Caleb R. Ayer was a Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 politician in the 19th century. Ayer graduated from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 in 1834 and was admitted to the bar in 1838. He was an associate of Nathan Clifford

Nathan Clifford

Nathan Clifford was an American statesman, diplomat and jurist.Clifford was born of old Yankee stock in Rumney, New Hampshire, to farmers, the only son of seven children He attended the public schools of that town, then the Haverhill Academy in New...

 and moved to Cornish

Cornish, Maine

Cornish is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,269 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area...

 in York County

York County, Maine

York County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. In 2010, the population was 197,131. Its county seat is Alfred.Founded in 1636, it is the oldest county in Maine and one of the oldest in the United States....

 in 1841. Six years later in 1847, Ayer was elected as a Democrat to the Maine State Senate and served as Senate President in 1848. In 1856, he served as the Secretary of State of Maine

Secretary of State of Maine

The Secretary of State of Maine is elected by the Legislature in that U.S. state. The Maine Secretary of State is responsible for administering elections, the Maine State Archives, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and for chartering corporations. The Secretary of State is elected to no more than two...

 under Governor Samuel Wells

Samuel Wells

Samuel Wells was an American politician and the 25th Governor of Maine.He was born in Durham, New Hampshire on August 15, 1801. He studied at local school and later studied law. He had a successful career in law. He served as an associate justice of the Maine Supreme Court from 1847 to 1854. Wells...

. He served as the York County Attorney General from 1868-70. He died in 1883. The Caleb R. Ayer House

Caleb R. Ayer House

The Caleb R. Ayer House or Ayer-Swasey House is an historic house in Cornish, Maine. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002....

 in Cornish is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.