John Ayer's wife, Sarah, whose family name is unknown, died in 1760, at the age of sixty-eight years, having been the mother of ten children. John Ayer, Jr., was the fourth child and the first son. He was born in 1718. His wife, Abigail, bore him nine children, Jonas, born February 6, 1750, being the sixth child and the second son. Jonas Ayer was a man of extensive possessions and of great influence. He served as a member of the legislature for several years. He married Abigail Morgan, of Preston, who died at the age of fifty-eight years, leaving the following-named six children: Louise, born March 2, 1814; Albert G., born October 2, 1815; John, born in April, 1817; James W., born in 1819; Abby Ann, born June 10, 1821; and Jonas Morgan, born March 29, 1824.

Albert G. Ayer, who was the grandfather of Mr. George Albert Ayer, was one of the representative men of his generation. He married on September 23, 1845, Jane Pendleton, born June 3, 1823, a daughter of Isaac Pendleton, of Oxford, N.Y., and was the father of two children: Abbie J., who was born on July 7, 1846, and died on March 5, 1873; and George A., the father of the subject of this sketch.

George Albert Ayer, Sr., was born on the old homestead, April 22, 1849, and died on October 22, 1874. He was educated in Suffield and in East Greenwich, and was a man of broad views and well informed on current topics. He was in the legislature for a number of terms, and up to 1873 was the youngest man who had ever occupied a seat in the house. He was a deeply religious man, and was a member of the Congregational church at Preston City. He was married on Christmas Day, 1873, to Hannah M., daughter of Peleg A. and Hannah W. (Browning) Arnold. Mr. Arnold died on October 11, 1894, at the age of fifty-eight years, leaving his widow and three children: Hannah M.; Emily C., wife of Carder H. Tucker, of Wakefield, R.I. ; and Mary Jessie Arnold.

Mrs. Hannah M. Ayer was married a second time on December 14, 1881, to Fred S. Brown, son of Shepherd and Martha (Browning) Brown, and is living on the Brown homestead, which has been in the family for several generations. By this second marriage there are two sons: Shepherd F. Brown, born February 29, 1884, the fourth Shepherd Brown who has lived here; and Arnold P., born July 31, 1886. Mr. Brown is a Democrat, and has been Selectman for four years. He owns a fine farm of two hundred acres, and carries on general farming and dairying, having a herd of some twenty-two cows. He also deals quite largely in cattle and poultry, shipping poultry to the Eastern markets.

George Albert Ayer, only son of the elder George Albert, was born some months after the death of his father; and his education and training was under the competent direction of his mother. The estate of three hundred acres that has come down to him from his grandfather Ayer is a heritage with which any man might be satisfied, and the family associations connected with the place doubly enhance its value to the present owner. A few weeks ago, on January 5, 1898, Mr. Ayer was united in marriage with Miss Mabel E. Tattersall, daughter of John and Eleanor (Handy) Tattersall, of Jewett City, Conn.

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