Representative Richard Small Ayer

Richard Small Ayer (October 9, 1829 – December 14, 1896) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia who served one term in Congress from 1869 to 1871. His congressional service took place during the Reconstruction era, a significant period in American history, when former Confederate states were being readmitted to the Union and the legal framework of emancipation and civil rights was being established.

Ayer was born in Montville, Waldo County, Maine, on October 9, 1829. He attended the common schools of his native town, receiving a basic formal education typical of rural New England in the mid-nineteenth century. As a young man he engaged in farming and also worked as a merchant, occupations that grounded him in the agricultural and commercial life of his community before the outbreak of the Civil War.

With the onset of the Civil War, Ayer enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 as a private in Company A of the 4th Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry. Over the course of his service he rose through the ranks, being promoted to first lieutenant and ultimately mustered out with the rank of captain. His military career ended on March 22, 1863, when he was discharged for disability. His wartime experience, including his advancement from the enlisted ranks to an officer’s commission, reflected both his personal capabilities and the broader mobilization of Northern citizens in defense of the Union.

After the war, in 1865, Ayer settled in Virginia’s Northern Neck, near Warsaw in Richmond County. Moving from Maine to Virginia during the early Reconstruction period, he became involved in the political reorganization of the former Confederate state. In 1867, voters elected him as a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868, convened under the terms of Congressional Reconstruction to draft a new state constitution that would abolish slavery and meet the conditions for Virginia’s readmission to the Union. The convention produced a new constitution that voters overwhelmingly ratified in 1869, paving the way for Virginia’s formal restoration to representation in Congress.

Later in 1869, Ayer was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress from Virginia. In that election he defeated Conservative candidate Joseph Eggleston Segar—who had previously claimed a seat in Congress that the House had refused to recognize in the two preceding sessions—as well as Independent candidates Daniel M. Norton, an African American political leader aligned with the emerging Readjuster movement who had also served in the constitutional convention and would later serve in the Virginia Senate, and George W. Lewis. Ayer took his seat on January 31, 1870, after Virginia’s readmission, and served until March 3, 1871. During this single term in office, he participated in the legislative process as a member of the House of Representatives, representing the interests of his Virginia constituents and contributing to the broader work of Reconstruction-era governance. He did not seek renomination in 1870, and former Confederate officer and Democrat John Critcher was subsequently elected to succeed him and served one term.

Following his departure from Congress, Ayer returned to private life and resumed farming. He eventually moved back to his native Montville, Maine, where he reestablished his ties to local affairs. Remaining active in public service, he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives and served as a member of that body in 1888, extending his legislative experience to the state level and continuing his engagement in Republican politics in New England.

Richard Small Ayer died in Liberty, Maine, on December 14, 1896. He was interred in Mount Repose Cemetery in Montville, Maine, bringing his life full circle to the community where he had been born and first educated before his service as a soldier, Reconstruction-era Virginia politician, and United States Representative.