William Shrewsbury Ashby was born November 18, 1859, in Barren County, Kentucky, to Napoleon Bonaparte Ashby and Juliet Shrewsbury, the eldest of their six children. He was a first cousin of my great-grandmother, Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit (1863-1956) so my first cousin three times removed.
Napoleon Ashby was in Russellville, Logan County in 1850, but by 1860, he was married and living in Barren County where it appears all of his children were born. (His younger brother, Daniel Morgan Ashby, my second great-grandfather, lived in Barren County for many years.)
By 1880, Napoleon B. Ashby's family returned to Russellville. His six children were living with him: Willie S. (age 20), Linda (18), Henry C. (16), Mary (14), Emma (12), and Benjamin M. (10). Two boarders in the household were Willie Hughes and Permelia Hall, age 78, who should have been listed as his mother; she was twice-widowed Permelia (Christian) (Ashby) Hall, whose death date I still have not identified.
|
1880 US Census, Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, ED 164, p 443B, dwelling 232, family 232, Napolion [sic] B. Ashby household.
|
By 1883, son William was setting out on his own. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for his parents and younger siblings when they heard the following news.