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Source: "Memoirs of Georgia", Historical and Biographical Sketches, by S Emmett Lucas Jr, published in 1896.

AUSTIN AYRES, farmer, Felton, Haralson Co., Ga., son of Martin and Sarah Ayres, was born in Greenville, S. C., May 18,

1822. His father was a farmer, and came by wagon from South Carolina to Georgia, and settled in Gwinnett county, in 1825.

In 1836 he moved from Gwinnett to Paulding counts,, Ga., and settled on a lot of land he drew from the government, and

on which the subject of this sketch now lives. At that time the country was filled with Indians and wild game, and for many

months his father's family, lived  in a log cabin with a dirt floor, Mr. Ayres' advantages for schooling- were exceedingly

meager. In 1838 he was a member of the military force which removed the Indians from Georgia. He began farm life for

himself in 1846, by clearing land; then he made his purchased forty- acre tract. To this he has added till he now owns

 I,437 acres of land. For twenty-five years he has been a justice of the peace, and is still holding the office.

He has been extremely successful, and being one of the wealthiest, as well as one of the oldest citizens of the county, is highly esteemed, and commands the utmost respect of everybody. To have held the office of justice of the peace so long, common

 sense and a sense of justice must be paramount characteristics. Mr. Ayres was married Sept. 28, 1843, to Miss Susan,

daughter of Nathan and Priscilla Latin, who came from Tennessee to Georgia in 1830. To them eleven children have been

 born: Harriet, Mary Adaline, Jane, Nancy Letitia, Lou Genia, Alfred, Berry Reubin, Hiram, Sarah Frances, and William

Solomon and Isaac, deceased. Mr. Ayres is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, having been  baptized July 21, 1843,

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