David Ashley [1642-1718]

  David Ashley was born in Springfield, Hampden County, MA, 3 June 1642, son of Robert Ashley and Mary (Horton), died in Westfield, Hampden County, MA, 8 December 1718, and was buried in the Old Burying Ground, Westfield, Hampden County, MA
  He married in New Haven, New Haven County, CT, 24 November 1663, Hannah Glover who was born in New Haven, CT, in May 1646, daughter of Henry Glover and Helena ----, died in Westfield, Hampden County, MA, 7 June 1722, and was buried in the Old Burying Ground, Westfield, Hampden County, MA.

Entrance to the Old Westfield Burying Ground

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The Ashley Genealogy: A History of the Descendants 
of Robert Ashley of Springfield, Massachusetts

By Francis Bacon Trowbridge

[New Haven, CT: Printed for the Author, 1896]
Pages 21-24

  David Ashley, born 3 June 1642 in Springfield, Mass.; died 8 December 1718 in Westfield, Mass.; married 24 November 1663 in New Haven, Conn., Hannah Glover, daughter of Henry and Helena Glover, born in May 1646 in New Haven; died 7 June 1722 in Westfield.

  David Ashley settled in Springfield and lived there the first three years and a half of his married life. In 1661 grants of lands had been made to Captain Pynchon, Robert Ashley and George Colton at the new settlement then being made at Woronoco, now Westfield, and David Ashley eventually had his father's title confirmed to him. On February 8, 1663-4, David Ashley received a thirty acre grant at Woronoco, on condition that he and the other grantees were "to pay the Indians for their purchase within three years and that they go there to dwell." He was one of the original grantees of land on the Fort Side (Main Street) on July 6, 1666. This land was to be settled "in their own persons on the last of May next." He probably removed his family to Westfield in the spring of 1667. He lived near the confluence of Great and Little rivers, and styled himself "yoeman." In March, 1668, a division of territory was made into three parts, and lots cast for it, and David Ashley's lands fell in the first division. In March, 1669, Sacketts creek was granted to Joseph Whiting and David Ashley "to set a mill thereon and grind corn."

  At a county court held at Springfield September 27, 1670, Walter Lee brought an action against David Ashley "for taking away from him 10 shock of his wheat last year and a load of Indian corn this year off the ground which he had plowed and sowed." This must have been a mistake on Mr. Ashley's part, as the parties agreed  before the jury brought in their verdict.

  In the fall of 1671 Mr. Edward Taylor, recently graduated at Harvard College, was invited by the inhabitants of Westfield to come there and preach to them. He says in his diary, "This being the 2d [1st?] of December, we came to Westfield. . . . We went to Mr. Whiting's. There the men of the town came to welcome me, and after supper I went to Goodman Ashley's, where I was till Mr. Whiting had got his house ready that I might be with him." [Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 18, p. 17]

  David Ashley was one of a committee of three appointed to convey to the government at Boston the protest of the town against a letter dated March 20, 1676, advising that the town of Westfield be abandoned and the inhabitants retreat to Springfield for protection against the Indians, as the cost of maintaining the scattered settlements along the Connecticut River was considered too much. This was during King Philip's War.

  On September 6, 1685, the town granted to David Ashley, Thomas Noble, Isaac Phelps and Nathaniel Weller liberty to erect a sawmill "on the brook on the northeast side of the river."

  "At a town meeting held November the 18, 1696, it is voted y^t  Lef^t Samuel Root, Nathaniel Bancroft, Adijah Dewey and David Ashley should be a commitey  to prise all lands in Westfield, and stock all y^t  is above one year old, and y^t  

all heads should bee apprised at ten pounds p^r head to defray town charges."

   On June 9, 1712, towards the close of Queen Anne's War, the town voted to "fort" certain houses, and David Ashley's was one of those selected to be "forted."

  David Ashley was prominent in the management of Westfield affairs and held a number of responsible offices. He served as a juror in 1665; he was elected a selectman in 1676, 1677, 1679 to 1685, 1694 and 1699; Clerk of the Writs in 1678, 1686 and 1690; and Treasurer of the town in 1694. He performed the duties of all these and other less important offices in a manner satisfactory to the town and creditable to himself, and was highly respected. He united with the Westfield church January 1, 1679-80, five months after its organization, and took the freeman's oath at a court held at Springfield on September 28, 1680.*

  *[Administration was granted on the estate of David Ashley 10 March 1718-19 to his widow Hannah. (Hampsh. Co. Prob. Rec., vol. 4, p. 13.) The inventory was taken 6 January 1718-19 and amounted to £270: 7^s:6^d.  It included: “home and homestead, £96”; “lot in ye Fort Meadow, £43”; “4 acre pasture in ye Plain, £16”; “16 acres of plowing land, £35”; “50 acres at Four Mile Brook, £5”; “16 acres at Munn’s Meadow, £2”; “5 acres in the 100 Acre Swamp and 6 acres at ye Pine Hill, 5£”; and cows, swine, household furniture and wearing apparel. (Ditto, p. 23)

  The settlement of his estate was to the widow Hannah, the nine living children, and James, the only child of his son Joseph deceased. (Ditto, p. 24.)]

  The gravestones of David Ashley and his wife are among the oldest in the old Westfield cemetery. They are short irregular slabs of native stone, and are so weather-beaten that they were deciphered with difficulty as follows:

DAVID ASHLEY DYED ON DES Ye 8 1718 AGED 77 YEAR

Gravestone of David Ashley 

in the Old Burying Ground in Westfield MA

  HANNAH Ye WIFE OF DAVID ASHLEY 

DYED ON IVNE T-E 7 1722 AGED 76 YEAR

Gravestone of Hannah (Glover) Ashley

in the Old Burying Ground in Westfield MA 

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CHILDREN:

  The first five children are recorded both in Springfield and Westfield, but from the fact that the third, fourth and fifth are recorded at the same time in Springfield, and as their father was then living in Westfield, there is no doubt that all but the two oldest were born in the latter place.

  i.    Samuel, b. 26 Oct. 1664.

  ii.   David, b. 10 Mar. 1666-7.

  iii.  John, b. 27 June 1669.

  iv.  Joseph, b. 31 July 1671.

  v.   Sarah, b. 10 Sept. 1673 [By West. T. Rec., 19 by Spring. T. Rec.]; married 22 July 1692, Thomas Ingersoll of Westfield.

  vi.  Mary, twin, b. 26 Dec. 1675; d. 19 July 1676.

  vii. Hannah, twin, b. 26 Dec. 1675; m. 13 Sept. 1694, Nathaniel Eggleston of Westfield.
  viii. Jonathan, b. 21 June 1678.
  ix.  Abigail, b. 27 Apr. 1681; m. 25 Nov. 1699, Nathaniel Lewis of Farmington.
  x.   Mary, b. 3 Mar. 1682-3; m. 21 Dec., 1709, Benjamin Stebbins of Northhampton.
  xi.  Rebecca, b. 30 May 1685; m. about 1710, Samuel Dewey of Westfield.