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FredQuest Genealogy

Ashley Family

ASHLEY

Ashley Coat of Arms 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