John Miller Ashby (1788 - 1839)

Born 11 Nov 1788 in Ashby's Gap, Fauquier Co, Virginia, United States

Husband of Mary Harris (Garnett) Ashby — married 1 Mar 1810 in Shelbyville, Shelby, Kentucky, United States

Died 15 Oct 1839 at age 50 in Matagorda, Republic of Texas

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Biography

http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/dewitt.htm - "Sons of Dewitt Colony of Texas"

ASHBY.
According to DeWitt Colony land records, John Miller Ashby arrived 20 Feb 1830 with a family of seven where he received title to a sitio tract on the Lavaca River where the subsequent community of Petersburg was established. His neighbors were James C. and John Davis, Matthew Caldwell, James Kerr and John Smothers. Ashby was born 11 Nov 1788 at Ashby's Gap, Blue Ridge, Fauquier Co, Va., - and married Mary Harris Garnet (born 4 Apr 1795 in Woodford Co, in Shelbyville, ShelbyCo., KY on 1 Mar 1810.

The Ashby's had a second daughter born in Shelbyville, KY, Martha Francis Ashby (b. 12 Sep 1813; d.13 Sep 1813) .

Other Ashby children born in Shelbyville, KY were:
Benjamin Thomas Ashby (b. 14 Dec 1817; d. 19Aug 1822);
Sowel Harris Ashby (17 May 1820; d. 4 Aug 1833; buried Memorial Park Cemetery Hallettsville, TX);
Jane Isabelle Ashby (17 Sep 1822; d. 18 Aug 1895 Rockport, TX) who married General Henry Eustace McCulloch, they had 11 children;
William Wayne Ashby (1 Feb 1827; d. 4 Mar 1857 Seguin, TX) who never married
Travis Hill Ashby (27 Mar 1829; d. 12 Jan 1866; buried Gonzales Masonic Cemetery).

The first child born in Texas was Euphremia Texas Davis Ashby (6 Oct 1831 Lavaca Co, TX; d. 15 Feb 1904 Seguin, TX) who married Maj. William George King. They had 6 children.

Still additional Ashby children were
Dorathea E. Ashby (8 Oct 1833 LavacaCo; d. 8 Oct 1834; buried Memorial Cemetery, Hallettsville)
and John Henry Pertle Ashby (3 Aug 1835 LavacaCo; d. 22 Aug 1835; buried Memorial Cemetery,Hallettsville).
Data supplied by Jo Toland Ackman, Gonzales, TX

John Ashby had been a cabinet maker and landowner in Shelbyville, Kentucky. He and his wife, Mary Garnett Ashby, had nine children; Sarah Ann McClure was the oldest.

They took a boat from New Orleans, arrived at Copano on the Texas coast near the mouth of the Guadalupe River February 20,1830 [The Guadalupe River empties into Guadalupe Bay part of larger San Antonio Bay, north of Copano Bay--WLM]. At Copano the unfriendly Mexican port officials denied them entrance. John Ashby walker overland to Goliad to appeal that decision, and there he and McClure gained admittance papers allowing their families to enter Texas.

John Ashby received title to land in what is now Lavaca County dated July 18, 1831. McClure filed for his claims in what is now Gonzales County May 10, 1830, and he received title dated September 6, 1831. They hired Mexicans with ox carts to take their families and supplies from Copano to their land claims.

On October 6, 1831 Euphemia Texas Davis Ashby was born on the headright on the Lavaca River as the tenth child of John and Mary Ashby. She was the first girl born in DeWitt's colony in Central Texas. But tragedy came to haunt the home of John and Mary Ashby. Three of their children died soon after they settled on the Lavaca River and August 12, 1835 the mother, Mary Ashby, died. These were the first graves of colonists in what is now Lavaca County.

Then Sarah Ann McClure and her husband took in the three youngest children of John and Mary Ashby, Travis, William and Euphemia. Their home was on Peach Creek in Gonzales County.

The second oldest child of John and Mary Ashby was Mary Harris Ashby. She signed a bond for $10,000 before Judge Ponton of Gonzales January 25, 1836 to marry John Smothers since no clergyman was available to perform the marriage ceremony according to the laws of Mexico.

A few weeks after the marriage of Mary to John Smothers, fighting began between Mexican troops and the Texian settlers. The cannon battle at Gonzales convinced John Ashby that bigger troubles were ahead. He decided it was time to take his older unmarried daughters to school in Kentucky.

A new school had opened in Shelbyville that offered science and mathematics in addition to the usual courses for girls, and he made the trip with this daughters, Jane and Francis, to enroll them there.

Soon after John Ashby left for Kentucky, hostilities between the Mexicans and Texans quickly escalated. The Alamo fell and Sam Houston had Gonzales burned. The first camp of Houston's forces after leaving Gonzales was under the big oak in the yard of Bartlett and Sara McClure.

There Houston instructed Bartlett McClure to go to East Texas to recruit "Redlanders" to join the Texan army before the inevitable battle with Santa Anna's army.

Sarah McClure, her small son Joel and her young brothers and sisters joined in the Runaway Scrape. Mrs. McClure and her family stayed close to Houston's army. They were camped at Grigsby's Bluff at San Jacinto and heard the shouts of "Remember the Alamo, Remember Goliad". Her sister, Mary Smothers, had found refuge at Groce's plantation on the Brazos. After the victory at San Jacinto, Sarah McClure and Mary Smothers met their father who had just returned from Kentucky. Together they returned to their lands in Lavaca and Gonzales Counties to rebuild their homes and farms.

Three years later John Ashby returned to Kentucky to take his daughters, Jane and Francis, home from school. On the return trip he became ill on shipboard, and after a fit of hiccups he died on board ship. He was buried in the waters of Matagorda Bay October 15, 1839.

Sources

http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/dewitt.htm - "Sons of Dewitt Colony of Texas"