| Life sketch | | Massachusetts:James Ashley was born about 1742 in either Middleborough or Freetown, Massachusetts. the son of a single, unwed mother, Mary Ashley of Freetown. She had a serious mental illness and when james was young her brother Joseph Ashley became his guardian.
When the marriage intentions for James Ashley and Anna Caswell were published on January 27, 1767, he was living in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. Little is known about Anna or Annette's parents or family. However, according to birth records she was born 4 July 1746, in Taunton, Massachusetts. The couple was married in Middleborough on February 17, 1767, but after their marriage James and Anna returned to Shutesbury. Initial records as residents are documented beginning April 1771 until at least 1798. They had the eleven children born in Shutesbury: the 1st child, as daughter Anna 1768; the 2nd child, a son James 1769; the 3rd child, a daughter Lucy 1771; the 4th child, a son Warden 1772; the 5th child, a son Calvin 1774; the 6th child, Luther 1775; the 7th child, a son Jarius 1777; the 8th child, as son Levi 1779; the 9th child, a son Philemon 1785; the 10th child, a son Simeon 1787; and the 11th child, a son Leonard S 1790. Their son Levi "ran away from Deerfield to the West and was never heard from again."
American Revolutionary War:James served as a Private in the Revolutionary War in the Massachusetts Minuteman Lexington Alarm who reported to Capt. Isaac Wood's 2nd Company, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Marshfield, His service was for 3 days. Then the Minuteman reported to Captain John Barrows's Company, Colonel Ebenezer Sprout's Regiment. He enlisted September 6, 1778 and discharged September 12, 1778 with service for 6 days on an alarm at Dartmouth. [DAR and SAR certified]
Huron, Ohio:Sometime after 1798, James and Anna moved approximately 720 miles west to Greenfield, Ohio, which was established in 1799. "Most of Greenfield's early settlers moved from their comfortable homes in the founding states to unfamiliar territory in Ohio, because they were against slavery and many were of the emerging Baptist faith." Several of James and Ann's children joined them in Ohio with their families.
It's also not known when Annette died or where she is buried, but James died sometime in 1828, in Peru, Huron, Ohio "at his daughter Lucy's house." He is buried in Steuben Cemetery in Greenfield Township, Huron, Ohio.
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