Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Eliza McCreary (1793-1873)

      BIRTH: 1793, Harford County, Maryland, USA
      DEATH: 11873, Pennsylvania, USA
      FATHER: James McCreary (b. 1760–1770, d. after 1820)1
      MOTHER: Unknown2
      SPOUSE: Richard Ayers (1797–Bef. 1870)

      Eliza McCreary was born in 1793 in Harford, Maryland. She had three sons and two daughters with Richard Ayers between 1828 and 1842. She died in 1873 in Pennsylvania having lived a long life of 80 years.

      The life of Eliza McCreary

      A Life Between Two States

      Elizabeth “Eliza” McCreary was born in 1793, most likely in Harford County, Maryland, into the extended McCreary family whose roots in the region stretched back to the colonial era. The McCrearys were a well‑established clan—farmers, tradesmen, and landholders—whose kinship network connected them to the Ayers, Almony, and related families that populated the rural communities around Deer Creek, Dublin, and Havre de Grace.

      Eliza grew up in a world defined by family ties, church life, and the rhythms of agricultural work. Her childhood overlapped with the final years of the American Revolution’s first generation, and she came of age during the early years of the new republic. By the time she reached adulthood, Harford County was a place of stability, but also one where young families increasingly looked westward for opportunity.

      Sometime in the early 1820s, Eliza married Richard Ayers, a young man born around 1797, also from Harford County. Their marriage united two long‑standing Maryland families and began a partnership that would span nearly fifty years. Their first children—Thomas, Eliza Ann, and Joanna—were born in Maryland, and the family appears in Harford County census records through 1840.

      During these years, Eliza managed the household, raised children, and participated in the extended kin network that defined rural Maryland life. Her children’s names reflect both family tradition and the influence of her own lineage: McCreery Ayers, born in 1837, carried her maiden name forward into the next generation.

      Sometime between 1840 and 1850, Eliza and Richard joined the wave of Maryland families who migrated into western Pennsylvania, settling in the region that would later connect their daughter Eliza Ann to the Stone family. By 1850, the entire Ayers family appears in Pennsylvania, with all five children still at home. This census is the clearest snapshot of Eliza’s household: a mother in her fifties, surrounded by children ranging from young adults to a boy of eight.

      The 1850s and 1860s brought change. Her daughter Eliza Ann married Jacob Stone, beginning the Stone–Ayers line that continues to our generation. Other children married or moved westward. Richard died sometime before 1870, leaving Eliza a widow in her seventies.

      The 1870 census shows her still living in Pennsylvania, likely near or with one of her children. She died in 1873, closing a life that had begun in the early years of the republic and ended during Reconstruction. She lived through the War of 1812, westward migration, the Civil War, and the transformation of the nation she had known as a young woman.

      Legacy of Eliza McCreary

      Elizabeth “Eliza” McCreary’s legacy is woven into the story of two states and two generations. She represents the bridge between the established Maryland families of the late 18th century and the expanding frontier communities of western Pennsylvania. Through her daughter Eliza Ann, she became the matriarch of the Stone–Ayers line, a family that would move westward, build new communities, and carry her name into the 20th century.

      Her life reflects the quiet strength of women whose names appear only in census lines and family records, yet whose influence shaped the generations that followed. She preserved family identity through naming traditions, guided her children through migration, and lived long enough to see her grandchildren begin their own lives in a rapidly changing America.

      Eliza’s story is one of endurance, continuity, and the deep roots of family that stretch across states and centuries.

      Parents

      FATHER: James McCreary (b. 1760–1770, d. after 1820)1
      MOTHER: Unknown2

      Married

      Richard Ayers (1797–Bef. 1870)

      Children

      • Thomas Ayers: (b. ca. 1828 d. after 1860)
      • Eliza Ann Ayers: (1832–1920) married Jacob Stone (1822–1888)
      • Joanna Ayers: (b. ca. 1835 – d. after 1850)
      • McCreery Ayers: (1837 – d. after 1860)
      • Abelard Ayers: (1842 – d. after 1860)

      Documents

      • Census
        • 1810 United States Federal Census > Maryland > Harford > Havre De Grace >Name: Tho Ayres; Residence Date: 6 Aug 1810; Residence Place: Havre De Grace, Harford, Maryland, USA; Free White Persons – Males – Under 10: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 10 thru 15: 1; Free White Persons – Males – 45 and over: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 16 thru 25: 1; Free White Persons – Females – 45 and over: 1; Number of Household Members Under 16: 2; Number of Household Members Over 25: 2; Number of Household Members: 5
        • 1830 United States Census > Harford Co., MD > Head of household; Thomas & Eliza Ann appear
        • 1840 United States Census > Harford Co., MD > Full set of children appears
        • 1850 United States Census > Pennsylvania > Entire family appears; matches Stone line
        • 1860 United States Census > Pennsylvania > Children dispersing; Eliza Ann married
        • 1870 United States Census > Pennsylvania > Widow Elizabeth appears; Richard likely deceased
      • Other

      Footnote

      1. Elizabeth “Eliza” McCreary (1793–1873) was almost certainly the daughter of one of the McCreary families long established in Harford County, Maryland, most likely the household of James McCreary who appears in the 1790–1820 Harford County census records. Her birth year places her squarely within the age bracket of the young woman listed in James’s 1810 household, and her lifelong connection to the Ayers, Almony, and related Maryland families aligns with the geographic and social circle in which James lived. The Beaver County James McCreery—whose 1841 will survives—can be ruled out entirely, as his will names all of his children and does not include an Elizabeth or Eliza, and because this Eliza was still living in Maryland at the time. Taken together, the Maryland census evidence, naming patterns, and migration timeline strongly support that Eliza was born into the Harford County McCreary family headed by James McCreary, even though no surviving document names her explicitly.
      2. The mother of Elizabeth “Eliza” McCreary (1793–1873) was almost certainly the wife of James McCreary of Harford County, Maryland—an unidentified woman born in the 1760s or early 1770s who appears in the 1790–1820 census records but whose name has not survived in any known church, probate, or land documents.

      Relation of Richard Ayers to Steven Barry Staggs: 3rd great-grandfather

      Page last updated June 22, 2025

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