Berie Lee Ayers
Date of Birth: November 19, 1885
Date of Death: May 24, 1887
Ward, Charles A. and Brooks Noel. Cemetery Data of Nueces County, Texas. Corpus Christi: Coastal Bend Genealogical Society, 1990
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Berie Lee Ayers
This child is listed as born on November 19, 1885 and deceased on May 20, 1887 with parents given as M. D. and Alice Ayers. It appears that this is “Alberta Lee Ayersâ€, daughter of Moses Depue Ayers and Alice Maude Mary Carpenter (see LSD document). The infant’s mother is reported in the 1880 census with Harry Wallace in Gonzales County, Texas (page 522A) as a 21 year old native of England who is single and living with the Wallace household because the wife of Harry Wallace is her sister Bessie (Elizabeth). Gonzales County Marriage Records indicate that M. Depue Ayers and Alice Carpenter married on June 14, 1881 (LDS records say that they married in the town of Smiley, Texas which is located in Gonzales County).
The couple subsequently moved to south Texas and ultimately settled in Alfred, Texas (on FM 359 between Alice and Orange Grove, Texas) where both Mr. Ayers and Alice served as postmasters. Apparently Mr. Ayers was not too fond of the name “Moses Depue†because he generally was known as “Frankâ€. For example, while the death index of Texas lists him as “Moses Depue Ayersâ€, his obit lists him as “Frank Ayresâ€. This constant variation of “Ayers†and “Ayres†also is found in documentation. LDS records indicate Moses Depue Ayers was born on July 4, 1854 in Orange County, New York; and that Alice Ayers nee Carpenter was born in Cambridge, England on June 24, 1861. The 1900 census of Nueces County (E. D. 135, page 211) lists them as “Frank†and “Alice†with numerous children. In that census Alice reports that she has had 7 children of which only 5 presently survive. One of those deceased would be little “Berie Lee Ayersâ€. In that same census “Frank†is listed as a mail contractor for the area so he presumably was active in the local postal service for many years.
When Alice died of a heart attack in August of 1932, her obituary noted that she had been postmistress of Alfred for the last fifteen years and that she had come from England when only 16 years old (C.C. Caller of Aug. 31, 1932, page 3, col. 3). At that time her surviving children were: Mrs. Charles Adkins/Atkins of Corpus Christi, Mrs. Bernard Adams of Alfred, Mrs. William (Pennie) Langen/Lagen of Premont, Mrs. Justine (Florence) Miles of Alfred, and Howard Ayers of Crystal City (see also Alice Echo of Sept. 1, 1932, page 1, col. 1). Frank Ayers died the following year, and his obit noted that he had been a postmaster of Alfred in former years (C.C. Caller of October 18, 1933, page 3, col. 5). The article in the Alice paper further added that he was one of the county’s “most picturesque citizensâ€. It reported that in early days of this area he drove a stage coach from Alice to Brownsville before the advent of railroads (Alice Echo of October 20, 1933, page 8, col. 2). When their son and Berie’s brother, Howard Eugene Ayers, died in 1968 (see C.C. Times of Dec. 17, 1968, page 16A, col. 1), only one sibling survived—Mrs. Bernard Adams of Alice.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell