The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: VA
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service / Major
John Ashby was born about 1707, probably in Virginia to Thomas E. Ashby, born 1682 and died 1752 in Virginia and his wife Rosanna Berry, born 1682 and died about 1752.
John married Jean Combs in 1741, probably in Virginia. They had a son Lewis Ashby, born in 1750 and died in 1806. Lewis also has been proven as a Patriot.
John Ashby (1707--1789) was a member of a prominent frontier family. His father, Thomas Ashby, had settled in Stafford County in 1710 and moved to what is now Fauquier County before 1748.
In 1741 John Ashby married Jean Combs of Maryland and moved with his father to the banks of the Shenandoah, where the Ashby Tract lay along the river just below the mouth of Howell's Run. He was widely known as an Indian fighter, serving as captain in the 2d Virginia Rangers which from 1752 to 1754 maintained headquarters at Fort Ashby at the juncture of the Potomac River and Patterson's Creek. In 1752 he was elected to the Frederick Parish vestry. After Braddock's Defeat in July 1755 Ashby carried news of the disaster to Williamsburg. He participated in the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774 and shortly after went to Kentucky, where he spent several years locating and improving a grant of 2,000 acres he had received from Virginia for his services in the Indian wars.
From Virginia Docket 31, he was entitled to land for three service as an officer (Captain) in the Continental Line. July 22, 1776 records show that John Ashby was Captain of the 3rd Regiment and settled his account as a Continental Line Officer January 1, 1777. He was on the invalid list in late 1781.
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