J. C. Ayres, farmer, was born near Warrensburg, Tenn., April 16, 1830, the son of Samuel O. and Hannah (Bewley) Ayres, the former born on the James River, in Virginia, and serving in the war of 1812, and on the lakes at the last of the war, whence, in returning to his home in Alabama, he was led to locate in Greene County, where he became a most successful farmer. The mother, a daughter of Anthony Bewley was born in Washington County; the father was a Baptist and the mother a Methodist. Our subject left the farm and school and, in 1862, joined the (Confederate) Thirty-first Tennessee Infantry, and after the fall of Vicksburg, was paroled and returned home, but six months later went to Knoxville, and remained within the Federal lines until the close, yet did not enlist. He has farmed ever since the war, and now owns a fine farm of 245 acres, divided, into two farms really. For twenty years he traded extensively in stock, but has now abandoned it almost. He donated a lot for the Masonic Hall and public school. at Warrensburgh, and also the lot for Mary’s Chapel Methodist Church there. December 28, 1871, he married Mary D., a daughter of Daniel Jones, of Cocke County. In 1845, her birth occurred. Their children are Daniel, born February 13, 1873; Samuel C., born September 15, 1875; Thomas D., born April 10, 1878; Nancy J., born September 27, 1880; and Mary D., born April 18, 1883, and died the same day. He and his wife are Methodists.
