William Ashley, Jun., married Ann Gerollamy, daughter of an officer in the British army, serving through the Revolutionary War, and acting as Orderly in the war of 1812. He left Kingston in 1830, and resided until 1842 near the mouth of Black River, in the township of Marysburgh, and then returned, and continued to reside there, teaching, and filling various offices until his death, August 16, 1867.
The British Whig newspaper when recording his death, remarked, “Mr. Ashley was one of our oldest citizens, and has lived to witness many changes in his native place. He was born on the very spot where the British Whig office now stands.” The last sentence is a mistake, he was not born in the city, but in the township of Loborough; although the building containing the British Whig office still belongs to the ‘Ashley property’ on Bagot Street.
John Ashley was gaoler in Kingston for a number of years when the gaol stood near the site of the present Post Office, and filled public situations from the time he was nineteen years of age until his death in 1858. He was a prominent member of the County Council for nearly twenty years, and was Colonel of the militia at the time of his death.
Adam and George Ashley both died in 1847.
William Bell—We shall have occasion to speak of William Bell in different places in these pages. He was born August 12, 1758, in County of Tyrone, Ireland.
At the time of the Revolutionary War he was a sergeant in the 53rd regiment of the line. Some time after the close of the war, he succeeded in procuring his discharge from the service, at Lachine, and came to Cataraqui, sometime in 1789. He was on intimate terms with John Ferguson, and, we believe, related by marriage. It was at Ferguson’s solicitation that Bell came to the Bay. We have before us an old account book, by which we learn that Ferguson and Bell commenced trading on the front of Sidney in the latter part of 1789. They remained here in business until 1792. Subsequently Bell became school teacher to the Mohawks, and seems to have done business there in the way of trading, in 1799. In 1803 we find him settled in Thurlow. Ferguson, who was living at Kingston, had been appointed Colonel of the Hastings Militia, and Bell was selected by him to assist in organizing the body. He was commissioned captain in December 1798, Major in August 1800; and in 1809 Lieutenant-Colonel. Colonel Bell was well known as a public man in Thurlow. He was appointed to several offices—Magistrate, Coroner, and finally Colonel of the Hastings Battalion. As magistrate he took an active part in the doings of Thurlow and Belleville for many years. He was also an active person in connection with the agricultural societies, until a few years before his death, 1833. The papers left by Colonel Bell have been of great service to us. His wife’s name was Rachel Hare, who died 1853, aged eighty-one.
Colonel Stephen Burritt took part in the war against the rebels, being seven years in the army, in Roger’s Rangers. He settled upon the Rideau, the 9th of April, 1793. In the same year was born Colonel E. Burritt, who was the first child born of white parents north of the Rideau. This interesting fact was given to the writer by Colonel E. Burritt in 1867. Colonel Burritt is a cousin of the celebrated Learned Blacksmith.
Willet Casey was born in Rhode Island. His father was killed in battle during the war. At the close of the war he settled near Lake Champlain, upon what he supposed to be British territory, but finding such was not the case, and although he had made considerable clearing, he removed again. Turning his steps toward Upper Canada with his aged mother and wife, he reached in due time, the 4th township. The family, upon arriving, found shelter in a blacksmith’s shop until a log hut could be built. Three months afterwards the old mother died. Willet Casey had a brother in a company of horsemen, who fought for the British. He remained in the States and went South. It is probably the descendants of this Casey, who took an active part in the late civil war in the United States.
The writer has seen the fine, erect old couple that came to Canada, when on the verge of eighty, and two nobler specimens of nature’s nobility could not be imagined.
Luke Carscallian was an Irishman by birth, and had served in the British army; he had retired and emigrated to the American colonies prior to the rebellion. He desired to remain neutral, and take no part in the contest. The rebels, however, said to him that inasmuch as he was acquainted with military tactics he must come and assist them, or be regarded as a King’s man. His reply was that he had fought for the king, and he would do it again, consequently an order was issued to arrest him; but when they came to take him he had secreted himself. The escape was a hurried one, and all his possessions were at the mercy of the rebels—land to the amount of 12,000 acres. They, disappointed in not catching him, took his young and tender son, and threatened to hang him if he would not reveal his father’s place of concealment. The brave little fellow replied, hang away! and the cruel men under the name of liberty carried out their threat, and three times was he suspended until almost dead, yet he would not tell, and then when taken down one of the monsters actually kicked him.