ASHLEY
When only a few years old, Dexter David
Ashley (1864-1949) moved with his parents William David and Adeline Dunn
Carpenter Ashley to Syracuse, Otoe Co., Nebraska. He attended and later
taught his first class at the Grove Centre School House build on the northeast
corner of his parents 160 acre "Ashley Farm." He went on to attend
and teach at the Nebraska State Normal School (renamed Nebraska State Teachers
College in 1921) from 1884-1890. At the time, the school was one of only
three of its type west of the Missouri and was the major teaching college in
Nebraska for nearly forty years Dexter moved to St. Louis, St. Louis Co.,
Missouri where he attended and graduated from Missouri Medical School (now part
of Washington University for Medicine) in 1896. During this time he
married Jennie B. Tagg (1868-1954) in Waco, York Co., Nebraska.
After graduation they moved 170 miles south to Grandin, Carter Co., Missouri
where Doctor Ashley started his medical practice and saw the birth of their
first child, Homer Champion Ashley (1896-1975). 1896 is also the year we
catch a snapshot of the Dr. Dexter and Jennie Ashley's family in the
"Ashley Genealogy" by Francis Bacon
Trowbridge. Dr. Ashley, moved east to attend the Bellevue
Medical School in New York City. It was in New York City where their
family increased by two with the birth of Dexter David Ashley Jr. (1898-1933)
and Helen Carolyn Ashley (1899-1992). Dr. Ashley studied in Berlin and
Vienna where he became associated with well known orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Adolph
Lorenz. In 1905, Dr. Ashley assisted Dr. Lorenz, in the "famous" bloodless
operation on Barbara Armour the daughter of the meat-packing magnate. For the majority of Dr.
Ashley's medical career he lived and practiced medicine on Lexington Avenue in
New York City. The
1925 Who's Who in
American Medicine gives us a snapshot of his career at its height. The
Ashley's spent their summers up on their farm, "Ashley Acres," near Winchester
Center, Litchfield Co., Connecticut where they commercially grew peaches and
apples. During his active retirement in Connecticut, an Otoe County
Newspaper wrote the article,
Former
Nebraskan Noted Surgeon (1936). Dr. Ashley died in 1949 in the Litchfield Co. Hospital where he
been a consulting orthopedic surgeon for years. Our final snapshot is
captured in his
New York Times obituary.
Jennie Tagg Ashley died five years later in Winchester.
Dr. Dexter David Ashley (William D., William, Eli, Joseph, James, Joseph, David, Robert) traces his ancestry back to Robert Ashley one of the early settlers on Springfield, Hamden Co., Massachusetts.
Attachments
References
- Francis Bacon Trowbridge, The Ashley Genealogy, History of the Descendants of Robert Ashley of Springfield, Massachusetts, (Press of Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor; 1896).
- Ashleys of Ashleyville and Ashley Ponds by Patricia Curtis Alderman, Manuscript, 1963, NEHGS MSS C 4414, New England Historic Genealogical Society Research Library, 101 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116-3007