For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 625
L. N. AYERS....L. N. Ayers, now living at ease in a beautiful home at Wilton Junction, Iowa, has been a resident of the state since his boyhood and for more than forty years past has been actively identified with its progress. He was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, Apri; 2, 1845, his parents being David and Mary ( Walters ) Ayers. The father was a native of New York state and came to Iowa in 1854. Here he followed farming until his death, which occurred in 1901. The mother was born in Venango county, Pennsylvania, and was married in her native county. She is now living in Cedar county, Iowa, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ayers two died in infancy. The others were : Sheldon, John and Cobaugh, all now deceased ; L. N., our subject ; Elizabeth, the widow of Jonathan Ford, of Cedar county, Iowa ; Amanda, the wife of O. V. Kennison, of Nebraska ; H. B., of Wilton Junction, Iowa ; Peter, of Cedar county ; and Etta, the wife of William McCroskey, also of Cedar county.L. N. Ayers came to Cedar county, Iowa, with his parents at the age of nine years. He received his early education in the common schools and comtinued upon the home farm until twenty-three years of age. Subsequently he began farming for himself in Cedar county and remained upon the same farm for thirty-three years, in the course of which time he became the owner of five hundred acres upon which he made many improvements. He also owns forty-seven acres which has become quite valuable as it is adjacent to a growing town. During the last five years of his active participation in farming he devoted a great deal of attention to the raising of Hereford cattle and gained an enviable reputation in that line. In the course of many years he acquired an established reputation as one of the progressive and prosperous citizens of Cedar county and since 1899 he has made his home at Wilton Junction.
In 1868 Mr. Ayers was married to Miss Kate Fulton, of Ohio, and by this union six children were born : Harry F., now managing one of his father's farms in Cedar county ; Frank, Charles, and Clarence, deceased ; Vera, the wife of Dr. H. H. Johnson, of Wilton Junction ; and Fay, at home. The mother of these children passed away July 4, 1907, and on March 24, 1910, Mr. Ayers was united in marriage at Wilton Junction to Miss Ella Detchon, who was born near Wingate, Montgomery county, Indiana, and is a daughter of Heman and Amanda Elizabeth ( Agnew ) Detchon. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania but was reared in Ohio and from there went to Indiana, later taking up his residence in Cedar county, Iowa. He died in Indiana in 1901. In his early life he engaged in the grocery business but later prospered as a farmer. Mrs. Ayer's grandfather Detchon came to this country with his parents from England in his boyhood. Her mother was born in Parke county, Indiana, and came to Cedar county in 1841. She was married February 22d, 1860, to Heman Detchon and departed this life in April 1873. Three children blessed their union : Pedra, the wife of Warner Throckmorton, who lives near Lafayette, Indiana ; Ella, now Mrs. Ayers mentioned ; and H. S., a practicing physician of Victor, Iowa. Mr. Detchon was married a second time and there were three children of this union : Lydia, Max, and Otto.
Mrs. Ayers came to Wilton Junction in 1876 and made her home with her grandfather. Two years later she took up her residence with her uncle in whose home she remained until her marriage. She received a good education and after arriving at womanhood taught in the rural schools for three years and for seventeen years was identified with the schools of Wilton Junction, being known as one of its most efficient and popular teachers. At twelve years of age she joined the Presbyterian church and has ever since been an active worker in the church and Sunday school.
Mr. Ayers gives his allegiance to the republican party and has filled a number of public offices of trust and responsibility. He has served as school director and trustee, as councilman for three years and for four years as mayor of Wilton Junction. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, having passed through all of the chairs at the local lodge, and is identified with the Presbyterian church. He has not only been highly successful in his business affairs but has made a host of friends in Muscatine and Cedar counties. He came to this region at a time previous to the Civil war, when settlers were obliged to haul their produce by wagon to Davenport and purchased all of their provisions at that point. His memory carries him back to the log hut his father built in the wilderness and later to the time when his father brought lumber from Davenport for a more pretentious home. He remembers seeing many Indians wandering along Sugar creek and also has a clear recollection of the first house built in Wilton Junction. When he first came to this region it was the custom to plow corn with slow-going oxen. The first cultivator used in those days was of primitive pattern and it was necessary to make three furrows for every row of corn. In no department of labor has the introduction of improved machinery been of greater benefit than in that pertaining to the farm.
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