Robert T. Ashley

It is a good sign when a county like Boone can boast of so many of her enterprising farmers, business and professional men who are native sons, for it indicates that here are to be found all the opportunities necessary to insure success in the material affairs of life and that her native sons, unlike so many from various sections, have found it to their advantage to remain at home. They have been wise in doing this, for Nature has offered the husbandman unusual advantages here and seldom fails to reward the honest worker with gratifying results, and when the tillers of the soil are prosperous, all lines of business flourish, consequently, not only the farmers have succeeded in Boone county but also the merchants, millers, lumbermen, stock dealers, and many others, and the country ranks well with the thriving sections of this or any other state. One of the worthy native-born citizens of this county, formerly a successful teacher, but for many years a progressive agriculturist is Robert T. Ashley, of Lebanon.
 
Mr. Ashley was born March 27, 1861, on a farm near Jamestown, Indiana. He is a son of A. J. and Lucretia (Cassity) Ashley. The father was a native of Kentucky, from which state he came to Indiana when a young man, locating, after his marriage, in Boone county, and here he engaged in farming until his death, in 1863. His wife was born also in Kentucky, and has been deceased many years. He was a soldier in the Civil war. His family consisted of four children, one being now deceased, namely: William H. is the oldest; Josiah T. is deceased; Robert T., of this sketch; and Jackson C. is the youngest.
 
Robert T. Ashley grew up on the farm and received his early education in the common schools, also spent a year in the State Normal at Terre Haute, then taught school for a period of nine years, three years of that time being spent in Hendricks county. He gave eminent satisfaction as an educator, and his services were in great demand. In the fall of 1894 he came to Boone county and taught in New Brunswick for one term, then gave his whole attention to a farm of eighty-five acres in Harrison township, which he bought. This he operated successfully until 1896, when he removed to Lebanon, where he owns a cozy home at 330 North East street. He owns a farm of thirty-eight acres at the west edge of Lebanon, which he is still managing.
 
Mr. Ashley was married March 3, 1886, to Nettie F. Gillaspie, who was born in Boone county, near Jamestown, January 8, 1867. She is a daughter of Francis C. and Sarah A. (Shrout) Gillaspie, a highly respected family of that vicinity, and there Mrs. Ashley grew to womanhood and received a common school education.
 
Four children have been born to our subject and wife, namely: Bertha B., born March 16, 1887, died February 5, 1905; Ruby V., born May 19, 1889, died August 31, 1890; Winnie May, born June 3, 1895; Jerald Wayne, born March 2, 1896, both at home.
 
Politically, Mr. Ashley is a Democrat, and has been active in the ranks. He was elected assessor of Boone county in 1906, and served four years in a manner that was highly creditable to himself and to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers Co-operative Insurance Association of Boone County and served as secretary-treasurer for twelve years. Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Pythias at Lebanon, and in religious matters he and his wife are members of the Christian church. Mr. Ashley is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Lebanon.

Source: "History of Boone County, Indiana," by Hon. L. M. Crist, 1914