John Ayres ^{1 2 3}

   FamilySearch ID: KGMZ-M8D.

  General Notes:

AYRES, JOHN, son of the Irishman William Ayres and his wife Mary Kean, was born February 9, 1754 at Pennypack, Philadelphia County. The family migrated in 1773 to the Paxtang area when John was twenty-one . John subsequently became the owner of the homestead t called "Ayresburg." This may be the "Ayres house", a dwelling NW of Dauphin is listed as a restoration project of the Philadelphia Architects and Building Project. In 1775, on the first call for volunteers for the Revolutionary army, he enlisted in Capt. Matthew Smith's company of riflemen, formed in Lancaster county, and detailed on the expedition against Quebec under Arnold, but before Boston, he took sick. On March 13, 1776, he again enlisted in Captain Manning's company of the Fourth battalion of Lancaster county, commanded by Col. James Burd. His father and several of his connections belonged to the same company. He appears on the returns list above, perhaps between services. John Ayres was visible in Upper Paxtang tax listing for 1779 directly adjacent to Jacob Eyman.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Book: Pennsylvania Genealogies, Mainly Scotch Irish And German, by William Henry Egle, 1899. ¹

At the age of twenty-one years, accompanied his father and family in their movement to Paxtang township, Lancaster, now Dauphin county, Pa.; subsequently became the owner of the homestead there established, and added thereto a certain tract of land called "Ayresburg." In 1775, on the first call for volunteers for the Revolutionary army, he enlisted in Captain Matthew Smith's company of riflemen, formed in Lancaster county, and detailed on the expedition against Quebec under Arnold, but whilst the army lay before Boston, he took sick and was invalided. On the 13th March, 1776, he again enlisted in Captain Manning's company, 4th Battalion of Lancaster county, commanded by Colonel James Burd. His father and several of his connections belonged to the same company. The "Oracle of Dauphin", in announcing his death, August 17, 1825, remarks that "he was the last of the Revolutionary patriots in his neighborhood."

John married Mary Montgomery in 1781.¹

John next married Jane Lytle in 1786.¹ (Jane Lytle was born on 1 Mar 1767 in Audersons Ferry, Dauphin County, PA ⁴ and died on 7 May 1831 in Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA ⁴.)