George V. Ayres Biography


	This biography appears on pages 124-128 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				GEORGE V. AYRES.  

	When the good roads movement commenced in western South Dakota 
about five years ago, George V. Ayres, shell chairman of the board of 
county commissioners of Lawrence county, took an active part as a 
pioneer in modern highway progress. His activity and his well known 
ability soon made him a header in a movement that grew rapidly, and 
today Lawrence county has mountain highways that are the admiration of 
the west, while others are in course  of construction throughout 
western South Dakota that are destined to mean the greatest prosperity 
for this region; and to George V. Ayres, more than to any other one 
man, is due the credit for this progress. He is justly proud of his 
achievement as a constructive designer and builder of good roads; 
probably more so than of any other success he has attained during his 
long and useful career.  
Mr. Ayres has labored long and earnestly in behalf of the movement, 
recognizing clearly the relation between commercial development and 
good roads. He was a delegate to and chairman of the first and second 
good roads conventions which started the work west of the river on the 
Black and Yellow Trail (Chicago, Black Hills and Yellowstone Park 
highway extending from Yellowstone Park to Chicago), and the Deadwood 
and Denver highway, from Deadwood, South Dakota, to Denver, Colorado.  

	In political belief, Mr. Ayres is a republican and has taken a 
prominent part in the affairs of the party in South Dakota. He was for 
four years chairman of the board of county commissioners and is still 
serving as a member of the board. Under President Harrison he served as 
receiver of public moneys at the United States land office at Rapid 
City for three and a half years, proving himself to be a capable and 
conscientious official. He was a member of the Deadwood city council 
for two years, and for six years served as chairman of the republican 
county committee for four consecutive years the republican state 
committee enjoyed his services as vice chairman.  

	Mr. Ayres has for years been recognized as one of the very active 
members of the Society of Black Hills Pioneers of '76. he served as 
president of that body in 1900 and again in 1914 and 1915. He is a 
member of Deadwood Lodge, No 508, B. P. O. E.  

	He is a stockholder and director in the Franklin Hotel; 
stockholder in the First National Bank; and an active member of the 
Deadwood Business Club, having served on the board of directors and as 
its president for several years. He is president of the Deadwood-
Heidelberg Mining Company and is connected with a number of other local 
mining enterprises. He is also a member of the South Dakota Retail 
Hardware Association and one of the board of directors of the South 
Dakota Children's Home Society.  

	He has utilized wisely the opportunities that have presented 
themselves, and his busy life has not only won him individual success 
but has been decidedly instrumental in promoting the public welfare 
along many lines of endeavor, and all who know him give him the respect 
which true worth alone can command.  

	For forty-one years Mr. Ayres has been a Mason, and if he had 
done nothing else in his life than the service he has rendered to 
Masonry in unselfish loyalty and good hard work be could well be 
remembered for this alone. He joined the order in 1874 and has been one 
of the few men who has been prominent in Masonic circles of the state 
for many years. He served his lodge as master for three years, being 
first elected to that office in 1884. On June 13, 1888, he was elected 
deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Dakota, and on June 12, 1889, 
grand master of the Grand Lodge of South Dakota, serving one year. He  
 was elected high priest January 10, 1894, and served for two years. On 
June 13, 1895, he was elected deputy grand high priest of the Grand 
Chapter of South Dakota, and grand high priest June 12, 1896, serving 
for one year. He has served as deputy master of Lakota Council U. D. 
Royal and Select Masters. After serving in minor offices of his 
commandery he was elected eminent commander in 1888 and later served as 
grand commander of South Dakota and in various other offices in the 
Grand Commandery.  

	Mr. Ayres has been a member of the Scottish Rite since 1893 and 
is now an honorary thirty-third degree and deputy of the S. G. 
Inspector General for South Dakota. He is registrar and secretary of 
the four bodies in the Black Hills Consistory. He crossed the burning 
sands of Naja Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Deadwood in 1893 and served 
as potentate in 1897. He represented Naja Temple at the Imperial 
Council in 1898. He is also past worthy patron of Deadwood Chapter, No. 
23, O. E. S. During the term of his office as grand master of the State 
Grand Lodge, Mr. Ayres was very rigid in enforcing a resolution which 
bad been a<lopted by the Grand Lodge and drove the so-called "Cerneau 
Rite" out of the state. He also established the "Grand Charity Fund."

	George Vincent Ayres was born in Monroe township, Wyoming county, 
Pennsylvania, November  1, 1852, a son of James L. and Patience M. 
(Vincent) Ayres, both of whom were natives of the Empire state, the 
mother born in Beakman township, Dutchess county on the 9th of October, 
1819, and the father in New York city on the 11th of May, 1810. In 
early life the latter engaged in the logging business but later turned 
his attention to farming.  

	James Leonard Ayres and Patience Maria Vincent were married 
November 11, 1837, at Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, by the 
Rev. Benjamin Bidlack. In 1857 the family emigrated from Pennsylvania 
to De Kalb county, Illinois, and resided in Illinois for over a year, 
moving from there to Buchanan county, Missouri, in the fall of 1858, 
and from there to Nemaha county, Kansas, in the spring of 1859, and 
thence to Gage county, Nebraska, in the spring of 1860 and located on a 
farm five miles east of Blue Springs, where the family resided until 
the spring of 1866, when they moved into Beatrice, Nebraska, in order 
to give the children school advantages. There the father engaged in the 
hotel business for a number of years but sold out and lived retired 
during the later years of his life. Both he and his wife passed away in 
that city, the father on the 11th of December, 1892, and the mother on 
the 12th of December, 1905.  

	George V. Ayres is the fifth in order of birth in the family of 
seven children born to his parents and received his schooling in 
Beatrice, Nebraska, When seventeen years of age he accepted a position 
as clerk in a drug store in Beatrice in order to learn the business and 
was so engaged until 1876, when he resigned and went to the Black 
Hills.  

	He left Beatrice, Nebraska, March 1, 1876, and proceeded to 
Cheyenne, Wyoming, by rail and there he and five others hired a team 
and driver to haul their provisions and outfit to Custer City, Black 
Hills, while they themselves walked. The party left Cheyenne, March 8, 
and arrived at Custer City March 25, 1876, having been on the road 
seventeen days, and although it snowed ten of those days and the 
weather was severe, they slept out of doors without even a tent to 
protect them from the weather. After prospecting in the vicinity of 
Custer City for a time, Mr. Ayres pushed on to Deadwood, arriving there 
May 26, and shortly after engaged in cutting saw logs near Deadwood for 
the firm of Thompson & Street, Rev. Henry Weston Smith, the "Pioneer 
Preacher of the Black Hills," who was killed by Indians on Sunday, 
August 20, 1876, was employed there at the same time, firing the boiler 
in the sawmill.  

	Mr. Ayres remained there until July 8, 1876, when he returned to 
Custer City and worked for a year in the general store of Harlow & 
Company, and the Cheyenne & Black Hills Stage Company's office. At the 
end of that time he prospected for a few months on Spring creek, and in 
September, 1877, returned to Deadwood and secured employment in Richard 
C. Lake's hardware store, thoroughly familiarizing himself with all the 
aspects of that business. He saved his money and in 1882 purchased an 
interest in the business and is now its sole owner. He has a full stock 
of shelf and heavy hardware and specializes in mining supplies, 
carrying the largest stock in that line of any store in the Black 
Hills. He conforms his business methods to the highest standard of 
ethics, and his fair dealing and reasonable prices have been largely 
responsible for the increased patronage of his store.  

	Mr. Ayres was married on the 23d of April, 1885, to Miss Kate 
Towle, a native of Beatrice, Nebraska. She was born August 15, 1859, 
and was the first white child whose birth occurred in Gage county, 
Nebraska. Her parents were Albert and Catherine (Holt) Towle, the 
former a native of Russellville, Logan county, Kentucky, born May 13, 
1822, and the latter of Warren county, New York, born January 6, 1817. 
The Lather was one of the founders of Beatrice and engaged in the hotel 
business there for a number of years. For nineteen years he served 
efficiently and conscientiously as postmaster of that city, His death 
occurred on the 8th of March, 1879, and his widow survived him for ten 
years, her death occurring on the 10th of March, 1889. Mrs. Ayres 
passed away at Rapid City on the 28th of March, 1892. She was the 
mother of two children: James Albert, who was born in Deadwood, March 
29, 1886, and is now a Presbyterian minister at Lead, South Dakota; and 
Helen, who was born January 1, 1888, and died June 13th of the same 
year. Mr. Ayres was married at Omaha, Nebraska, on the 21st of 
December, 1898, to Miss Myrtle Coon, a native of Hebron, Nebraska, and 
a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Coon, who were early residents of 
Nebraska, the father serving as county treasurer for a number of years, 
also as member of the state legislature and is now government gauger, 
and still living in Omaha. Five children were born to the second 
marriage of Mr. Ayres, namely: George Vincent, Jr., born August 18, 
1899; Frances Glenn, born August 11, 1900; Alice, born December 19, 
1902; Albro Charles, born July 1, 1907; and Lloyd Richard born December 
7, 1909.