These awards were made possible by the hard work the Ashley cousins have done
in "digging our roots". Thank you, all.
ASHLEY FAMILIES
REUNIONS
Thomas Curtis Ashley, ca 1854
The descendants of Thomas Curtis Ashley will meet at Lake Bistineau State Park, near Doyline, LA (about 20 miles east of Shrevesport off I-20) on Satruday, July 22, 2000. They will meet at site RA-001, the Rally Pavillion for a covered dish meal at noon. There are camp sites and cabins available with reservations, if you want to come late Friday, stay Saturday and leave Sunday. Contact Dennis Ashley if you have questions.
Isaac Milton Ashley Descendants
The descendants of Isaac Milton Ashley and Martha Jane Spencer will meet Sunday May 21, 2000, at the picnic shelter at Lil' Abner's motel between Slade KY and Natural Bridge State Park. The meeting time is 11:00AM until ?? There will be a covered dish lunch at 12:00 noon. For further information, contact Milton Ashley
Jordan and Barbara Ashley Descendents
On August 26, 2000, the descendents of Jordan b. 1801 and Barbara Ashley will have a reunion in Winchester, KY at the Clark COunty fairgrounds. We would lilke to invite all descendents and allied families to come join us for a day of fun that will renew old acquaintance and make new ones. We will begin at 10:00 AM. Bring a covered dish (or if you are a good cook, bring two!), drinks (we will provide ice). Do you play a musical instrument? If so, bring it and we will have an old fashioned song fest. Do you have old photos of the family, bring them also> If you are interestd in attending, contact Pat Lawson 501 Meadow Ln., Trenton, OH 45067 or Rita Fishman 12019 N. 28th St., Phoenix, AZ 85028
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hello, Friends, and welcome to our Ashley Families homepages. On these pages you will find
information about our various Ashleys, where and when they were in early America. Ashleys have fought in every war this country has been in, from the Revoluntionary War, when our
country became the United States of America, through the past 350 years, to the Gulf War.
Their presence is likely represented in Bosnia today.
Our Ashleys came to the Colonies and Canada as Gentlemen with money in their pockets, people searching for new lands away from the King, as indentured servents and as convicts,
sent away by the king for petty crimes. The name Ashley has been spelled a variety of ways
depending on how the people recording the name in transactions, documents, later in census,
as Ashley, Ashly, Ashleigh, Ashlea, even Ashby, Ashlin, Aslin. Accents and literacy/illiteracy
account for many of the spellings. They bought land, received grants, worked for
land owners, spreading from the original colonies along the Atlantic coast ever
westward, searching and following a dream. Today, Ashleys are world wide. They are
in politics, business, sports, military, in every walk of life. Many are descendents
of those early Ashleys that came to an unknown, wild country, seeking their dreams,
all those many years ago.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Virginia
Two early Ashleys were John born 1625 and brother William, born in England. They share a story of love and rejection. They both loved the same woman, Lady Jane Cooper, daughter of
Baronet John Cooper and wife Ann, daughter of Sir Anthony Ashley. It was decided between
them, whichever she rejected, would migrate to the Colonies. William lost, and came to the Colonies. Scant early records seem to point to William settling in Accomack Co. VA.
About 1650, John and Jane Cooper Ashley also migrated to the Colonies. They had two known sons, Thomas born about 1650, and Isaac born about 1660. Thomas stayed in VA and Isaac moved to Maryland, as those are the states their records are found in. Many Ashleys today can trace their lines back to John and Jane and brother William.
In searching the VA archives and records, some records were found for Christopher Ashley,
Nansemond Co, 1652, Dennis Ashley, Northumberland Co., 1679, John Ashley, Lancaster
Co, 1653, William, Accomack, 1663, Thomas (son of John and Jane) Northumberland, 1677,
Joseph, 1689. Peter, 1622, Allis, 1692, Ann, 1699, Charles, New Kent CO. 1704, Esward, Surry CO. 1714, Rachel Spotsylvania Co. 1727. According to the records there are a number of Johns
Williams, and Thomas'. That name seems pretty popular among early Ashleys.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Maryland
In Maryland Hall of records are early records for Isaac (son of John and Jane)
Kent Co., 1708, Henry Ashley, 1656, and records for some of Isaac's children. It seems the Maryland Ashleys also liked William, John and Thomas as these names show up in records
in the 1600's.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Canada
Ashleys also migrated to Canada from Europe. Some came early as they did to the Amerca Colonies. Others arrived in the later 1800's. These Ashleys we are researching also. So far, we have not uncovered a lot of information on them, but we will!
Migration seems to have been down the coast into NC, SC, GA over the next century. In the records of 1700, there are Johns, Williams, Thomas' in Anson, Bertie, Chowan, Orange NC. There are enought records, that show them in different places, to indicate more than one of each name. Some are in the same family, but there are others we have found that must be in other families. Even the other families liked the three names. These "same names" in several families
makes us all work a little harder to figure out just where they belong.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
From North Carolina, Ashleys moved into South Carolina and Georgia in the mid to late 1700's
More similar names came into the families. There were still plenty of the names of John, William and Thomas and now added in were Nathaniel, Robert, Charles, and Jordan.
As more frontiers were opened Ashleys moved west into territory that became some of our northern states.Ever pushing westward, some followed the Oregon Trail to the Northwest, the trail of the "49ers" to the gold fields of California. They fought the British again in 1812, fought
the Indians, both in the east and the west. They were on both sides of the Civil War, and charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt. They lost family to the wars, the Indians, sickness
and disease. They suffered through drought and poor crops and rejoiced with rain and good
crops, the good times and the bad. This is our heritage, our family. These tough, resilient
early immigrants to a strange unknown land and the tough pioneers that pushed the boundaries
of our country from coast to coast, have made us as we are today, their lives and memories are
a part of our lives.
These pages of information about our Ashleys are dedicated to the memory of those Ashleys who came before us, the Honorable Gentlemen, the laborers, the sharecroppers, merchants, seaman, and our loveable rogues, who sometimes indulged in occupations on the other side of the law. To our Ashleys Warriors, who fought in many wars, the Confederates and the Union, the Revolutionary Soldiers and the Tories and Loyalists.
We Salute You!!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
These pages will show you our Ashley Family Lines. As you visit them, you may find a cousin through some of our collateral families.
This page will give you a list of Ashley Ancestors and Researchers. The names listed are the descendents, so if one of them is your ancestor, click on a name and contact a cousin!
We have searched through many things to locate our families. On these pages, you will find
many of our Research Sources. Maybe they can help you.
Some of our ASHLEY-L cousins have homepages about their Ashley connections. Please visit
them to see if you can connect to their Ashley, or perhaps a collateral family.
Get your own Free Home Page