William Ashley was born in London, England circa 1749. His parents may have been John and Martha Ashley of Bishopsgate St., Middlesex, London. A young William Ashley is registered (under their names as parents) with the Apprenticeships of 1740-1790 for England. This William was training as a “victualler” (provisioner of consumable foods) and was apprenticed to John Townsend, “Brazier,” in Broderers’ Company – dated May 14 1768. Normal apprenticeship starting at age 14 generally lasted from seven to ten years. An apprentice would be about 20 years of age when he finished his training and become “free”.
*Our William Ashley was the first butcher in Kingston so I think the information above is referring to our line of Ashley. A researcher at the United Loyalist Museum in Adolphustown, Ontario is in agreement with this supposition.
William Ashley joined the British Army about 1765 - serving with the 34th Regiment of Foote (Artillery) holding the rank of Private throughout his career as a soldier. He most likely served within the commissary unit….supplying food to the troops through his training as a victualler. He was ordered with his detachment of the 34th Regiment of Foote to serve in North America during the American Revolution. The 34th Reg’t was known as an ‘Indian style fighting unit’….not the traditional British style of fighting unit that most were during the campaign. The troops fought many battles in the Mohawk Valley Region of New York State during the Revolution. The Orderly Book of Col. John Johnson it is stated that the 34th Reg’t was lying in quarters in Montreal as of December 1776 under the direct command of Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger.
It was in Montreal that William met his first wife, Genevieve Charpentier b. abt. 1759. (An early record for Quebec shows a Genevieve Charpentier baptised Aug. 28, 1759 at I’Ile-Dupas, Quebec – parents Jean and Madeleine Charpentier who were married Jan. 27, 1750 in Longue-Pointe). William Ashley married Genevieve Charpentier in 1777 and they had three (possibly four) children. Their names are not recorded with this history but there are three Ashley siblings (non-Catholic) listed in Montreal area for that time on the GRL website that may be his first offspring. Genevieve must have died young as William would remarry in Kingston, Ontario by 1788.
Note: William Ashley had two brothers also in the army with him, one of whom returned to England – possibly Joseph Ashley who served with the 8th Regiment (this regiment operated with the 34th Reg’t) - and the other settled somewhere in the United States. General J. J. Ashley, Republican member of Congress from Ohio, as far as can be ascertained, is a descendant of this brother.
In the early 1780s post America. Revolution, William Ashley came to Kingston with the 34th Regiment of Foote. The soldiers were sent to Kingston in Upper Canada to help the United Empire Loyalists who had fled from the American colonies - aiding them in making new homes on land grants given to them through land petitions. The army would supply some tools, clothing, and food to get them on their way to a new life in a new land.
In Kingston about 1783 William Ashley met George Buck (b. 1740 in Germany) a United Empire Loyalist from the Mohawk Valley, New York area. While they were in the process of establishing the new settlement and helping to build the new St. Georges Church, Kingston he met George’s daughter, Margaret Buck ( b.1766 in New York State), and fell in love with her. She was twenty years his junior but was not uncommon for men of that time to have several wives. Women had no chance to exercise any form of birth control and quite often would die in childbirth from the trauma of constant pregnancies. It was also and accepted fact that having several children would guarantee lots of help in the future on establishing an acreage (Clearing , hauling, planting, harvesting…etc….children at a very young age contributed to the general welfare of the family farm.)
William Ashley married Margaret Buck on July 6, 1788 in the town of Bath, Ernesttown Twp., Lennox and Addington County. This town was just a few miles west of Kingston. The temporary church location for St. Johns’ was in the private home of a Mr. Peter Davy. The church would not be erected until its’ first log building was built and opened on Christmas Day, 1791 – later destroyed by fire on another Christmas Day in 1816. The frame church erected in 1817 was torn down and replaced by the present brick church. *Note: Peter Davy was a United Empire Loyalist who settled in Bath. He controlled the shipping out of that small port.
William and Margaret were the 10th couple to be married in 1788 by Reverend John Langhorn who requested that all marriages be performed before noon. Witnesses at this wedding were John Howard, Hannah Johnson, Hannah Davy and Sheldon Hawley. Jacob Hawley served with William Ashley in the campaigns against the American rebels during the St. Leger Expedition into the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys of New York in 1777. This may be a reason why William and Margaret chose to have Sheldon Hawley stand up for them at the wedding. .
William and Margaret lived in the township of Ameliasburg. . In 1787 on recommendation of and with a verbal agreement with land surveyor, John Collins, William took up land along Lake Ontario (near what is now called Collins Bay). It was located on the gore between Kingston and Ernesttown, Ameliasburg Twp. on a lot alongside Collins Creek.. He and Margaret lived there for six years, clearing the land and building a house. However, he was forced to leave and move into the town of Kingston because the Reverend Mr. John Stuart claimed prior title to this land and evicted the Ashleys. Land in Hungerford Township was supposed to be given to William to replace the lost lands in Ameliasburg. They also received two town lots in the centre of the town of Kingston (in the area where the Sunday market is now held). But William died before obtaining title to the acreage on Lots 8, 10, and part of 12 on Concession l, Hungerford Twp. His son George would petition for the title right up to 1850.
Grandsons Cumberland Ashley and William G. Ashley along with their father John William Ashley, would own portions of this land as adults. This land has been developed for housing subdivisions and there is a street named Ashley Crescent after the Ashley homesteaders. Collins Bay, the area they farmed in is on the north side of the Bay of Quinte, 4 miles distant from the Kingston. Records of 1857 show John Ashley, J.P., farmer, and councillor as one of the populace.
About 1796 they moved to the town of Kingston to establish a townsite home on one of the lots assigned them. The house stood on Brock Street, near the corner of Bagot Street. At the time of its erection there were scarcely twenty residences in the area and that part of the city now lying west of the City Hall was then covered with dense forest of pine , cedar and ash. It was a house of red cedar logs, cut from the spot and it continued to stand until 1858 when it was removed and a small brick building, the Victoria Hotel, was built in its’ place.
In June of 1807 Margaret, as daughter of George Buck UE, received a 200 acre allotment from the Crown that she was entitled to after the age of 21. An acreage on Lot 5, Concession 4, Kingston Township was co-held in some way by her sisters Mary Buck ( Mrs. Samuel Smith), Susannah Buck (Mrs. Henry Christopher) and Hannah Buck (Mrs. Moses Smith) . Part of Lot 5 was sold August of 1823 and another portion on March 15, 1824.
By the year 1796 William Ashley was owner and operator of the first butcher shop in Kingston - the location was Bagot Street in Kingston, Ontario (most likely on one of their two town lots)..His training as a victualler with the British Army had given him the experience to take on this vocation. In his old age William often spoke of the fact that he was the first butcher in the city. He would also serve in the 1st Regiment of the Frontenac Militia, Flank Company during the crisis of the War of 1812-1814
The Ashley family established themselves as members of St. George’s Church and William purchased pew #16 as a family pew - sharing this pew with John Horning, a brother-in-law.
William Ashley died in the year 1835 at the age of 85 in Kingston at the home of his son John. His wife Margaret Buck died at Kingston in January of 1826 at the age of 56. Both are buried in Kingston in the Cataraqui Cemetery or possibly Christ Church Cemetery which is across the street from the Cataraqui grounds. His son John would be buried in the Christ Church grounds.
CHILDREN OF WILLIAM and MARGARET ASHLEY
* Note: all children were baptised at St. Georges Church, Kingston
1. George Ashley b. 1788- 1847 m. Elizabeth Harpell b.1795-1862 2nd wife Margaret Lloyd
2. Elizabeth Ashley b. 1791 m. Jeremy Manter on Nov. 3, 1811
3. Mary Ashley b. Sept. 19.1792 – Aug. 16, 1855 m. on Sept. 28, 1808 to James Bennett b.1787 in U.S. d-abt 1862
4. William Ashley b. 1793 –1867 m. Anne Gerollamy
5. Thomas Ashley b. 1798 – after 1865 m. Mary Anger b./chr. Feb. 11, 1801 in Bertie Twp, Welland County, Upper Canada – he would live in Willoughby Twp. with Mary, close to her family. I believe he would have met her when visiting his Uncle Phillip Buck (mothers’ Uncle who settled in the Niagara region post American Revolutionary War.) The Anger family settled in Niagara also, close to the Bucks. Early church records of the Niagara Peninsula show that Thomas and Mary had two daughters, Margaret Ezilphy b./bpt. Feb 2. 1822 at Fort Erie and Lauretta b. July 20, 1823 bpt. at Waterloo. Margaret would marry John Everett of Willoughby Twp. at St. Pauls Church, Fort Erie on Mar. 16, 1841.
By 1842 Thomas would move to the Trafalgar Township, Halton County area (as shown by the Census for that year). His religion was listed as Episcopal/Methodist and his occupation as a blacksmith. He would also be recorded there in the Census of 1851 at the age of 53 and in the Census of 1861 at the age of 63 – both times listed as in the Census of 1842.
6. * JOHN WILLIAM ASHLEY - OUR DIRECT ANCESTOR FROM THIS LINE
b. 1799- Sept. 27, 1858 m. Margaret Chrysler b. abt. 1818, Upper Canada
7. Joseph Ashley b./chr. Oct. 25, 1801 – Aug. 20. 1802 –buried at St. Paul’s, United loyalist Hwy. Ont.
8. Lucretia Ashley b./chr. Nov. 27, 1803 m. Patrick Carney
9. James Ashley b.1804- 1835 m. on July 19, 1825 to Permilla Hoover b.1803 – 1860
10. Henry Frederick Ashley b. Sept. 10. 1805 – July 30, 1835 at Picton,Upper Canada m. Reanah Martin. Henry was the first gaoler for Picton, Upper Canada
11. Adam Ashley b. Sept. 6, 1807 – died 1847 at Syracuse, New York - m. Elizabeth Pattison. Adam was a professional actor and also worked in the printing trade when not performing. His wife also performed on occasion with him. In 1835 he performed for a brief season in the hall of Meaghers Wellington Inn on Barrack Street, and again in 1836 with the S. Dyke Company….referred to as “the deserved favourite of the Canadian public.
12. Margaret Ashley b. July 16, 1809 – m. 1st John Poncett and 2nd Michael Granger.
JOHN WILLIAM ASHLEY STORY
John William Ashley was born in 1799 at Kingston, Upper Canada and was baptised in St. Georges Church, Kingston. John served as a gaoler for Kingston from the age of 19 until the death of his first wife, Elizabeth. He was also Justice of the Peace for the United Counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, for nearly 17 years. He was elected to the office of District and County Councillor eight times and to the Reeve of the Township of Kingston for seven successive years. He had a farm northwest of Kingston where he lived but kept his duties as deputy-sheriff in the town of Kingston. John married twice, first to Elizabeth Burnett and later to Margaret Chrylser.
He and his father, William Sr., served in the Militia during the War of 1812. During the 1837 Rebellion he was in charge of prisoners of war at Barriefield - across the mouth of the Cataraqui River from Kingston. Some of the prisoners escaped and John was suspected of duplicity and was locked up overnite by orders of Colonel Dundas. The newspapers were very indignant about John’s treatment , saying that he had come out of retirement to do the job on a voluntary basis and that his character was above reproach.. John was a prominent member of the County Council for nearly twenty years, and was Colonel of the Militia at the time of his death on Sept. 27, 1858.
*note: Militia Defence of Upper Canada
Militia enlistment age was 16 to 60. Captains of militia were required to turn out their companies for drill on the last two Sundays in June and the first two in July. Provision was made for drawing as many men as req’d from the companies and marching them in conjunction with the regular forces to any place where they might be needed keeping them in service until the need was over.
John Ashley died on Sept. 27, 1858 and is buried in the graveyard of Christ Church, Kingston, Ontario. The burial location of his first wife, Elizabeth who died in 1835/36 is not known. His second wife, Margaret Chrysler died March 13, 1896 and is buried in Cataraqui Cemetery, Section M, plot 209 with her son Cyrus Ashley.
MARRIAGE NO 1.
John Ashley married Elizabeth Burnett (d/o a United Empire Loyalist, John Burnett) on Feb. 17, 1820. She died in 1835/36 of tuberculosis. Her burial location is not known at this time. Her brother Thomas would marry Jane Chrysler, possibly a sister or cousin of Margaret Chrylser - the future second wife of John Ashley
CHILDREN OF JOHN W. ASHLEY AND ELIZABETH BURNETT
1. Elizabeth Margaret Ashley b. 1821 married Amos Knapp b. 1823
– Children: Mary Alice Maud Knapp b. 1851, George Wesley Knapp b. 1849
2. Charlotte Martha Ashley b. 1823 married Andrew Clark b. April 6, 1817
Their children:
- John William Clark .1845 – 1922 m. Nancy Moore b. abt.1844
- Robert Clark b.1846 m. Jane ? b. abt. 1847
- Charles Clark b. 1847
- Eleanora Clark b. 1851
- Sarah Clark b. 1856
- Martha Clark b. 1858
- Clementine Clark b. 1860
- Franklin Clark b.1861 – 1931
- Algernon Clark b. 1864
- Matilda Clark b. 1868
3. John William Ashley b. abt. 1823 –d.1883 married Margaret Cloakley b. 1828
Their children:
- Clementine Ashley b. 1850
- George Franklin Ashley b. 1851 – 1928 m. Agnes Adelaide Wartman
- Ann Elizabeth Ashley b. 1853 m. George Allan Wartman b. 1854
- John Ashley b. 1855 -1946 m. Anne Van Horne b. 1871 -1832
- Hedley Edwin Ashley b. 1865
- Charles Ashley b. 1861?/71
4. Lenora Ashley b. 1831-d.1893 married James Purdy b. 1827
Their children:
- Francis Daly Purdy b. 1869
****************************************
MARRIAGE NO.2
*JOHN WILLIAM ASHLEY married *2nd wife MARGARET CHRYSLER on June 25, 1838
in Kingston, Upper Canada. She was 20 years his junior and her approximate birth date was 1817/1818.
*. Margaret Chrysler was a direct descendent of the Hieronymous/Phillip/John Chrysler line (cousins of the Walter P. Chrysler car dynasty.). Hieronymous settled in the Niagara region as a U.E. L. but his son Phillip and grandson John chose to settle in
the Williamsburg area. John became a full Colonel in the Militia and during the War of 1812-1814 the Battle of Chryslers’ Farm took place on their land in Williamsburg, Ontario. John William Ashley was in the lumber business as well as John P. Chrysler so it may be that he met Margaret Chrysler through her fathers’ business.
CHILDREN OF JOHN ASHLEY AND MARGARET CHRYSLER
1.Algernon Sidney Ashley b.1840-1917 married Louisa A. Martin - he was a dental surgeon in Napanee, Ontario.
Children:
-Wilton Algernon Ashley b. 1871 – 1945 – m. Ida Vivien Harker b. ? – d. 1984
-Herbert M. Ashley b. 1873
-Maud. I. Ashley b. 1878
-Edna Ashley b. 1885 m. George Guess b. ? - d. 1954
-
2. Cumberland Ashley b. 1842-1907 m. 1st Mary ? b. abt. 1849 – d. 1872
Children:
-Desmond Algernon Ashley b. 1867
- Bertha Matilda Ashley b. 1869
-Cumberland Ashley b. abt 1872
*2nd wife Hannah Mary Grass UE b. abt.1850 – d. May 26, 1923 Kingston.
Children:
-Eva Maud Ethyl Marie Ashley b. 1876
-Frances Estella Gertrude Ashley b. 1878 m. Sidney J. Watts b. 1874
-Lillian Agatha Ashley b.1885 m. Erle Clarence and later Henry Charles Emlaw b. 1891 – 1952
-Gledhill Warren Ashley b. 1875
3. Alvanley Ashley b. 1846-1925 –d. Aug. 4, 1925 m. Agnes ? b. ?-d. Nov.5, 1927
4. George Ellington Ashley b.1847-1907 married Wilhemina McCammon b.1845-1910
Children:
-Muriel Daisy Christina Ashley b. ? m. Harry Livingston b ?
-Erle Robert Ashley b. 1882 – 1984 m. Jessie Alice Monahan b.1888 – 1947
-Marguerite Rita Ashley b. 1884 – 1970 m. James Hall b. ?
-Edward Ashley b. 1879
-Gladys Ashley b. 1887
5. Alice Maud Ashley b. 1847-1926 married William Henry Gibson b.1847-1926
Children:
- Agatha Bertha Gibson b. 1869 – 1940 m. A.K. Routley
6. Ellen Roberta Ashley b. 1845 – 1876 m. John Norris
7. * CYRUS RICHMOND ALLISON ASHLEY b. Jan. 27, 1852-1887 (married May Emma Dunlop b. Mar. 20, 1854) OUR DIRECT LINE see below for list of children
8. James Edgar Ashley b. 1856 ?married Anne Haight
9. Gledsell Ashley b. 1856 -?.
CYRUS RICHMOND ALLISON ASHLEY STORY
Cyrus Richmond Allison Ashley b. Jan. 27, 1852 – d. 1887 married MAY EMMA DUNLOP b. Mar. 20, 1854 – d. 1906.
He was named after one of his fathers’ friends, the Reverend Cyrus Richmond Allison who performed the baptisms of most of the Ashley children born to John and Margaret Ashley.
The wedding took place at Kingston on April 19, 1876. They settled in Napanee, Ontario, – a short distance from the city of Kingston. He was a shop keeper (dry goods store selling groceries, boots, and shoes). He died at the young age of 35 in 1887 from throat cancer and is buried with his mother, Margaret (Chrysler) Ashley in her plot – Section M, plot # 209 – in Cataraqui Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario.
MAY EMMA DUNLOP CYRUS RICHMOND A. ASHLEY
CHILDREN OF CYRUS ASHLEY AND MAY EMMA DUNLOP
Harford Dunlop Ashley b. Aug. 13, 1877 .Married Georgie Seagram
- Children - George Ashley and stepson Fred Seagram
Norman Russell Ashley b. Mar. 13, 1879. Married Archilina –lived in
Chateauguay area of Montreal, Quebec, – children?
May Emma Gertrude Ashley b. Oct. 19, 1880 – 1943 - married 1st Fred O’Connor
(Who died young), 2nd Francis Potter (divorced), and 3rd. Mr. P. Searles
Children: Marion Potter b. 1907-1989 m. Walter Bonnell
Marguerite Irene Potter b.1909 – 1979 m. George Lunan
* EDYTHE ISABELLA ASHLEY b. May 26, 1884 - Feb. 28, 1942 married DAVID WYLIE HORNELL b. July 14, 1880 - Jan. 18, 1953 *DIRECT LINE *marriage date June 27, 1911.
Children: Harry Ashley Hornell b. June 5, 1912 – d. Aug. 2, 2004 age 92
Alan Wylie Hornell b. Jan. 1, 1915 – d. Jan. 30, 1941 age 26
Muriel Isabell Hornell b. Oct. 5, 1917 *
Leila Muriel Ashley b. May 30, 1886 - Mar. 31, 1934 married Robert Brown in North Dakota, USA
When Edythe was only three years old when her father passed away in 1887. Her mother Mary Emma packed up all the children - Harford, Norman, May, Edythe and Leila - and moved from Napanee back to Kingston. By 1890 May Emma had moved to Montreal to work as a piano teacher, taking the three oldest – May, Harford and Norman – with her. She left Edythe and Leila in the care of their Aunt Elizabeth Leila (Dunlop) Dick in Kingston.
The Canadian Census of 1901 shows Leila at the age of 14 still living with her Aunt Elizabeth in Kingston. Edythe was probably working by this time as she was 17 years old. Most likely she had already gone to Montreal to live with her sister, May. May had remained at the convent in Montreal from 1890 to 1899 - later meeting her first husband Fred O’Connor and marrying in Montreal. When he died she remarried Frank Potter and had two daughters, Marion and Irene, by him. This is the family that Edythe was living with at the time she met David Wylie Hornell, her future husband.
Their mother, Mary Emma remarried first to an alcoholic, Mr. Dancy later divorcing him. She would meet a Mr. Lemery and get married a third time – leaving Kingston, Ontario for North Dakota, U.S.A. Upon her death her body would be returned to Kingston to be buried close by to the plot of her first husband, Cyrus Ashley.
Edythe Isabella Ashley b. May 26, 1884 – d. Feb. 28, 1942 married David Wylie Hornell b. July 14, 1880 – d. Jan. 18, 1953. They met in Montreal and were married in Montreal, Hochelaga Twp, Quebec on June 27, 1911.
David was from the Toronto area but was working for Ogilvie’s Dept. Store in Montreal at the time. Edythe was living with her older sister May Ashley and her husband Frank Potter in Montreal. She had a job working for Morgan’s Dept. Store in Montreal .Her brother Norman also lived in Montreal with his wife Archelina in the Chateauguay area. * See the Hornell family history for more info on Edythe and David.
David Wylie Hornell
CHILDREN OF EDYTHE ASHLEY AND DAVID WYLIE HORNELL
1. Harry Ashley Hornell –b. June 5, 1912 – d. Aug. 2, 2004 m. Muriel Inkster b. Jan. 22,
1922
Children: Alan David Hornell b. Jan. 10, 1945 m. Ruth Porterfield b.1947
Rodney Osler Hornell b. June 23, 1948 m. Gay Omerod Donnelly
Nancy Louise Hornell b. March 31, 1951 m. Jim Pope
2. Alan Wylie Hornell – b.Jan. 1, 1915 – d. Jan. 30, 1941 - unmarried
3. MURIEL ISABELL HORNELL b. Oct. 5 1917- m. LORNE GRANT PATERSON
b. July 28, 1918 –d. Feb. 29, 1985 - **OUR DIRECT LINE**
Children:
Donald Ian Paterson b. June 14, 1945 macaroon Louise Wedlake b Mar. 16, 1947
Carol Ann Paterson b. Feb. 25, 1948 m. Donald Jeremiah b. Nov. 2, 1946
Gail Isabell Paterson b. Feb. 25, 1948 m. David Gregory b. Mar.24, 1947
Algernon Sidney Ashley b.1840-1917 married Louisa A. Martin - he was a dental surgeon in Napanee, Ontario. 
