This biography by the Vermont Sons of the American Revolution is cross-published on the Patriot’s Find-a-Grave memorial.

Ashbel was the sixth of eleven children (2nd son) born of Amos Hollister (1726-1786) and his wife Bathsheba Hollister (1728-1808).

Early in 1777, General George Washington, while waiting for the Connecticut Continental Line Regiments to recruit, form, and get ready to take the field, urged the Governor of Connecticut to send a body of Militia to serve for six weeks at Peekskill on the Hudson River in New York State. Three Regiments were ordered. They were composed of detachments from the militia regiments and placed under the command of Brigadier-General Erastus Wolcott. Ashbel, then residing at Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, enlisted as a Private in one of those three Regiments, the Regiment commanded by Colonel Noadiah Hooker. Ashbel was marched from Middletown through New Haven, Fairfield, and Horse Neck to their camp north of New York City. After serving 7 weeks, he was discharged in early May.

On the last of May or first of June 1777, Ashbel enlisted as a Private in Captain Abel Pettibone's Company, Colonel Robert Enos' Connecticut State Regiment. He marched from Middletown through New Haven to West Haven, where he remained for four or five weeks. He then marched on to Fishkill in New York State. At Fishkill, Ashbel joined a detachment of 200 men (100 from Colonel Enos' Regiment and 100 from Colonel Meigs' "Leather Cap" Regiment) commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Seth Smith of Colonel Enos' Regiment. The Detachment went to Morrisuna Point, where it burnt two small vessels loaded with provisions destined for the British at New York and took 45 prisoners and the same number of horses. He then marched to Horse Neck, where he was discharged on about 1 January 1778 after serving six months.

In February 1778, after having moved back to Glastonbury, Ashbel enlisted in Captain Josiah Kilborn's Company of Teamsters and assisted in transporting provisions from New Milford and Derby, Connecticut, to Fishkill, New York under the direction of Colonel Udnay Hay, Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General, Northern Department of the Continental Army. Ashbel remained in that service until he enlisted in Captain Elijah Wright's Company, Colonel Roger Enos' Connecticut State Regiment raised from the 1st, 4th, and 6th Brigades of Connecticut Militia for three months of service on the Hudson River in New York State. During that latter service, Ashbel assisted in erecting the fortifications at West Pont, New York, then being directed by the Polish Colonel Thaddeus Kosciusko, Chief Engineer of the Continental Army at West Pont. Ashbel was discharged in November after collectively serving nine months during 1778.

In 1781, Ashbel moved from Glastonbury, Hartford County, Connecticut, to Pawlet, Rutland County, Vermont. He married on 17 January 1790 at Pawlet, Mary Pepper (1766-1848), by whom he had nine known children:

• Ashbel Woodbridge (1790-1864).
• Orange (1792-1862).
• David (1794-1854).
• Algernon Sidney (1796-1856).
• Horace (1798-1876).
• Harvey (1800-1820).
• Emmeline (1802-1804).
• Mary Elizabeth (1804-1891).
• Hiel (1806-1895).

Ashbel died at the home of his son Hiel.

Sources:

1. Revolutionary War Pension File S15461
2. Case, Lafayette Wallace, The Hollister Family of America; Lieutenant John Hollister of Wethersfield, Conn., and His Descendants, Illinois. Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1886, pages 83, 126-127.
3. Johnston, Henry Phelps, Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the Military and Naval Services During the War of the Revolution 1775-1783, Connecticut. Harford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1889, pages 494-503, 614-615, 537-542
4. Hollister, Hiel, Pawlet for One Hundred Years, New York. Albany: J. Munsell, 1867, pages 202-203.
5. Jenks, Margaret R., Pawlet Cemetery Inscriptions Rutland County Vermont, New York. Granville: M.R. Jenks, 1996, pages viii, 27.