Family tradition and various accounts published during the last [19th] century attest that Ashenhursts first set foot in the New World in 1793. In that year a group of three families originating in or near Bellykeel, Ireland landed at Norfolk, Virginia. Bellykeel is a village in County Tyrone, one of the six counties in Northern Ireland collectively known as Ulster. It is about three miles from Newton-Stewart, and ecclesiastically in the Parish of Captagh.
Two of the three families were headed by brothers, William and Oliver Ashenhurst. The third was that of their first cousin, William Ashenhurst, whose wife was their sister, Nancy. The relationship, in pedigree form, is as follows:
__________ m. __________
Ashenhurst | __________
(Ireland) |
|
---------------------------------------------------
__________ m. __________ __________ m. __________
Ashenhurst | Ashenhurst |
(Ireland) | (Ireland) |
| |
------------------------------------------------ ------------------
William m. Nancy Oliver m. ______ Nancy m. William
Ashenhurst _____ Ashenhurst ______ Ashenhurst Ashenhurst
William Ashenhurst, the brother, and his family settled in Allegheny County,
Pennsylvania, ten or twelve miles below Pittsburgh. William had only one
son, John, who lived at the old homestead after the death of his parents.
John died childless, consequently this branch of the family became
extinct.William's will (No. 266, Page 413, Will Book 8) was filed December 23, 1856, in Probate Court at Pittsburgh. It reads as follows:
In the name of God, amen.
I, William Ashenhurst of Moon Township, Allegheny
County and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, being
sick and week of body, but of sound mind and
memory, do make and ordain this my last will and
testament- Imprimus I do earnestly recommend my
soul to Almighty God who gave it and my body
to be decently interred at the expense of my ex-
ecutor. Secondly after all my debts are paid
**PAGE MISSING**
m.
William | Nancy
Ashenhurst | ________
b. Ireland |
d. Allegheny |
Co. Pa |
Dec. 1856 |
|
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John m. Mary Jane Nancy Margaret Mary
Ashenhurst _________ d. unm. m. Robert m. James
Simpson Simpson
Oliver Ashenhurst, brother of William, settled in Washington County,
Pennsylvania, near Hardscrabble, now West Alexander. Subsequently he moved
to Brown County, Ohio. Oliver had but one son, John. John married, and after
some years removed to Indiana and settled on the banks of the Wabash. He had
several sons, one of whom was drowned in Brush Creek, Adams County, Ohio, in
1830. Others of his sons with their families were reported (in a History of
Wayne County, Ohio, published in 1878) to be probably settled in Indiana and
Kentucky. The daughters of Oliver Ashenhurst all married and reared large
families. Betty was married to Benjamin Marshall; Nellie to James Johnston;
Peggy to William Reed, who lived and died near West Alexander, PA; Mattie
was the wife of Thomas Robinson.In the History of Brown County, Ohio, published in 1883, we find (page 612, under Jefferson Township): "In 1829, the members of the Presbyterian Church in Russellville and vicinity resolved to build a house of worship. Prominent among the members of the church at that time were--Benjamin Marshall and his wife--Eleanor Ashenhurst--Margaret Robinson--John Snediker and wife--"
Therefore, we can chart this branch as follows:
Oliver m. ________
Ashenhurst | ________
b. Ireland |
d. Brown Co. O |
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
John _______ Betty Nellie Peggy Mattie
Ashenhurst _______ m. Benjamin m. James m. William m. Thomas
| Marshall Johnston Reed Robinson
----------------------
Ashenhurst sons
d. 1830 (to Ind. & Ken.)