Sedgwick-Woodson-Reno County KS Archives Biographies.....Ayers, John S. 1836 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 18, 2007, 2:36 am

Author: O. H. Bentley

  John S. Ayers, retired farmer, of Cheney, Kan., is a native of Kentucky, where
he was born on December 9, 1836, in Bourbon county. His parents were Samuel
Hales Ayers and Lucinda (Bondurant) Ayers. Both were natives of Virginia, the
father having been born and reared in Buckingham county. The parents at an early
day removed from Virginia to Jackson county, Missouri, John S. Ayers at the time
being twelve years old. From Jackson county the family removed to Shelby county,
Missouri, where the father died in 1848. His widow died in 1868 in Illinois.
John S. Ayers was one of a family of fifteen children, all of whom are dead
except himself. John S. Ayers was educated in the subscription schools of
Kentucky and Missouri, and at the age of nineteen left home and worked on a farm
for a year, receiving from 25 cents up to $10 a month for his labor. He then
went to Green county, Kentucky, to a friend of his father's, who paid his way to
Missouri, and in 1848 he landed at Palmyra. An uncle knew of his coming and met
him there. It was the intention of John S. Ayers to explore the West and visit
Pike's Peak, but his uncle persuaded him not to go and to stay with him, which
he did, working on a farm and cleaning it up in Scotland county, Missouri, to
which place he accompanied his uncle. As compensation for his labor John S. was
to get one-fourth of the proceeds of the farm, which amounted to $35 the first
year, $25 and board and clothes the second year and $40 the third year. In 1860
he was married to Miss Margaret Piper, of Scotland, Mo. Of this union there were
born three children, two of whom are now living viz.: Lewis Samuel Ayers and
Mary E., now Mrs. Hogarth. Mrs. Ayers died early in 1865, and in the same year
Mr. Ayers married Miss Lucinda Rogers, a cousin of his first wife, in Schuyler
county, Missouri. Of this union there were born thirteen children, four of whom
are living, viz.: George, Thomas, John and Margaret. George is living in
Oklahoma and has a family of two children; Thomas is living in the state of
Washington and has two children; John lives in Portland, Ore., and has one
child. After marrying his second wife, who was living in Illinois at the time,
Mr. Ayers went back to Missouri, but returned to Illinois and located in
Tazewell county, where he remained one year and then came to Kansas and located
in Woodson county in 1868, where he homesteaded and lived nine years up to 1877.
He then sold out his farm and moved to Reno county, Kan., where he built a
comfortable home and lived there up to 1906, when he removed to Cheney and built
a fine residence, where he lives retired, enjoying the sunset of an upright
career. Mr. Ayers owns other valuable property in Cheney. He is a member of the
Masonic Order, and a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. When the Civil War broke out he
acknowledged allegiance to the Confederacy and in 1863 enlisted in a Missouri
regiment and served for two years under General Price, Army of the Missouri. Mr.
Ayers was taken prisoner at Little Rock, Ark., and sent to Fort Riley, Kan.,
where he took the oath of allegiance to the Union and returned again to his home
in Missouri. Mr. Ayers' second wife died several years ago, and he is residing
alone in Cheney.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from 

History of Wichita and Sedgwick County: past and present, including an account
of the cities, towns and villages of the county

Editor in chief: O. H. Bentley
Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co. (1910)


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