Parentage of John Hale Ashley b. 12-18-1777, married Elizabeth Johnson (Johnstone)

Question

John reportedly married Elizabeth Johnson,daughter of Joseph and Phebe Johnson, in Connecticut. He had a brother William b 1770,married Mercy Bristol daughter of John Bristol and Sarah Nearing sisters Rachael married John Edwards of NY state and Betsy who married William Robbins of NY state. In 1810 John was in Catskill, NY, moved to Allen County, Indiana 1837. John's children:Polly 11-25-1800, John Joseph, Jr. 6-20-1802, Phebe Sept. 1803, Betsy Ann July 1805, Harriet 12-3-1808, Lowly Clarissa 12-3-1812, George Hale 6-1-1814, and Rebecca 6-24-1817. I am a descendant of George Hale Ashley and have much of the family history after they came to Indiana.

Answer 1

There were two main lines of Ashleys in New England in the late 1700s: the descendants of Robert Ashley of Springfield, MA and the descendants of Joseph Ashley of Rochester, MA. Most of the children of Joseph's eldest son, Thomas, moved to Vermont in the late 1700s and had children there. There was a general exodus of people from western New England to upstate NY and then the midwest in the 1790s-1820s as new land opened up and people discovered that midwestern farmland was more productive than farming rocks in Vermont. So it would not be surprising to find a descendant of either Robert Ashley of Springfield or Joseph Ashley of Rochester in upstate NY in the late 1810 and then moving to the midwest.

The Family Tree Ashley DNA page has DNA results for a descendant of John Hale Ashley and a descendant of Joseph Ashley of Rochester. https://www.familytreedna.com/public/ashley/default.aspx?section=yresults They do not match. Unfortunately, the project does not have any DNA results for a descendant of Robert Ashley of Springfield. Based on the non-match with the DNA results of Joseph Ashley, the descendants of Robert Ashley of Springfield look like a more promising line of inquiry. This is also supported by the location of the Catskills near western Massachusetts. I note that the book on the descendants of Robert Ashley of Springfield has several Ashleys with "Hale" as a middle name. https://archive.org/stream/ashleygenealogyh00trow#page/132/mode/2up