Uva S. Ayer, prominent in the management of a constantly growing business as president of the Ayer-O'Connell Manufacturing Company of Meriden, was born in West Townsend, Vermont, July 4, 1885. His father, Dr. A. D. Ayer, was a distinguished physician of Willimantic, Connecticut, and married Anna Faulinger, who represented one of the old and well known American families that was established in the state of New York among its earliest settlers.

Uva S. Ayer acquired a public school education in Madison, Connecticut, and also pursued his studies for a time in Clinton, Connecticut. He started out in the business world as an employe in a grocery store, his hours of service being from four o'clock in the morning to ten o'clock at night. He afterward entered the employ of the firm of J. L. Howard & Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, and within seven years worked his way upward from the position of office boy to superintendent. He represented the house upon the road as a traveling salesman for five years and became thoroughly familiar with every branch of the business. On leaving the firm of Howard & Company he organized the Ayer-O'Connell Manufacturing Company, which was established in 1912. At the outset he employed four workmen skilled in that line and three general employes. In 1916 the business was incorporated as the Ayer-O'Connell Manufacturing Company with Uva S. Ayer as the president. D. W. Ayer as secretary, and M. J. O'Connell, of Chicago, as vice president. Originally the plant contained six thousand square feet of floor space and something of the growth of the business is indicated in the fact that there is today thirty-five thousand square feet of floor space, with eighty employes in the plant, five in the office, while upon the road there are three traveling salesmen, making eighty-eight in all. In 1917 a large warehouse was added. Mr. Ayer is also vice president of the Bennott-O'Oonnell Manufacturing Company, conducting business at No. 3600 South Morgan street, Chicago, where they employ two hundred and fifty men.

The Ayer-O'Connell Manufacturing Company makes everything for buffing and plating work and its products likewise include generator sets and dynamos. They own their own patents and their machinery is the last word in improvements along that line. Their sales cover the entire world and their business during the first six months of 1917 was more than for the entire year of 1916, such is the rapid development of their trade. The business is organized along the most progressive lines and the company is now arranging for a division of its profits among its employes.

Mr. Ayer was united in marriage in 1906 to Miss Ruby Jessamine Crossley, a daughter of Captain Crossley, of East Haven, who owns a seagoing yacht and is a famous sportsman and representative of a prominent old American family. Mr. and Mrs. Ayer have one child, Lucile Emily. Mr. Ayer also has a sister. Emma Buena Ayer, who is a graduate of Wellesley College. She completed her course with high honors, was coxswain of the boat crew and became very prominent in the secret societies of the college.

Mr. Avery is a republican in his political views and while not an office seeker he cooperates in many well defined plane for the upbuilding and progress of his city and state and is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. He belongs in the Colonial Club and to the Masonic Club of New Haven, having membership in the blue lodge of Masons in Madison. He is also a member of the Congregational church and in these associations are found the nature of his interests and the rules which govern his conduct.