This is a transcription of the Clara Maria (Kimball) Ayers biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 205.
Clara Maria (Kimball) Ayers
THE Kimball family, descendants of Joseph Kimball, of Exeter, who settled in Canterbury in 1793, have long been conspicuous in central New Hampshire. One of the most prominent representatives of this family is John Kimball, four times mayor of Concord, president of the state senate in 1881, and incumbent of various other positions of honor and trust. Clara Maria, only child of Hon. John and Maria H. (Phillips) Kimball, was born in Lawrence, Mass., March 20, 1848, but has passed most of her life in Concord, removing there with her parents in childhood. Graduating from the Concord high school in 1865, she entered Wheaton seminary, at Norton, Mass., in September following, and was graduated in 1868. June 4, 1873, she married Augustine R. Ayers, many years engaged in mercantile business in Concord, but now an extensive farmer and dairyman at North Boscawen. They have five children living, and two died in infancy. The eldest, Ruth Ames, is now a student in Cornell University. While faithfully attending to the multiplied duties of home life, Mrs. Avers has been active in social and benevolent organizations, and has never failed cheerfully to respond to any reasonable call for assistance in any worthy work or cause. She is a member and has been senior vice-president of E. E. Sturtevant Relief Corps, of Concord; has been treasurer of the New Hampshire department, aide of the national president, and assistant national inspector W. R. C. She has also served as secretary and treasurer of the Boscawen Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, vice-president of the Merrimack County Woman’s Board of Missions, lecturer of Capital Grange P. of H., and secretary of Ezekiel Webster Grange, Boscawen. In February, 1895, Mrs. Ayers accompanied her father on a trip through the Mediterranean, visiting Egypt and the Holy Land and the southern countries of Europe. Her observations upon the journey have been delightfully given in addresses before various organizations and assemblies.