GEN. RUFUS A. AYERS,
Attorney-General of the State of Virginia, was born in Bedford county,
Virginia, May 20, 1849. He was educated in the Goodson Academy,
Bristol, Virginia, until the age of twelve, when the war began, and the
school was closed. Although under age, he ran away from home and entered
the army, and remained for some months in the scouting service
in East Tennessee. After the war he engaged for a time in agricultural
pursuits, and in merchandising in Eastern Kentucky, beginning business
at Estillville, Virginia, at the age of nineteen. He studied law in
the office of H. S. Kane, Esq., Estillville, and was admitted to the Bar
in June, 1872, practicing in Southwest Virginia up to his election as
Attorney-General, at the November election, 1885.
In May, 1875, he was elected commonwealth attorney for Scott
county, serving from July 1, 1875 to July 1, 1879; was reading clerk
of the House of Delegates, sessions of 1875-6, 1876-7, 1877-8, and
1878-9; was appointed by President Hayes supervisor of census for the
5th district of Virginia, in 1880, under the act which required such appointments
to be made without reference to politics, Dr. R. G. Cabell
being appointed at the same time. General Ayers has been very active
in furthering the building of the South Atlantic and Ohio railroad, and
other kindred business enterprises in Southwest Virginia. During his
term as Attorney-General, he was imprisoned for contempt, in refusing
to respect an injunction granted by Judge Bond, of the Circuit Court of
the United States, and was discharged by the Supreme Court of the
United States on writ of habeas corpus, the trial of which excited the
attention of citizens in every State in the Union, because of its bearing
upon the rights of the State, and is reported in the 123d United States
Supreme Court reports. The General Assembly adopted a joint resolution
directing the Governor to transmit to General Ayers the thanks of
the people of Virginia for going to jail in defense of the State.
M. J. Ayers, father of General Ayers, born in Bedford county,
died May 10, 1857, aged forty-two years, was a son of Elijah Ayers, of
Bedford county, who was a son of John Ayers. Mrs. Susan L. Ayers,
the General's mother, was a Wingfield of Bedford county; she is now living
in Bristol, Tennessee, aged seventy-four years. The wife of General
Ayers, born in Scott county, Virginia, to whom he was married in Estillville,
June 8, 1870, is Victoria L., daughter of Henry A. Morrison. Her
mother, whose maiden name was Kane, died in 1866. Her father, living
now in Estillville, was born in Sullivan county, Tennessee, a son of
George Morrison, of that county, who was a son of Peter Morrison,
who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and took part in the battle
of Kings Mountain. General and Mrs. Ayers have three children, Kate
L., and Harry J. and James B, and have buried two: Maggie L., died
July 14, 1887, aged twelve years; Rufus W. J., died in 1883, aged five
months. General Ayers is a Mason.
