
Copyright
This page ©
2013, Cynthia H. Smith
Send email to chsmith47@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment