Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid of the Dr. Washington Ayer Papers
C057702
C057702
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Dr. Washington Ayer Papers
Identifier/Call Number: C057702
Contributing Institution:
Society of California Pioneers
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 folder
Date (inclusive): 1853-1897
Abstract: The Dr. Washington Ayer papers include two handwritten letters, one from 1853, the other undated. The first discusses his
daily life, in very flowery language, and then goes on to talk about his spiritual life. The second letter seems to be notes
for a eulogy at a banquet. There is a typescript of the Society of California Pioneers' Record for Ayer, which gives biographical
information on him, plus a handwritten Addendum to that typescript, by Ayer, adding information on his biography. There is
also an undated, un identified newspaper obituary of Ayer.
creator:
Ayer, Washington, Dr. , 1823-1899
Property rights reside with The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to reproduce or publish must be
submitted in writing to the Librarian.
Collection open for research.
Dr. Washington Ayer Papers. The Society of California Pioneers.
Gift of Miss Mabel Adams Ayer, May 1, 1929.
Dr. Washington Ayer was born in 1823 in Haverhill, MA. He studied medicine at Harvard, and was about to embark on a trip to
Europe when the Gold Rush hit. Dr. Ayer traveled to California on the ship Leonore in July 1849. After arriving in California,
he tried prospecting and hotel-keeping, but then settled down in medicine. Dr. Ayer spent two years at Mokelumne Hill and
Volcano in Amador County. During the summer of 1852, Ayer was the appointed surgeon during the so-called "French War" of California,
a land claim dispute between French and American miners on French Hill. American miners succeeded in driving the French from
the coveted claim and "robbing them of $15,000 in one hour." During Dr. Ayer's residence in Volcano, he organized a vigilante
committee, which caught the murderer of an elderly man. He also helped to organize and was elected Master of the Volcano Lodge
of Free and Accepted Masons and was its first representative at the Grand Lodge at Sacramento. In 1856, Dr. Ayer settled permanently
in San Francisco. In 1863, he was voted a Member of the Board of Education, and served until 1868, when he refused a re-election.
From 1883 to 1891 Dr. Ayer filled the chair of Professor of Hygiene in the Medical Department of the University of California.
In 1890, Dr. Ayer was elected a Member of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco and was made Chairman of the Hospital
Committee. He made many reforms in the various institutions of public charity. He helped organize the Medico-Chirurgical Society
and was its first president. He was the president of the Sloat Monument Association and presided at the Laying of the Corner
Stone of the Monument at Monterey, July 7, 1896. Dr. Ayer was also the president of the Society of California Pioneers. Dr.
Ayer, an accomplished writer, died in 1899 having published numerous essays in his field, as well as a small volume of poems
and a romance entitled, "Might Have Been."
Scope and Contents of the Collection
This collection includes five items: undated notes for a eulogy at a banquet, which seems to refer to other fellow doctors
in his profession; A letter written to his mother begun on April 1, 1853, and completed on April 3, 1853; a typescript of
the Society's Pioneer Record entry for Ayer (4 pages), which gives biographical information on Ayer, plus information on his
arrival in San Francisco and activities in the mines, later in San Francisco, and his career as a doctor; a handwritten addendum
of corrections (5 pages) to the above typescript, bringing his biographical information up to date, written in 1897; and finally
an undated, unidentified newspaper obituary on Ayer entitled: "Record of the Busy Life of a Pioneer." The letter (12 handwritten
pages) from 1853 is very long and rambling, full of flowery language and random thoughts on weather, life, god and everyday
matters. He mentions gifts he has recently received, references to his mother as a shopkeeper, and seems well educated - quoting
Shakespeare. He seems to be reluctant to tell his mother that he has or is thinking of changing his religious beliefs, and
mentions he has spoken with a Mr. Colburn about the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg. At the end he makes reference to a boat,
The Contra Costa, being blown up, killing four men and badly injuring several others.
The Society of California Pioneers. 300 Fourth Street San Francisco, Ca 94107
Society of California Pioneers Institutional Records: Obituary Records, vol. 6, pg. 138. Autobiographies & Reminiscences,
vol. 1, pg.6. Archive Record, vol. 1, pg. 27. Mortuary Record (1892-1906), pg. 105 SCP Records (Pioneer Record), vol. 2, pg.1.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ayer, Mabel Adams,
Swedenborg, Emanuel, 1688-1772
Gold mines and mining -- California -- History.
Pioneers--California
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)--History