Alexander E

Alexander E. Ayers

Alexander E. Ayers is a recent addition to the already fine personnel of Lake County citizens, and his energetic character and successful prosecution of his business affairs make him a valued factor in the material and civic progress and prosperity of the county. He has been in the county for the past three years, and is already well known throughout the township of West Creek.

He was born in Shelby County, Ohio, December 15, 1847, and is the seventh of eight children, four sons and four daughters, born to Alexander H. and Julia (House) Ayers. He has two brothers still living. Michael, now a resident of Lake County, was a soldier for four years in the Civil War, was under fire for one hundred days during the Atlanta campaign under Sherman, then was on the march to the sea, was wounded at Stone River, December 31, 1862, being struck in the hips; at Marietta, Georgia, was stuck on the head by a piece of shell, and received his honorable discharge at Louisville, July 17, 1865. Samuel is a retired farmer of Heyworth, Illinois, and is a man of family.

The father of this family was born in Butler County, Ohio, December 12, 1812, and died December 20, 1885. He was reared and educated in his native county, and throughout life was a great reader and profound thinker. He was an active Whig and later an equally ardent Republican, and cast his votes for the candidates of the party from Freemont until his death. He came out to Woodford County, Illinois, in 1865, and lived there the greater part of his remaining years. He was a Universalist in religion, and his wife was inclined to the Methodist faith. The ancestry of the Ayres family is traced to the French. Julia Ayers, the mother of Mr. Ayers, was born in Butler County, Ohio, September 15, 1810, and died in 1897, December 21, being then eighty-seven years of age.

Mr. Alexander E. Ayers accompanied his parents to Woodford County, Illinois in 1865. He is in the main a self-educated man. He lived with and took care of his parents for many years. He has been married twice. His first wife died without issue, and on February 25, 1885, he was united in matrimony to Miss Alice V. DeBolt, who became the mother of eight children, six of whom are still living:

Arthur H., who has reached the eighth grade in his school work.
J. Emerson, who is a bright lad in the eighth grade of school, with an especial fondness for mathematics and history.
N. Guy, who has received his diploma from the eighth grade.
Ava Ray.
H. Bernard, who is in the fifth grade.
Frank Leslie, the baby of the family.

Mrs. Ayers was born in Woodford County, Illinois, October 5, 1860, and is the oldest of three children and the only daughter born to John and Eliza J. (Drake) DeBolt. One brother is living, John M., a successful grain merchant at El Paso, Illinois. Her father was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1830, and died July 28, 1898, at the age of sixty-eight. He was a farmer and went from Pennsylvania to Virginia, where he was reared. In 1857 he located and purchased land in Woodford County, Illinois, near El Paso. He was a strenuous Jackson democrat in politics, and was a man of broad intelligence and ability. He was a member of the Christian Church at the time of his death. His wife was a strong Methodist, and she was a bright and intelligent lady. Mrs. Ayes is a lover of the choicest literature, and she finds books to be her best companions. She is an ardent Methodist, and joined a class of one hundred and twenty-one under Rev. Milsap.

Mr. Ayers owned fifty acres of excellent land in Woodford County, and resided there until March 1, 1902, when he purchased and removed to his fine estate of bottom land in West Creek Township, consisting of four hundred and fifty-five acres, on which he has already placed many valuable improvements and which in time will be one of the model farms of the county. He is very much interested in stock raising, and keeps some fine grades on his place.

He is a Republican in politics, and has supported the candidates since casting his first vote for General Grant. He holds in the highest respect the tenets of Christianity, and for himself has tried to guide his path according to the golden rule. During their short residence he and his wife have gained the confidence and high regard of all with whom they have become associated in Lake County, and are people of the best personal worth and character.

Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of History 1834-1904 . A record of the Achievements of its people in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. By Rev. T. H. Ball of Crown Point, Editor-in-chief. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1904, page 493-94.