John Ayer

“John Ayres of California, Chester’s Cousin” is written on the back of this photograph, and the photographer is in Santa Cruz, California. That wasn’t a name in my family tree, and was just too generic to be able to find with certainty, so I had given up figuring out why it was in my grandmother’s pictures.

“Chester’s cousins, Ray 7 years, Gladys 5 years” was on the back of this photo taken in Santa Cruz, California. No help at all. There weren’t really any cousins on Chester’s side of the family that I knew of at the time I scanned these pictures, so this was doomed to remain a mystery as well.

A couple of month’s ago I was looking at this picture and decided to try a first name search for Gladys in Santa Cruz. Amazing!! I found her and her brother Ray, in the 1910 census, and they were with their parents, Jennie and John Ayers! The two pictures are related to each other.

Is the Ayers Family related or are they just friends? I started a family tree for them to see where it would lead. Most of the time the family name was Ayer, not Ayers. I soon found the California Death Index for Gladys, which gives her mother’s maiden name as Owens. John Ayer had married Jennie Owens, the oldest daughter of Owen M and Sara Catharine Sara Hommon. They are related!

Jennie May Owens was born December 1870 in Illinois and lived with her family in Iowa. She married John Chester Ayer in 1892, and by 1900 they were living in Santa Cruz, California. In 1910 they were living in San Mateo, and in 1920 they were living in Monterey. In 1930 they were back in Santa Cruz, and probably lived there until John died April 5, 1955. I have been unable to find when Jennie died. John and Jennie had the two children in the picture.

Ray Harland Ayer was born December 18, 1892 in Santa Cruz. He was a farmer most of his life. He married Henrietta Maria Carlsen, and they had two girls, Ellen Bernice who married Henry Dick, and Violet. Ray died January 3, 1971 in Stanislaus, California.

Gladys G Ayer was born November 23, 1894 in Santa Cruz. During the 1920s, she married and divorced Charles Melvin Rhoades. In 1930 she was back living with her parents, and did not have any children living with her, so I assume that she never had any children. She passed away in Santa Cruz September 16, 1955.