JOHN AND ALMIE [THORNTON] AYERS
John Ayers immigrated to Knox County in June of 1876; in early July
he secured a homestead and a timber claim three miles south of
Verdigre. Their home later became the site of a post office called
Manning, Nebraska.
John was born in Wheatland, New York, in 1832. His parents moved to
Cleveland, Ohio, in 1840 and a few years later to Shalerville in
Portage County. From there they moved to Racine County, Wisconsin,
and about a year later to Jancan County where John started a large
saw mill. He ran the saw mill for many years until 1870 when a fire
swept his business away in a short time. The lumber mill was located
on an island in a cranberry marsh where John bought cranberries in
season from the Indians and sold them in the cities.
During the first years of his life in Wisconsin he was employed at
rafting lumber and shingles on the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers
to points above St. Louis.
In 1870 he married Almie Thornton. She was born at Saranac, New York
in 1842. Her father was in the Union Army in the Civil War and was
killed at the Battle of Gaines Mills. Her mother was the cousin of
General Nathaniel Lyon.
For many years after the loss of his mill, he was employed at
various occupations; but feeling the west offered more
opportunities, he came to Knox County in 1876.
John and Almie Ayers endured the hardships of the early day settlers
such as blizzards, droughts, grasshoppers and hard times, but they
refused to yield to conditions and ultimately reaped a comfortable
reward. For twenty years they resided on the homestead and in 1896
they moved to Creighton, Nebraska, where Mrs. Ayers ran a millinery
store for ten years. She also had a branch store in Verdigre for
some time.
John and Almie had two children, Nellie (Mrs. A. A. Baker) and Fred
Ayers.
John passed away in 1918 and Almie in 1930.
-Submitted by Willard Ayers
Page 197
