Capt. David Ashley

David Ashley

Born in Westfield on 1727 to David Ashley and Mary Dewey. David married Hannah Leonard and had 8 children. He passed away on 1813 in Sheffield, Berkshire, Massachusetts, USA. Family Members

Parents

   David Ashley1695-1757

   Mary Dewey1694-1774

Spouse(s)

   Hannah Leonard32-1830

Children:

   Amelia Ashley1761-1839

   Lucy Ashley

   Grace Ashley1758-1805

   Elinor Ashley1762-1809

   David Ashley1764-1845

   Frances Ashley1766-1813

   Leonard Ashley1768-1813

   Forest Ashley1771-1816

Source: http://records.ancestry.com/david_ashley_records.ashx?pid=33526108

CHILDREN (EXCEPT 1) BORN IN PITTSFIELD, Berkshire, MA.

• One correspondant wrote that he had daughters: Milla (m. Abiar [Abiathar] Millard) and Bet sey (m. Robert Millard); another that "two of his daughers were Lizzie and Laura which are su pposed to be nicknames for the names given in the town records below.

1. Grace, b. 6 Dec, 1758 in Westfield, Mass. 2. Amelia, b. 21 May 1761 married Abiahar Millard b. 1763 Quaker Hill, Ny 3. Elinor, b. 21 Oct 1762 married Abiathar Millard b. 1760 Conn. his 1st wife 4. David, b. 29 Sept 1764 5. Leonard b. 22 Apr 1765 6. Frances b 2 Aug 1766 7. Lucy, b. 18 Feb 1773 Pittsfield married Abiathar Millard b. 1760 Conn as his 2nd wife 8. Laura 9. Elizabeth"Betsey" b. 1787 married Robert Millard

https://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&d...

David Ashley was raised in Westfield, Massachusetts. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, serving in Capt. Israel Williams' company from 28 May 1755 up through 18 Oct 1756. His name appears on the rolls at Colerain, Fall Town, Rice's Charlemont, Pontoosuck, Greenfield, and Northfield.

Four years later, in 1760, he took his family to live in Pontoosuck (now Pittsfield) in Massachusetts. The name is Mohican for haven (or field) for winter deer. A wealthy Bostonian named Col. Jacob Wendell had bought 24,000 acres there in 1738 as an investment, forming a partnership with his kinsman Philip Livingston and Col. Jacob Stoddard, who already had a claim to 1,000 acres there. The settlement would be named Pittsfield in honor of Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder (a champion of American colonists) in 1761.

David Ashley knew Pontoosuck/Pittsfield, having been there a soldier. (His father, David Ashley senior, had been interested in Pontoosuck since the late 1730s.) Ashley junior farmed there, living with his family on the road running west from the center of the settlement. And Ashley owned a sawmill, marked on a map drawn up in 1794.

David and one of his brothers may have been Loyalists during the Revolution, but more than one descendant referred to a family record stating that "David Ashley was an intimate friend of Ethan Allen and was with him at Ticonderoga." (This may or may not be factual) He was an enlisted man in Lt. James Hubbard's company (Col. David Rossiter's regiment) for five days, 17- 22 August 1777 before re-enlisting, serving in Capt. Joel Stevens' company (Rossiter's regiment) 12 - 25 October 1781. His name is on the roll of Capt John Bacon's company, Col. Caleb Hyde's regiment (20 - 28 October 1781, and on 3 July 3, 1782). He marched on the alarm at Saratoga in 1781 (not to be confused with the Battles of Saratoga.) Taken from Francis Bacon Trowbridge's The Ashley Genealogy, published 1896.)

Ancestor #: A200484
Service: MASSACHUSETTS Rank(s): PRIVATE