Col. Peter Ashton - Looks like the Colonel was childless

Started by Private User on Sunday, July 7, 2019
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I didn’t find anything new that would help us determine whether Scandalous Charles is the brother of the others. But 1625 is a solid birth year for him.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1915677?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents page 152 “In the Northumberland Records (Book 2, Page 166) under date of October 26,1665, there is recorded “Charles Ashton aged 40 years or thereabouts deposes.” His wife Isabella also made deposition in the same year.” The wife’s name proves that this is the correct Charles Ashton.

I can’t find information on what he was deposing about, but people with a paid subscription to Ancestry can probably look it up online: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/genealogy-glh46544192/ Page 162 of this book is apparently where they have all the scandalous testimony about Charles and Mrs. Lyndsay.

Here’s the will of William Frizer, suspected father of Grace Ashton the wife of Captain John of Westmoreland county. He doesn’t state his relationship to anyone but his godson, but he leaves most of his property to the children and widow of Captain John Ashton of Westmoreland county.
https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0718...
“William Frizer, WC, chirurgeon, d. leaving a will dated 9 Sep 1677, proved 21 Nov 1677.
To Mrs. Grace Ashton, widdow, extx. my gold watch, all my debts.
Unto Prissilla Ashton, horse and mare. Prissilla shall give Henry Ashton the first mare colt.
Unto Henry Ashton, son and orphant of Capt. John Ashton 2000 a. of my tract of 5500 a. purchased by me of John Mathews. If he die before age 21, to his brother Charles Ashton. Unto Grace Ashton Junr. 500 a. of 5500 a. tract.
Unto Mary Ashton, 500 a.
Unto Sarah Ashton, 500 a. - daughters and orphans of Capt. John Ashton each 500 a.
Unto Thomas Beard sonn of John Beard my Godsonne, 2000 a. being the remainder of the 5500 a.
If he die to Prissilla Ashton. {WC DWP, 1065-77:346-346a}”

Did you notice that Isabelle (Clare) Ashton Rice got taken to court for her extravagant ways? This whole family is problematic! And colorful!

I can’t quite figure out the Dominick Rice family; his son seems to be sending his son off to his grandfather in Ireland after he’s dead in Stafford County. Oh.

We know from the Fitzhugh letter that there was a Mrs Meese somewhere but she certainly was not Grace Arrowsmith

I’m wondering how they got mixed up. There was an unidentified 1st wife of John Ashton based on Charles Ashton, of Westmoreland County age & that he’s not in widow Kay’s Estate. And it’s his sister Mary Ashton who got the Mare as gift from Mr. Meese.

I wish I understood the social picture a little better, so far Fitzhugh seems like the community big cheese. But how does it translate into kinship?

CAVALIERS AND PIONEERS PATENT BOOK No. 5; Pg 534
MR. HENRY MEESE, 1000 acs. Stafford Co., 20 Oct. 1665, p. 432, (513). S. side of Potomack Cr., beg. on E. side of a swamp & small gutt deviding this & another tract in possession of sd. Meese, extending S. &c. to greate Eastern br. of Wipsewasin Cr. including a poynt of land on the W. side of sd. Cr. abutting upon Potomack Cr. &c. Granted to Col. Thomas Pettus, Esqr., 15 Mar. 1658 & by him & Eliz. his wife assigned to sd. Meese & ack'd. in court by Major Edward Griffeth, Atty. of sd. Pettus & wife, as by records of W'moreland Co. will more fully appear.

Maj. Edward Griffith, of Mulberry Island

Assuming this is the same Charles Ashton, he’s in Northumberland County by 1652, paid 100 lbs of tobacco for killing a wolf this year

Northumberland County records, 1652-1655 Page 8 https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/29375/dvm_LocHist013207-00007-...

Henry Meese of London’s earliest VA record is 1654.

The “famous Barnes - Ashton case” in 1653. Mrs Ashton mentioned. Her pregnant maid servant died, they accused a Mr Barnes.

https://books.google.com/books?id=0WmgfvygR78C&lpg=PA344&ot...

Virginia Colonial Abstracts By Beverley Fleet. Page 344

https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0303...

===
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:3109498&i...
Per email from Alice Algood
William Smith married first Frances Walters,daughter of Roger, and second a widow Anne Danks. I have a transcription of his Will wherein he named his daughters, Temperance Lucas, Mary King, and the children of a deceased daughter,who married Charles Ashton. These grand daughters were Jane and Sarah Ashton. I have been unable to find this daughter's given name, but suspect she may have been named Frances after her mother.
According to the Maryland Colonial Records, Robert Smith and others fled to the house of John Mottrom in VA from the Isle of Kent in 1646.
This is all in a book that I am finishing on Ursula Bysshe who married Richard Thompson on the Isle of Kent in 1641.

What I've read is that it's the gift of a mare from Mr Meese that makes some people assume that he's Grace Ashton's father. Extremely flimsy evidence, but people do grasp at any straw they can find. I'm a lot more impressed by the bequest from Frizer, but the wording in his will is strange if these are his grandchildren.

The Barnes-Ashton case was one were Charles was surprisingly on the righteous side of the case. My first assumption was that he had gotten somebody's maidservant pregnant, but it was the other way around.

There's more than one Charles Ashton, and one of them was a son of Captain John of Westmoreland county. A lot of people have been blending these different families together, so careful attention is needed to keep them separate.

Fitzhugh was an important local lawyer so he basically had his fingers in everybody's pie as part of his professional function. I saw a source saying that the Fitzhughs were related to the Ashtons, but they were talking about the mid-1800s and I don't know when the families started intermarrying. I don't get the impression that it had happened yet during the period we're talking about.

Is John Ashton, of Westmoreland County even related to the 3 - 4 brothers ? I haven’t seen any affiliations.

I think these are two different Ashton families, the existing records don’t connect them. Maybe related way back in England, but nothing to suggest any American connection. Most of the wills I’ve read from this place and time clearly state blood relationships and associated family members like step-children, in-laws, nieces, and nephews.. There were inheritance laws in effect so naming any living relatives was important if you wanted your estate to go to the right people without a challenge.

A good example is the Frances Golber case. She had no children of her own and wanted her estate to go to blood relatives. She got depositions to prove that the children of Christian Martin Waddington were her cousins and gave/left her property to them instead of having it go to her husbands children.

The one affiliation I see is page 118 here:

https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1919857/1919857#page/n4/mode/1up

The Ashton of Virginia Coat of Arms as appears on the tombstone of Col Henry Ashton of Westmoreland

Colonel Henry Ashton

So studying this profile, his will etc May be helpful. He carries forward the Grace name and a point is made in the article that he & his brother Charles Ashton, of Westmoreland County likely had different mothers.

Frankly I’ve been taken aback by the listing of “god children” in James Ashton’s will. For one thing, it wasn’t a “thing” in other wills of the period in Virginia. I have seen in English wills, but more usually the relationship was findable (and the family quite wealthy).

God parents In the New Netherland Colony were carefully defined in Baptism Records held & surviving in Dutch Reformed Church Records. There were usually two sets, father & mother side. Aunts, uncles, grand parents, step parents ... agree they were usually local. I don’t believe it was necessarily the same custom in Church of England, and more to the point, less surviving Records to make it clearer, unfortunately.

That Will is one heck of a document, it’s like the whole community at Stafford is defined. I uploaded and am trying to tag to profiles:

https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000099220527047&...

https://media.geni.com/p13/48/83/f0/b0/5344484d065917c7/igm_origina...

The Fitzhugh daughter makes sense as a “thank you” for services by William Fitzhugh. But why the Rosier daughter? Her grandfather was the rector at Westmoreland

Rev. John Rosier, Minister at Hungar’s Parish

Could that be why ? (Need to get more details ...)

I’m also seeing some London locations. Are we looking at Merchant Adventurers Company at all?

Erica Howton

Following received from Bill Deyo on 6-5-2019

Richard Bryant and Anne Meese had, among others, Elizabeth Bryant, who married Richard Elkins, son of Ralph Elkins and Miss Ashton (sister, not daughter of Col. Peter Ashton).

Erica Howton

Following received from Bill Deyo on 6-5-2019

Also, there was no Grace Meese. John Ashton’s wife was Grace, but she was not a daughter of Henry Meese. That was only theorized because Henry Meese gave a deed of gift of a cow to Grace’s daughter, Mary, who was most likely his goddaughter and named after his Indian wife, Mary. Henry did not give any gifts to any of the other children of Grace Ashton.

Erica Howton

Following received from Bill Deyo on 7-8-2019

Richard Elkins (who married Elizabeth Bryant) was the son of Ralph Elkins and Miss Ashton, whose name might have been “Mary” because there was a record of a contemporary Mary Elkins in the area, but she did not have a middle name of “Frances”. It was extremely rare for anyone to have a middle name back then, but, if they did, it was not another “given” name but would have been a “surname”.

Ralph Elkins’ wife was apparently the sister of Col. Peter Ashton and of James Ashton, who was the godfather of Ralph’s son, Richard Elkins. Ralph Elkiins’ wife, Miss “Mary?” Ashton, would have been the daughter of Walter Ashton, Vicar of Sutterton, son of Walter Ashton of Spaulding, Lincolnshire, owner of the estate of “Chadderton”. Col. Peter Ashton named his plantation in Virginia “Chatterton” after his ancestral home.

The mother of “Mary?” (Ashton) Elkins was Etheldreda Partridge, daughter of George Partridge. Walter Ashton, of Spaulding (above) was the son of Peter Ashton (d. 1558) and Cassandra Apreece. Cassandra was first married to John Roberts by whom she had a daughter, Jane, who became the wife of Sir William Skipwith.

Sir William Skipwith was the grandfather, by his first wife, of Dianna Skipwith, wife of Major Edward Dale, and mother of Katherine Dale who became the wife of Capt. Thomas Carter of “Barford”.

We’re getting close! Agree about the Frances Name for Miss Ashton being (who knows what from who knows where - will fix shortly).

However we have no evidence that the Reverend Walter Ashton had these children. He’s listed on pedigrees with a son Peter, 1628 (does that mean “living in 1628?”) and nothing else. I do intend to look for any further information on Rev Walter; and unfortunately it seems Peter was a popular name in the family.

I don’t think there’s much of a doubt these brothers & probable sister were related to those Ashton’s, but I don’t think the connection has been found yet.

What do you make of the baptism & Marriage Records around John Ashton ? They could be entirely random - Ashton is a common enough name.

Other places to look:

- the property in Lincolnshire held by James & John. Maybe we’re in the wrong geographic area of England. There might be interesting records at Discovery UK (National archives)

- the London cousins, John Ashton & the Forster.

And I still want to identify everyone named in that Will ...

http://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2015/02/157-apreece-of-washingle...

Apreece, William (c.1505-74). Son of Robert Apreece (d. 1555) and his first wife Joan, daughter of William Otter of Walthamstow, born about 1505. MP for Huntingdonshire. He married Joanna/Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Latymer of North Crawley (Bucks) and Duntish (Dorset), and had issue:

(1) Cassandra Apreece (c.1530-1592); married 1st, John Roberts of Wollaston and had issue; 2nd, Peter Ashton of Chatterton; 3rd, Adlard Welby (d. 1570) of Gedney and had issue four sons and one daughter; and 4th, 10 May 1574, Robert Carre (d. 1606) of Sleaford (Lincs); died 22 February 1590/1 aged 60 and was buried at Gedney (Lincs), 7 March 1590/1 where she and her third husband are commemorated by a monument erected in 1605;

Erica Howton

Cassandra was the widow of (1) m 1545 Peter Ashton of Chatterton d1558 son of James Ashton and Agnes daughter of Charles Mainwaring and Katherine Dukenfield having a son Sir Walter Ashton 1546-1587 who m Etheldreda Partridge)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/43464527761

This was a record of interest:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JWDQ-XYR

Ashton
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
...

Name:
... Ashton
Gender:
Female
Christening Date:
19 Jul 1640
Christening Date (Original):
19 JUL 1640
Christening Place:
SAINT MICHAEL,ASHTON UNDER LYNE,LANCASHIRE,ENGLAND
Father's Name:
Peter Ashton

Cassandra daughter of William Ap Rhese 1574 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/B5fty0 & Elizabeth daughter of Robert Latimer of Duntish by Elizabeth Hamwell

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/43464527761

Erica Howton

From this it appears that Cassandra received the last name Apreese because her father's name was William Ap Rhese

Actually the name Apreese floated around in the family along with ap Rhys, and the other Englished version ap Rhese, and occasionally Prys and Price and ap Rice.

Different branches of the family settled on different spellings.

But they were descended from Dafydd ap Rhys — that’s where the name came from.

Though they were various in their spellings, they took a surname very early, due to connections with the Marcher lords.

Please don’t mess with spellings in this line, unless they are kept in the AKA field.

Does Bill Deyo have any documentation for the information he provided? Because that's sorely needed. There are lots of sources speculating on relationships but finding backup is hard.

The godchildren in James Ashton's will might have been associations with people in England, not in Virginia. The families may have had members who came to Virginia and settled in the same area as the Ashton family, but it wasn't necessarily the same ones who were his godchildren. Most sources say that Richard Elkins (one of the godchildren) was born in England, and I think it's probably true. I haven't seen any documentation, but most sources say that James came to Virginia after he inherited the plantation from Peter in 1672. He was probably in his 50s at that point. He lived in Virginia long enough to make some good friends there (especially if people that he already knew in England were coming over). But his associations in England would have been longer, and possibly stronger. I don't know whether it was customary to name a grandfather-aged person as a godfather, or if younger people with a longer life expectancy were preferred.

The alternate parents that I've seen posted for Peter are John Ashton and Rose/Elizabeth Tarleton. Does anyone know of a pedigree book with information on them?

What I'm seeing at https://books.google.com/books?id=AqRCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1139&lp... is that Walter and Ethelreda were the parents of a Peter Ashton who died in 1653. This is obviously not the same Peter. But he might be the same guy who wrote the 1653 will mentioning children who are sometimes credited to Colonel Peter.

I'm not sure I'm reading the book correctly, but it looks like Walter and Ethelreda might have had a son Walter "3rd son" whose birthdate and wife aren't shown, but had a son Peter 1629.

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