Eli Ayers (May 9, 1778 – April 25, 1822) was a physician and the first

colonial agent A colonial agent was the official representative of a British colony based in London during the British Empire. About 200 men served. They were selected and paid a fixed salary by the colonial government, and given the long delays in communication ...

of the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

in what later became Liberia. He was born in 1778 in Shiloh, New Jersey, and married Elizabeth West in 1812. He practiced medicine in Woodbury, New Jersey. On August 7, 1821, he left New York for West Africa on . Together with

Robert F. Stockton Robert Field Stockton (August 20, 1795 – October 7, 1866) was a United States Navy commodore, notable in the capture of California during the Mexican–American War. He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven, steam-p ...

of he extorted a treaty under duress with six tribal kings on the purchase of land at

Cape Mesurado Cape Mesurado, also called Cape Montserrado, is a headland on the coast of Liberia near the capital Monrovia and the mouth of the Saint Paul River. It was named Cape Mesurado by Portuguese sailors in the 1560s. It is the promontory on which Afri ...

. He served as the colonial agent of the American Colonization Society from December 15, 1821, until his death on April 25, 1822.

References

1778 births 1822 deaths Agents and Governors of Liberia People from Cumberland County, New Jersey People from Woodbury, New Jersey {{US-poli-bio-stub