Guide to the Papers of Robert Ayres, 1785-1837
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- The Papers of Robert Ayres,
- Creator
- Ayres, Robert
- Collection Number
- MSS#23
- Extent
- 0.5 cubic feet (1 Box)
- Date
- 1785-1837
- Abstract
- Robert Ayres was an itinerant Methodist and Episcopalian minister and educator throughout Western Pennsylvania during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These papers include diaries, business records, church papers, correspondence, teaching papers, and other sundry items primarily documenting Ayres' daily life and work as a minister for both the Methodist and Episcopal Churches.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Biographical Sketch of Rev. Robert Ayres, (1761-1845)
Robert Ayres was an itinerant Methodist and Episcopalian minister and educator throughout Western Pennsylvania during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Ayres was the oldest son of a large family and was born on March 17, 1761. Little is known of his early life except that he studied to become a teacher, an assumption made from his ability to read Latin. In 1785, he became an itinerant Methodist preacher in the Chesapeake region. Between 1786 and 1787 he travelled on the Redstone Circuit in Western Pennsylvania and surrounding states. The Redstone was one of only two pioneer circuits of Methodism in the great central valley of America and the mother circuit of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Church. The name Redstone comes from "The Redstone Country," an early name given to the western region of the United States for settlements near the small creek rising near Uniontown (Fayette County), Pennsylvania and flowing into the Monongahela at Brownsville (Fayette County). Ayres conducted much of his preaching in the Morgantown, West Virginia area. Between 1787 and 1788, Ayres preached in the area around the upper Potomac and spent his last year as a Methodist minister in the circuit in Winchester, Virginia (1788-1789).
In 1789, Ayres left the Methodist Church to become ordained in the Episcopal Church. He was ordained in Philadelphia and sent to Brownsville, Pennsylvania. He converted to the Episcopal Church possibly because of his marriage to Rachel Goe, whose father was a prominent and wealthy Episcopalian. The Ayres built a house, purchased a farm, and Ayres was both a farmer and a minister after his marriage. Much of his later diary accounts are fragmentary so little is known of his whereabouts in the years 1809 through 1822 besides that he taught school, and later left the ministry, for unknown reasons. In 1822, Ayres bought a farm in Franklin (Venango County), Pennsylvania, and spent the rest of his life there. Robert Ayres died in 1845 at the age of eighty-four.
Scope and Content Notes
The Robert Ayres Papers include diaries, business records, church papers, correspondence, teaching papers, and other sundry items primarily documenting Ayres' daily life and work as a minister for both the Methodist and Episcopal Churches. The diaries make up the bulk of these papers and document his daily life as a minister in the Western Pennsylvania region. Though the entries in these diaries are often brief, Ayres wrote about many of his daily activities. The diaries from 1785 to 1787 document his travels throughout the region while he was an itinerant minister on the Redstone Circuit. Included is information on where he obtained food, shelter, and where and to whom he preached. Ayres recorded daily and unique events in his diaries including baptisms, marriage ceremonies, prayer meetings in jails, assisting sick people and even instances where he delivered babies. With each passage concerning people to whom he preached, Ayres writes his opinions and feelings on the people he reached. Other information in these diaries includes distances in miles from town to town, lists of expenses from Philadelphia and other journeys east, marriages of family and friends, and unusual trials that he watched. Later diaries document his daily activities while farming in Brownsville and later in Franklin, Pennsylvania and include information on the weather, family concerns and his travels across the region. While these diaries date from 1785 until 1845, there are no diaries for the period between 1797 and 1806 and many of the diaries for the years 1807 through 1823 are incomplete.
Other material found in these papers document scattered activities of his life. The correspondence consists of two letters written by William White, Bishop of the Episcopal Protestant Church, to Ayres on general concerns relating to the Ayres' responsibilities in the Church and with parishioners. Writing for Philadelphia, White advises Ayres in a 1794 letter on his obligations to the sick and baptism of children. Material more specifically related to church functions includes music, poetry, and baptismal records. These baptisms were conducted shortly after his ordination as Episcopal minister and took place in the Brownsville area. Listed on the last two are baptisms of both free and slave African-American children and include name of the parent and the slave owner. Ayres' teaching materials document his charge for students and includes student names and in some instances, what subjects they were taught. Financial materials include account books, contracts, and other items primarily documenting the finances and expenditures of his household and farm in Brownsville. At the rear of these papers are copies of lectures written by Dr. Wallace G. Smeltzer on Robert Ayres. Topics for these lectures include: the Redstone Circuit; Ayres' journals, and a copy of Ayres' second year journal explaining his travels as a Methodist minister. These lectures where presented at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania during meetings before 1953.
Arrangement
The Robert Ayres Papers are housed in one archival box and are arranged alphabetically by folder title with research material of Dr. Wallace G. Smeltzer arranged to the rear. Baptismal records covering the years 1789 and 1790 are recorded alphabetically.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in two accessions and were combined into one body of papers c1953.
Acc# 1937x Gift of William A. Galbraith, (Diaries and other papers). 1937
Acc# 1953x Gift of Reverend C. S. Belcher, (Baptismal Book for 1789 and 1790). 1953
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Historical Society Staff in 1953. Papers rearranged and inventory rewritten by Stephanie Riccardi on May 16, 1994.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Susan M. Allen on October 6, 1999.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. -- Presbytery of Redstone
- Episcopal Church -- Pennsylvania -- Brownsville.
- Smeltzer, Wallace G.
- White, William, -- 1748-1836.
- Brownsville (Pa.) -- Religion.
- Brownsville (Pa.) -- Social life and customs.
- Franklin (Venango County, Pa.) -- Social life and customs.
- Morgantown (W. Va.) -- Social life and customs.
- Uniontown (Fayette County, Pa.) -- Social life and customs.
- Fayette County (Pa.) -- Religion.
- Fayette County (Pa.) -- Social life and customs.
- Virginia -- Social life and customs
- Venango County (Pa.) -- Social life and customs.
- Agriculture -- Pennsylvania -- Franklin (Venango County)
- Baptismal Records -- Pennsylvania -- Brownsville
- Circuit riders -- Pennsylvania.
- Diaries
- Education -- Pennsylvania -- Brownsville.
- Farm management -- Pennsylvania -- Franklin (Venango County)
- Methodist Church -- Pennsylvania -- Brownsville.