Mark Dexter Ashley [1866-1920]

  Mark Dexter Ashley was born in Sullivan, Tioga County, PA, 21 August 1866, son of Benjamin Welch Ashley Sr. and Juliet J. Robbins, died in Jackson County, MN, 21 January 1920, and was buried in Jackson, Jackson County, MN.

  He married in Waseca, Waseca County, MN, 13 May 1903, Dora Maria Child who was born in Wilton, Waseca County, MN, 2 January 1864, daughter of James Erwin Child and Anna Justina Krassin, died in Waseca County, MN, 5 September 1952, and was buried in Jackson, Jackson County, MN. 
  Children born of this union:
  01. Juliet Marcia Ashley, born in Jackson, Jackson County, MN, 2 April 1904.
  02. Miriam Constance Child Ashley, born in Jackson, Jackson County, MN, 6 April 1907.

---------------------------------
An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota
by Arthur P. Rose
[Jackson, MN: Northern History Publishing Company, 1910] Pages 370-371
---------------------------------

  MARK D. ASHLEY (1867), proprietor of the Ashley house, Jackson, came to that village with his parents when less than one year of age and the greater part of his life of forty-two years has been spent there. He was born in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1866, son of the late Benjamin W. and Juliet (Robbins) Ashley. The next spring he came with his mother to the site of the future village, his father and grandfather having come out the year before and platted the village.

  In the pioneer village Mark grew to manhood. He was educated in the Jackson public schools, completing his studies with a two years' course in the Curtis Business college of Minneapolis and Bowers' Shorthand school of the same city. For a number of years after graduation he was employed in different parts of the country. His first position was with George M. VanLeuven, pension attorney at Lime Springs, Iowa. Later he went to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where he was a clerk in a lumber, mining and milling company's office. His next position was with the C. B. & Q. railroad, holding a clerkship for a time in the offices at Burlington, Iowa, and later being transferred to the offices at Hannibal, Missouri. From this work he returned to the twin cities and for a number of years held clerkships in different offices in St. Paul and Minneapolis, during the last five years of his residence there being cashier for the Lehigh Coal & Iron Company.

  In 1898 Mr. Ashley returned to Jackson and for three years engaged in the real estate and insurance business. In 1901 he leased the Ashley house for a term of three years and at the expiration of the lease bought the property and has since conducted the business. The Ashley house is one of the oldest and best known hostelries of southwestern Minnesota. The original Ashley house was built by Benjamin W. Ashley and his father in 1870. It was then a frame building, constructed of native lumber. The Ashley house of today is a handsome brick building, well appointed and modern in every way. Mr. Ashley is the owner of the hotel property and Jackson county farm lands. He has held the office of village recorder and for a number of years was justice of the peace. Fraternally, he is a Mason, Workman and K. P.

  In Waseca, Minnesota, on May 13, 1903, Mr. Ashley was united in marriage to Miss Dora M. Child, daughter of the Honorable James E. Child, of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Ashley have been born two children, Juliet Marcia and Miriam Constance.

---------------------------------

Sources

01. Minnesota Death Certificate Index - Certificate#1920-MN-006174.
02. Rose, Arthur P.  An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota [Jackson, MN: Northern History Publishing Company, 1910]