Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1115 - 1116 

JAMES E. ASH. There is probably no man in Grant Township wider or more favorably known than Mr. Ash, who came to this section of country in the pioneer days, and is recognized as one of the important factors in its progress and development. A native of Adams County, Pa., he was born near the historic battlefield of Gettysburg, in 1832, and was the third child of John and Catherine (Black) Ash, also natives of the Keystone State. John Ash was a sturdy Pennsylvania farmer, a man prominent in his day, and served as General in the State militia, having his headquarters at Gettysburg. He was killed when James E. of our sketch was a little lad six years of age. The latter was thus left wholly orphaned, his mother having died when he was two years old.

             Our subject after the death of his parents was bound out to a farmer of his native county, with whom he remained until eighteen years of age. He had received a fair education in the district school, and now entered a silk-lace manufactory in Gettysburg, where he was employed for a period of four years, and until 1855. He then left his native State, and repaired to Guernsey County, Ohio, where he was employed in a tannery, and in the meantime made the acquaintance of Miss Catherine L. Clark, of Cambridge, that county, who became his bride on the 7th of June, 1858.

             Mrs. Ash was born in Ohio, and was the eldest child of her parents, Alexander and Mary Jane (Turnbull) Clark. They emigrated to Illinois in 1865, locating at Charleston, Coles County, where the father died in June, 1870, and where the mother still resides. Mr. Ash after his marriage continued in the tannery business until the outbreak of the late Rebellion. He then laid aside his personal plans and interests, and on the 7th of September, 1861, enlisted in Company B, 15th Ohio Infantry, being mustered into the service at Cambridge.

             Mr. Ash participated with his regiment in many of the important battles of the war—Nashville, Stone River, Shiloh, Franklin, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Knoxville and Kennesaw Mountain—and met the enemy in various minor engagements and skirmishes. At Kennesaw Mountain two fingers of his left hand were carried away by a gunshot and the hand itself otherwise greatly injured. Subsequently, at Stone River, he was injured in the eye. Soon after the surrender of the Confederate forces his regiment was disbanded at Columbus, Ohio, where he received his honorable discharge on the 26th of December, 1865. His army experience was similar to that of thousands, whose sufferings, dangers and hardships have remained among the unwritten records which comprise so large a part of the life of the private soldier, who did his duty faithfully and was content with the consciousness of this as his reward.

             Mr. Ash, after laying aside the accoutrements of war, returned to his old haunts in Cambridge, Ohio, where he resided until crossing the Father of Waters, and deciding to make his future home in Kansas. He came to this county in the spring of 1871, and homesteaded 160 acres on section 10, in Grant Township, which under his manipulation now for a period of seventeen years, bears upon the face of it the evidence of perseverance and industry. The land was but little removed from its primitive condition, and the first business of the enterprising "Ohio man" was to put up a small house for the shelter of his family. His wife assisted him in quarrying the stone for their well, which was about seven and one-half feet deep. They thus pulled together, and in due time began to realize that their labors were not to be in vain. A part of the present commodious and tasteful residence was put up in 1880, and to it was added the larger portion of the structure six years later, in 1886. There is a fine orchard of choice apple trees, while the finer fruit and shade trees yield abundantly of their fruits and also serve to embellish the homestead. A good barn and the other outbuildings required for the shelter of stock and the storing of grain, form an appropriate background to the dwelling, which, with its appurtenances, presents one of the most attractive spots in the landscape of this section.

             Mr. Ash was fortunate in securing a tract of land of remarkable fertility, which in its present high state of cultivation, yields in abundance the choicest products of Southern Kansas. In the summer time especially the wide fields, with their herds of high-grade Durham and Holstein cattle, form a most delightful picture to contemplate. The other farm animals are well cared for and of excellent breeds, and both as an agriculturist and stock-raiser, Mr. Ash enjoys an enviable reputation along the northern line of Sedgwick County. He is recognized as public-spirited and liberal, and one of the foremost men in encouraging the enterprises calculated to increase the popularity of his county.

             The household of our subject and his wife was completed by the birth of eleven children, of whom ten are living, namely: Mary Catherine, Sarah Elma, Harry Grant, Margaret Jeanette, Norvella, Daisy F., Ida, Charles, Jessie and Willie. James Alexander died at the age of sixteen months. Mr. Ash assisted in the organization of the school districts of his township, but takes very little interest in political matters otherwise than to vote the straight Republican ticket. He is not identified with any religious organization, but his estimable wife is a member in good standing of the Methodist Church.

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