The subject of this sketch was born July 20, 1820, in Martinsburg, Lewis County, New York. He is the son of a farmer, and obtained a limited education at the district schools. He is a California pioneer of 1846, having arrived at Johnson’s Ranch, on Bear River, October 13 of that year. He drove one of the first ox teams across the plains, and was six months en route, and was twenty days ahead of the Donner Party. After arriving he stopped at the Santa Clara Mission for a while, served three months under General Fremont, and arrived in the Zyante Valley, in Santa Cruz County, March 13, 1847. He helped to build three sawmills on the San Lorenzo River. In 1848 he moved to San Jose, where he remained until June, 1856, when he returned to Zyante Valley, settled on a piece of government land on the west side of the Zyante Rancho, and built a sawmill. To quote his own language: “My occupation at that time was lumbering and defending a long and tedious lawsuit, with the alleged owners of the Zyante Rancho, which lasted twenty years. I succeeded in saving about two thousand acres for the government, but by so doing lost my place, and the proceeds of twenty years’ hard labor. Other people are now enjoying the benefit of it, and I am a poor man, still working for a living.”
Mr. Ashley is a member of the Sons of Temperance. He was married, December 29, 1841, to Sallie M. Mathers. Eight children have been born unto them: Sarah E., born October 4, 1845; Mary E., August 29, 1848; Orin T., April 7, 1851; Eva A., June 28, 1853; Major G., August 31, 1855; Albert O., February 25, 1858; Walter O., May 28, 1860; Joseph W., February 4, 1867.
History of Santa Cruz County, California
by E.S. Harrison
Published by Pacific Press Publishing Company
San Francisco, Cal., 1892
Transcribed by Yvonne Valentine 1/9/09, Page 232
Santa Cruz County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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