Frederick Fanning Ayer, born in 1851, became a lawyer and philanthropist, and was director or stockholder of many corporations.

[2] Ayer was involved in the patent medicine business, but is better known for his work in the textile industry.

After buying the Tremont and Suffolk mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, he bought up many textile operations in nearby Lawrence, combining them in 1899 into the American Woolen Company, of which he was the first president.

The couple had four children:[1] After Cornelia's death, Ayer married Ellen Barrows Banning (1853–1918) in 1884.

They had three children:[1] He died on March 14, 1918, in Thomasville, Georgia, and is interred at Lowell Cemetery.