Note by transcriber:
Brackets in this biography were added by this compiler - to clarify, or note differences from other records held by this compiler.

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     For over forty years this gentleman was closely identified with the agricultural and business interests of Henry county, and was

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accounted one of its most worthy citizens.  By his well-directed efforts he acquired a comfortable competence, and was able to spend his last years in ease and retirement from active labor at his pleasant home in Geneseo.
     Mr. Ayres was born in Hampden county, Massachusetts, January 17, 1810, a son of Asa and Mary (White) [WAIT] Ayres, who were also natives of the Bay state and of English descent.  The family was founded in this country by three brothers who came from England in the early part of the seventeenth century and settled in Massachusetts.  Our subject traced his ancestry back to Captain John Ayres, who located in Brookfield, Massachusetts, in 1648, and in 1662 removed to Ipswich, that state.  He lost his life in a struggle with the Indians, to which the early settlers of the east were frequently subjected.  He died August 3, 1675, leaving two sons, of whom John, the older of these, died in Ipswich, December 24, 1685.  The other, Samuel Ayres, was successively a resident of Newbury and Rowley, Massachusetts.  He was married at Ipswich, April 16, 1677, to Abigail, daughter of William Fellows, and to them were born ten children.   Their son Joseph Ayres made his home in Brookfield, and was the father of Samuel Ayres, also a resident of that place and a weaver by trade.  The latter was married January 21, 1742, to Martha Bell, and they became the parents of ten children.  To this family belonged Asa Ayres, the father of our subject.   He also had ten children, of whom Buenos was the youngest and belonged to the seventh generation of the family in America.
      When the subject of this sketch was a lad of ten years, he accompanied his parents on their removal to the western reserve of Ohio, where the father purchased one hundred acres of wild land and improved a farm in what is now Lake county.  In early life Buenos Ayres learned the carpenter's and millwright's trade, and remained with his father until reaching manhood.
     On the 1st of September, 1833, Mr. Ayres was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Osborne, who was born in Oxford, Connecticut, September 2, 1816, and was a representative of an old New England family, her parents being Ransom and Sarah (Hurd) Osborne.  Soon after their marriage they removed to Willoughby, Ohio, where their two oldest children were born, and in the spring of 1837 took up their abode in Hicksville, Defiance county, that state, where six more children were added to the family.  In 1850 they removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where as a millwright Mr. Ayres was engaged in business for one year, being engaged in the construction of some important mills in that locality.  In 1851 he brought his family to Illinois, and for two years worked at his trade in Bureau county.  On coming to Henry county in 1853, he purchased a farm in Munson township and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits.  In his farming operations he steadily prospered and became an extensive land owner.  To his original purchase he added until he had three hundred and twenty acres of well improved and valuable land in his home farm, besides a tract of one hundred and sixty acres in Cambridge township and real estate in Colorado and Geneseo.  In 1877 he rented his farm and removed to Geneseo, where he lived retired until his death, which occurred on the 9th [29th] of September, 1895.  He was a skilled mechanic and successful farmer, and was also a man of excellent business and executive ability, being able to carry forward to

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successful completion whatever he undertook.  In political sentiment he was a Republican.  He attended the Unitarian Church, and was a man of strict integrity and honorable dealings, who possessed the good opinion of all who knew him.  He was public-spirited and took an active interest in all that pertained to the advancement of his adopted county, and in his death the community realized that it had lost a valued citizen.  His estimable wife passed away November 1, 1894.
     Unto this worthy couple were born eleven children as follows:
     Sheldon H., born April 23, 1835, was married January 22, 1857, to Louisa Emery, who died in Galva [in Henry Co., IL], March 12, 1864, and in May 1865 he married Sarah Frank [FRONK].   He went to Kansas during the troublesome times in that state prior to the Civil war, and as a free-state man took an active part in the border warfare. 
     Orlando B., born July 26, 1836, married Annie L. Stone.  He died in San Diego, California, March 27, 1900.
     George W., born January 6, 1838 [1839], died on the 10th [16th] of the following October.
     Mary A., born November 22, 1840, died three days later.
     Samuel P., born May 16, 1842, wedded Mary Inglefield, and is editor and proprietor of the Marshalltown Herald, Marshalltown, Iowa. 
     Esther E., born May 14, 1845, married J. D. Hill, of Geneseo, whose sketch appears on another page of this volume.
     Roderick W., born April 26, 1848, is a resident of Bussey, Marion county, Iowa; married Sadie H. Ingelfield, and after her death was again married, December 27, 1876, his second union being with Edith M. Swain.
     Ransom O., born in Bureau county, Illinois, October 24, 1852, was married January 26 [25], 1877, to Fannie J. Reaver, and lives in Knoxville, Iowa.
     Azoline, born in Munson township, this county, August 24, 1854, died three days later.
     John C. F. is mentioned more fully below.
     Helen E., born in Munson township, September 3, 1859, died October 13, 1862.

     John C. F. Ayres was born on the old homestead in Munson township, August 26, 1856, and during his boyhood assisted his father in the labors of the fields.  He attended the local schools, and also the high school of Geneseo.  On the 25th of December, 1879, he married Miss Sarah Alice Martin, a daughter of John S. and Dovey A. (Hamilton) Martin, who are also represented elsewhere in this volume.  By this union were born seven children, namely: Carrie M., Jessie M., John D., Elsie M., Helen M., Laura A. and Lois.  Mr. Ayres now owns the old homestead farm, consisting of one hundred and eighty-six acres of well improved and valuable land, which he rents, while he resides in Geneseo.  In the spring of 1901 he embarked in the general farm implement business at that place and now carries a full line of wagons, buggies, steam threshers and all kinds of farm implements.  He takes an active part in political affairs, and has held the office of assessor two terms, and school director for a number of years.  He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Home Forum Mutual Insurance Company, and is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of his community.
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Notes by transcriber Gloria Odom:

I believe there are several ERRORS in this compiling, as follows:

1- The maiden name for Mary is WAIT, not WHITE, according to my genealogical research.  Note that Asa & Mary named one of their children William Wait AYRES.

2- Also stated is that Joseph AYRES was the father of Samuel AYRES who married Martha BELL, and among their 10 children was Asa AYRES, father of Buenos AYRES.
    From research I have done, I believe that Samuel AYRES md to Martha, was the son of Samuel AYRES who married Eleanor RANDALL.   And that Samuel AYRES md to Eleanor was the son of Samuel AYRES and Abigail FELLOWS as mentioned in this biography.  Samuel AYRES md to Abigail being the son of Capt. John AYRES (I am showing this lineage in reverse of the biography).  I'm am still trying to prove this, and have not been able to do so conclusively ... yet.

3- The maiden name of Sheldon's 2nd wife was Sarah FRONK, not FRANK.


Also note:
     This compiling states that the origin of Captain John AYRES, believed to be the head of our AYRES clan here in the USA,  was "founded in this country by three brothers who came from England in the early part of the seventeenth century and settled in MA..."   I have yet to "prove" the reality of this statement, though it could well be the truth, and England IS the location that probably Capt. John hailed from.

      You know, it would have been nice to have more insight into who Buenos' wife Sarah OSBORN(E) was and things she accomplished.  Just think of bearing eleven children.    The home cooking required 3 times a day, besides cleaning and making quilts to keep warm.  If her family is like mine, it would be helpful to delegate tasks to the children.  Even so, take note that most of the kids were boys, and I'm not so sure they would have been delegated as much house work; maybe outside chores more so.  Something to ponder, anyway.  I believe her obituary does mention some of who she was.

Included with this biography were two individual pictures:  one titled "BUENOS AYRES" and the other titled "MRS. BUENOS AYRES."  It could be that the page sequence in the book included the pictures each considered to be on two pages; then the numbering sequence would make since.








At the time of this compiling, in 1901, a number of Buenos' & Sarah's children were still living.  This transcriber's great-grandfather, Ransom Osborn AYRES, after his wife's death in IA ... moved to California, and there remarried to Lora BILNEY, as well as dying there in 1933.   Sheldon d. 1912, Samuel d. 1905, Roderick d. 1922 & John d. 1928.

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This record was received from an AYRES/AYERS researcher of another lineage in Apr. 2000.