James Cook Ayer

James Cook Ayer (May 5, 1818 – July 3, 1878) was the wealthiest patent medicine businessman of his day. Early life James Cook Ayer was born in Groton, Connecticut, on May 5, 1818, the son of Frederick Ayer (1792-1825) and Persis Herrick Cook (1786-1880). After his mother remarried, James Ayer and his brother Frederick Ayer moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, and lived with his uncle, James Cook. He attended Lowell High School in 1838, after which he was apprenticed to James C. Robbins, a druggist in Lowell. While there he studied medicine, and later he graduated from the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania. Career