WORK IN PROGRESS...
Mary
Ann’s husbands were prominent, powerful, pious and Presbyterian. Not necessarily in that order. Elias Ayers was her first, and for the
longest period. Mary Ann and Elias and
others of her family were instrumental in the founding of the first Presbyterian
church in Louisville and subsequently the first Presbyterian church in New
Albany. Elias had been a successful
merchant while in Louisville and continued as such on his removal to New
Albany, purchasing property to construct his business at the southeast corner
of Main and Pearl Streets (original frame building long gone, but another still
there in its place). He (and Mary Ann)
continued to purchase properties throughout their lifetimes, accumulating a
large number of rental properties.
Elias
was the father of her eight children and I’m sure he stood strongly by her side
to comfort her in her mother’s grief; each was buried before she should have
been expected to have them leave her. It
is said that Mary Ann raised her sister’s children, William S. Hillyer and his
sister, Catherine Hillyer Moody, which is very likely. William was about two years of age when his
father, James Hillyer, died (1833), and it was just a few years later (1836)
when his mother, Catherine Silliman Hillyer, also passed on. Mary Ann’s niece, Catherine Hillyer Moody, also
died while quite young, in April of 1850, at age 22 (her epitaph reads “SHE HAS
JOINED HER MOTHER”). William was
enumerated later that year on the census with his sister’s widow and two
children, and was married just a few years later to Annie Shields Rankin. They soon removed to St. Louis, where they
became close friends with Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. William was part of Gen. Grant’s war-time
staff, rising to Brigadier General, but resigned his military position in May
1863 due to ill health. Following the
war, he removed his family to New York and died in Washington, D.C. in
1874. William’s father, James Hillyer, had
been close personal friends with Henry Clay.
(Yes, I’m namedropping. And more
of that to come later . . . )
Mary
Ann and Elias were devout Christians and were very active in the interests of
the Presbyterian church. Her obituary
states that “She
assisted in the organization of the first Sunday school in New Albany [this
has been argued]; in the organization of the first Female Prayer Meeting in
the city, and the first Female Bible Society in the city. She was an officer in all these societies.” Elias was instrumental in the formation of
the New Albany Theological Seminary, originating as the Theological Department
at Hanover College, and eventually the McCormick Theological Seminary in
Chicago.
Mary
Ann took Rev. Philip Lindsley as her second husband. He also had been married previously . . .
William Richardson
Rev. Robert Armstrong Lapsley
Elias Ayers’ sister, Mary King Ayers, had married John Day, and had quite a large family. One of their sons, Silas, started working as a clerk and was later a partner with his uncle Elias in his dry goods business. A brother of Silas, Ezekiel Reeves (E.R.) Day was also known to accumulate a number of local properties for rental purposes. Silas, E.R., and their sister, Joanna Day Shields, are mentioned in Mary Ann’s will.
