Eli Ayers

Who was Eli Ayers?

Eli Ayers was a physician and the first colonial agent of the American Colonization Society in what would later become Liberia. He was born in 1778 in Shiloh in New Jersey and married Elizabeth West in 1812. He practiced medicine in Woodbury, New Jersey. On August 7, 1821 he left New York for West Africa on the USS Shark. Together with Robert F. Stockton of the USS Alligator he negotiated a treaty with six tribal kings on the purchase of land at Cape Mesurado. He served as the colonial agent of the American Colonization society from December 15, 1821 until his death on April 25, 1822.