First White Boy Born in Minnesota

Black and white photograph of a man with white hair and beard in a circle with an off-white ring around it with black text on a gold background with a red, white and blue ribbon illustration

While Lyman Warren Ayer’s gravestone claims he was the first white child born in the territory that would become Minnesota, it is unclear whether that is true. However, he is widely believed to be at least one of the first white children born in the territory. Sources agree he was born at a Native American mission near Pokegamo Lake, but the year of his birth varies from 1832 to 1834. Ayer was a school teacher and lumberman, and he served in the Second Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery during the United States Civil War. He married Laura Hill, and they had two daughters, Ina and Agnes. He died of heart trouble in 1920.

Pine City is a rural town in east central Minnesota near where Ayers was born.