Lyman Warren Ayer 



(Courtesy of St. Paul Daily News) 



A few weeks ago there died at Little Falls a man 

 who might justly have been called the connecting link 

 between the past and present of Minnesota. 



Lyman Warren Ayer, pioneer school teacher, woods- 

 man, buffalo hunter, Eed river pioneer, fur trader and 

 timber cruiser. He was all of these in an unusually 

 long life of 87 years. 



In the little Indian mission of Pokegama Lake, near 

 what is now Pine City, Mr. Ayer was born on June 

 10, 1832, the son of a missionary who had arrived from 

 New England in the early 30 's. Although credited in 

 Central Minnesota as the first white child born in 

 what is now the state of Minnesota, this distinction 

 is doubted by some historians who assert that there 

 were children born at Ft. Snelling, then a soldiers' 

 outpost, before that time. However, there is no his- 

 torical doubt about the fact that Mr. Ayer was the 

 son of the first white settlers in the Indian country, 

 which was then known as the Northwest territory. 



Constant association with the Indians resulted itf 

 the lad acquiring a thorough knowledge of the Chip- 

 pewa tongue, and as a boy he assisted his parents 

 materially in their missionary work. 



When he was 11 the war-like Sioux raided the mis- 

 sion. The settlement was broken up, and he went 

 East with his parents. They soon returned and es- 

 tablished a mission at Red Lake. 



During the summer of 1844 Lyman began pioneering 



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