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Frederick Ayer (December 8, 1822 – March 14, 1918) was an American businessman and the younger brother of patent medicine tycoon Dr. James Cook Ayer.
/ref>
Tremont & Suffolk Mills records
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayer, Frederick American manufacturing businesspeople Businesspeople from Massachusetts Lawrence, Massachusetts 1822 births 1918 deaths People of the Industrial Revolution American textile industry businesspeople People from Lowell, Massachusetts American Woolen Company People from Ledyard, Connecticut 19th-century American businesspeople
Frederick Ayer (December 8, 1822 – March 14, 1918) was an American businessman and the younger brother of patent medicine tycoon Dr. James Cook Ayer.
Early life
Ayer was born on December 8, 1822 inLedyard, Connecticut
Ledyard is a New England town, Town in New London County, Connecticut, New London County, Connecticut, United States, located along the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. The town is named after Colonel William Ledyard, a American Revolutio ...
and was the son of Frederick Ayer (1792–1825) and Persis Herrick ( Cook) Ayer (1786–1880).
His nephew, J.C. Ayer's son, was also Frederick Ayer. Frederick Fanning Ayer, born in 1851, became a lawyer and philanthropist, and was director or stockholder of many corporations.Short Bio on F.F. Ayer, 1914/ref>
Career
Ayer was involved in the patent medicine business, but is better known for his work in the textile industry. After buying the Tremont and Suffolk mills inLowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
, he bought up many textile operations in nearby Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
, combining them in 1899 into the American Woolen Company
The American Woolen Company is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of men’s and women’s worsted and woolen fabrics. Based in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, the company operates from the 160-year-old Warren Mills, which it acquired from Lo ...
, of which he was the first president. He was involved in other businesses of the time as well, such as being the co-founder of the Arctic Coal Company
Arctic Coal Company was a coal mining company that operated mines at Longyearbyen (then Longyear City) in Svalbard, Norway, between 1906 and 1916.
The American industrialist John Munro Longyear visited Spitsbergen as a tourist in 1901, where he m ...
.
Personal life
Ayer's first wife was Cornelia Wheaton (1835–1878), daughter ofCharles Augustus Wheaton
Charles Augustus Wheaton (1809–1882) was a businessman and major figure in the central New York state abolitionist movement and Underground Railroad, as well as other progressive causes. He was one of the founders of the First Congregatio ...
and Ellen Birdseye. They married on December 15, 1858 and Cornelia's mother died the following day. The couple had four children:
* Ellen Wheaton Ayer (1859–1951), who married American Woolen Company's William Madison Wood
William Madison Wood (June 18, 1858 – February 2, 1926) was an American textile mill owner of Lawrence, Massachusetts who was considered to be an expert in efficiency. He made a good deal of his fortune through being hired by mill owners to tu ...
.
* James Cook Ayer (1862–1939)
* Charles Fanning Ayer (1865–1956)
* Louise Raynor Ayer (1876–1955).
After Cornelia's death, Ayer married Ellen Barrows Banning (1853–1918) in 1884. They had three children:
* Beatrice Banning Ayer (1886–1953), who married future World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
general George S. Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
.
* Frederick Ayer (1888–1969)
* Mary Katherine "Kay" Ayer (1890–1981).
He died on March 14, 1918, in Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany, Georgia, Albany.
The city deems itself the "C ...
, and is interred at Lowell Cemetery. His home in Lowell is now the Franco American School, a Catholic school, and the Frederick Ayer Mansion
The Frederick Ayer Mansion is a National Historic Landmark on 395 Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
The mansion was the home of Frederick Ayer, owner of the American Woolen Company, and features well ...
on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts is a National Historic Landmark.
References
External links
* *Archives and records
Tremont & Suffolk Mills records
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayer, Frederick American manufacturing businesspeople Businesspeople from Massachusetts Lawrence, Massachusetts 1822 births 1918 deaths People of the Industrial Revolution American textile industry businesspeople People from Lowell, Massachusetts American Woolen Company People from Ledyard, Connecticut 19th-century American businesspeople