John J. Ayres
John J. Ayers, one of Scioto Township's leading citizens, an auctioneer, carpenter and stonemason, was born in Scioto Township, Delaware County, Ohio, May 24, 1865. His parents were Col. Jacob and Mary P. (Rhoades) Ayres.
The father of Mr. Ayres has long been a prominent citizen of this section, having settled on his present farm in Scioto Township in 1870. He was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, March 12, 1841. During the greater part of the Civil War he served as a Union scout and only retired from the service after being severely wounded. For some years after the close of the war he traveled through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan giving lectures on the battle of Gettysburg, in which he took a prominent part. He married Mary P. Rhoades, who died March 9, 1907.
John J. Ayres was educated in the public schools of Scioto Township and at Delaware, after which he taught school for three years. In the meanwhile he learned the carpenter's and also the stonemason's trade and has worked at these more or less ever since, now having a fine building and contracting trade through Delaware and Union Counties. He has done a large amount of work in this section and in 1887 he built his own commodious residence, in 1904 remodeling it and making it still more attractive and valuable. In 1882, Mr. Ayres began auctioneering in partnership wiih his father and they continued together until 1907, when Colonel Ayres retired.
In 1887. Mr. Ayres was married to Annie McCombs, a daughter of Frank and Catherine McCombs, of Magnetic Springs, Ohio, and they have had five children, the three survivors being: Carl Abner, Goldie May and Myrtle Lucile. Mrs. Ayres is a member of the United Brethren Church, which Mr. Ayres attends and to which he gives a liberal support. In politics, be is identified with the Republican party. He is a member of Edinburg Lodge, Odd Fellows, at Ostrander, of which he is past grand.
20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908