John Hartwell Ashcraft

• Daughters of American Revolution Ancestor #: A003431
• Service: NORTH CAROLINA Rank: PATRIOTIC SERVICE
• Birth: (CIRCA) 1740
• Death: 12- -1816 CHESTER DIST SOUTH CAROLINA
• Service Source: NC REV WAR PAY VOUCHERS, #610, ROLL #68.3; PRUITT, ABST OF LAND ENTRIES, ORANGE CO, NC 1778-1795, P 91
• Service Description: 1) PAID FOR SERVICES; TOOK OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO MAKE A LAND ENTRY, 1778

JOHN3 ASHCRAFT (JAMES2, THOMAS1) was born about 1743 in New Kent County, Virginia, lived for awhile in Brunswick Co. Va., then migrated to NC about 1770. He died 1816 in Chester Co. SC. He married (1) MARY BROWN. He married (2) REBECCA ______ about 1793 in NC.. He was in Orange Co., Hillsborough district, NC during the Revolutionary War. A voucher is found in the NC Archives for him:

As quite a young man, John Ashcraft left New Kent County along with his older brother, Thomas, for Brunswick County, Virginia to work the two land patents purchased by their father  c. 1759 and 1761 on Cedar Creek.

Their father James died c. 1766, and their lives changed forever.
John moved to the Chatham/Orange County, N.C. area in c. 1770. A few years before, one of their neighbors, John and Lucy Brown in Brunswick County, Va. had moved his family to Chatham County, N.C. John and Lucy Brown had a daughter named Mary, who became John Ashcraft’s wife. The two Ashcraft brothers, Thomas and

John, stayed in Orange County, N.C. [the area where they lived was in what is now Alamance County] until 1785, the last year they were on the tax list. By early 1786, they were in Anson County, N.C. where Thomas lived

until his death in 1825. John and second wife, Rebecca, lived in York, then Chester County, S.C. from 1799 until his death in 1816.

Mary Brown Ashcraft died during the very early 1790’s, and John Ashcraft married second, Rebecca. John and Rebecca Ashcraft had six children: Tilitha; Agnes; Joel; Jesse; Holly; and Esther. Joel and Jesse Ashcraft’s families eventually ended up in Arkansas, and most of the Arkansas present day Ashcrafts are descendants of these two sons.

After the death of John, James and Drury, his two eldest sons, moved their families to St. Clair County, Al. Thomas moved his family to Troup County, Georgia, then into Talladega County, Alabama. Daughters of John and Mary Ashcraft: Elizabeth; Mary; and Susanna all married Sides brothers, and they moved to Walker County, Alabama where many of their descendants still reside. Some of the descendants of James and Drury Ashcraft still live in Alabama, but many migrated to Texas when lands there first opened up, and are now all over the country.

WILL OF JOHN ASHCRAFT

Date: 2 December or October 1816, Chester Co. SC Will Bk F:122-123

In the Name of God Amen

I John Ashcraft Being in perfect mind and memory But in a low and afflicted state of Body Calling to memory the mortal state of man Do make this My last Will & Testament that is to say first I submit My soul to God the giver & My Body to be Intered from Whence it came_____ Secondly I Allow all my lawful Debts to Be paid Thirdly I Bequeath to my beloved Wife Rebecca the plantation on Which we now live In time or widdowerhood then to my son Jesse to be his Property 4thly I Bequeath to my Son Joel the plantation that Levi Sides formerly Resided on 5thly I Bequeath to my son Joel the Brown Filly To _________ 6thly I Bequeath To my Daughter Tilitha a Bed & Furniture 7thly I Bequeath To my Daughter Agnes a Bed & Furniture 8thly I Bequeath to My Daughter Holly a Bed & Furniture I also Bequeath to my Daughter Esther a Bed & Furniture or the Price of one in money__all my stock & Tools are My Beloved wife's Until her Death I bequeath to my son Drury Ten Dollars and unto John Sides one Dollar Unto my son James Ten Dollars To Henry Sides ten Dollars to James Lee Ten Dollars & to the Heirs of my son John one Dollar To Thomas My son one Dollar To my Daughter Anjellica Twenty Dollars & after my Children Receives their Respective shares any thing shall remain To be Divided Betwixt my sons & Daughters Joel Jesse Telitha Agness Holly & Esther at the Death of their mother I do Nominate and Appoint My Son James & James Lee to see this my last Will & Testament completely Carried into Effect__In witness Whereof I do set my hand In presence of Us.

witnesses: Green Owens, Joel Ashcraft, Jesse Ashcraft John X Ashcraft (his mark)

( http://www.oursouthernancestors.com/ashcraft-001.html )

More at:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ashcraftscott/d00...

http://genealogytrails.com/ncar/union/biographies.html: Union County Biographies