The Military Career of Sergeant John Ashby

Both John and his brother Robert pursued successful military careers, John in the army and Robert in the navy. John served in several regiments, enlisting in the 34th and 35th Foot Regiment on the 25th of March 1805 and then transferred to the 38th Foot, 2nd Battalion on 30th October 1807. On 17 Dec 1810 he is appointed Corporal and that year John volunteered for the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion and shortly after traveled to Canada. Volunteers were promised land in Canada upon retirement or the battalion’s disbandment.

During the period of John’s service, the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot served under Regimental Colonel George Fitzroy, 2nd Lord Southampton. The Regiment was posted to the Cape of Good Hope in 1800 and to India in 1802 were it remained in a campaign against the Maratha Empire for nineteen years. A second battalion of the regiment was raised in 1804 serving in England and Jersey until July 1809. John appears to have served in the latter group as about 1806 he volunteered to join the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion. Those who volunteered were promised land in Canada upon their retirement or the battalion’s disbandment. Between 1802 and 1820, 13 Royal Garrison Battalions, Renamed Royal Veteran Battalions in 1804, were raised, taking into service army pensioners and invalids. These battalions worked in depots and stores doing administration and support work, which enabled the more able-bodied to do the fighting.

The 10th Royal Veteran Battalion was established in December 1806 on the Isle of Wight from volunteers of other veteran battalions for service in Canada. The first group of the 10th Royal Veteran’s Battalion arrived in Canada in 1807 with a full complement of officers and 600 other ranks. When war broke out in 1812, the 10th was among the first into action and saw active duty at Fort St. Joseph, and captured Fort Michilimackinac. The following year, members served at Raisin River and Fort Stephenson (Miami, FL). It is not known if John saw active duty at this time. As new regiments arrived in Canada, members of the 10th Royal Veterans were slowly withdrawn from areas of action to do garrison duty in Lower Canada, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. In 1815, the battalion was renumbered as the 4th Royal Veteran Battalion and was disbanded in 1816. Fortunately, John chose to stay in Canada. On 10 November 1816, the ship transporting the families who chose to return to England was wrecked and 143 people drowned.

Progression Through the Ranks

John was appointed Corporal on 17 December 1810. John’s further military career is documented via his marriages.

On 6th of January 1813, John’s rank is recorded as Lance Sergeant. By the 27th of October 1813, John was appointed Sergeant.

In 1817, John is listed in the British Army Service Records with the Royal Regiment of Veterans, 4th Royal Veteran Battalion, pension payable in the colonies. In later life, John served with the 3rd Battalion Incorporated Militia between 1838-1843.

John’s Marriage and Children

John married Susanna Payne in 1795 in Cambridge, England and John left a young family of three daughters in his wife’s care when he enlisted in the military. At the time, the military was severely limiting the number of families who could accompany soldiers when they were posted outside Britain. In many cases, only commission officers could be accompanied. As a result, men sometime married as they moved from station to station, leaving abandon families in their wake. These abandoned families sometimes became a burden for parishes and various attempts were made to address this issue. On the other hand, the reality was that for woman and children life in a military garrison was grim. Susanna Payne died in 1806 in Surrey England at the age of forty-one. John and Susanna had five children, three of whom are known to have survived to adulthood. Little is known of this family.

On the 6th of January 1813 John Ashby, Lance Sergeant of the 10th Veteran Battalion, a widower, was married by license of Sir George Prevost, to Dorothy ?, (Preston) of Quebec, a widow. A daughter, Ann Ashby, was born about 1814 and it seems that both Dorothy and the baby died at this time.

On 26th February 1816 Sergeant John Ashby, of the 4th Royal Veteran’s Battalion, aged about 45 years, widower, married a widow, Susanna Andrews (previously married Shields and Bird), of Quebec, by license of Sir Gordon Drummond at Quebec.

Sergeant John Ashby, of the 4th Royal Veteran’s Battalion, Sergeant, aged about 45 years, widow, married Susanna “Susan” Andrews (Bird 7 Mar 1808 Quebec, Shields7 Apr 1800 Yarmouth, Norfolk, England) of Quebec, widow. at Quebec, by licence, Sir Gordon Drummond, 26th February 1816, in St. Andrew’s Church, Quebec, Quebec.

John and Susanna’s Story

In 1814 John lost a child and his second wife Dorothy of complications during childbirth.

When I explored Susannah or ‘Susan’ Ashby’s story I found that she had outlived two previous military husbands and throughout her lifetime bore eight children. Joseph, the first son of John and Susan Ashby, and Susan’s seventh child was born August 1817 and was baptized in Perth but did not survive. William Ashby, Susanna’s eighth child and my 2nd great grandfather, was born July 1819 near Fallbrook, and was the only child of Susan’s to survive to adulthood. Five of Susanna’s previous children died as infants. A sixth, a daughter, was accidently shot and died of a pistol wound at age seven. Living conditions in the garrison were not sanitary, food supplies may have been scarce, medical care was limited and with weapons everywhere, it was not a favorable environment for children.

What were conditions like in the Quebec garrison?

We do not know what living accommodation John, Susan and their various spouses shared during their time at the Quebec garrison but living conditions were a factor in the frequent deaths of children.

At this time, the military tried to restrict the number of women who could accompany soldiers to a posting. In most garrisons the quota was between 6 to 12 women per 100 men. Effort was also made to restrict the accommodation of families in barracks. Some women could live in the barracks if they provided cleaning, laundry, and cooking services for soldiers. These services were encouraged, and a wage paid. In addition, these women received full access to food rations but were not encouraged to have children living with them. Accommodation for children had to be arranged elsewhere in the community. Women, not engaged is supporting military personnel, might be housed in a common barrack room or be required to live outside the garrison.

Many garrisons had difficulty procuring sufficient provisions for their men and families. In 1808, when shortages occurred, the Quebec garrison allowed the issue of only ½ rations to women and ¼ rations to children but placed no limits on the number of children. In 1810, military officials issued new orders that limited the number of women and children receiving rations, strictly adhering to a ratio of six women to one hundred men. An approved woman could claim rations for two children. In many cases these limits threatened the survival of a soldier’s family.

Daily rations for the men offered little variety and often had to be supplemented by the soldier. Every morning at nine o’clock the men were served bread, milk, soup, tea and occasionally butter. Some men supplemented rations with privately purchased cheese or pork. Dinner was served at noon and consisted of soup well thickened with meal, flour or rice, meat and vegetables. No supper was allotted for single men, but broth might be saved from the noon meal. Soldiers eating with their families, apart from their comrades, typically would have milk and bread for breakfast, meat, vegetables, salt and bread for dinner, and milk and potatoes or broth with bread for supper. Beef, both fresh and salted, was available to the garrisons from local farmers, while mutton was usually reserved for use during celebrations. Salt pork was also available. Cabbage, peas and beans were favored vegetables. Fish was used with caution as it spoiled quickly and could lead to outbreaks of dysentery. Hunting allowed a soldier to add grouse, pigeons etc. to his diet. Wild fruit was added to the diet when available. Locally grown and milled wheat was used for flour and the local bread was deemed better than that available at home!

The Search for a Home

In 1817, Sgt. John Ashby (Ashley) received an initial location ticket for all of Lot 24 in Concession 2, Front of Yonge Township, Leeds County. This property is slightly to the north west of the village of Mallorytown. An investigation of this property reveals that it was all swamp land draining into Jones Creek which flows through the southern end of the property. Early maps indicate much more open water on the creek than visible on today’s GIS maps suggesting that the water table has changed, but today this area remains undeveloped. Farmland in the township begins in concession 3.

A second location ticket was obtained in Leeds County near Frankville but was abandoned in favor of a ticket issued for Lot 19 SW Concession 10 in the newly surveyed Bathurst township in the District of Bathurst. This remote property was located on Bolton Creek where water flowed out of Bennett Lake. It was also about two miles from the site that would become the village of Fallbrook. The Ashby family settled on their lot about 1817 and John received his crown patent on the 8th of September 1820. As the waters of Bennett Lake eventually flow into the Mississippi River system, early timber harvesting may have provided John with a readymade clearing for settlement.

This remote property was located on the shores of the Fall River as it flows out of Bennett Lake. This water course flowed into a network of streams that would become part of an important Mississippi river and Ottawa river highway for the timber trade during the next half century. The lot is about two and a half miles directly west of the village of Fallbrook. The image above depicts a shanty home, similar to the first shelter built by John for the family on this location. He met his settlement requirements and received the patent for 100 acres from the Crown on the eighth of 8 September 1820. No doubt he worked with other military settlers to clear the required land and to build their first dwelling.

On 17 Sep 1831 John sold a piece of this property to Benjamin and Samuel Bolton, a United Empire Loyalist family, for a mill site. Later, the old road connecting Dalhousie Township to Perth crossed the corner of John’s property and a bridge crossed the Fall River connecting the portions of his property which straddled the river.

A Home at Last!

Finding a home in Upper Canada was a challenge for John and Susan but imagine their delight when they arrived at their allotment in Bathurst Township. Tall trees covered the hillside although some oak harvesting may have already occurred. Blue lake waters sparkled in the sunlight. Wildlife abounded in the forests and fish in the lake. Birds flew overhead and wild geese migrated through in the spring and fall. Berry bushes could be found in forest openings. During that spring or summer of 1817, John and Susan busied themselves preparing for the winter. No doubt the first home was a log shanty in a clearing on the hill. John would be accustomed to hunting for birds and game. Susanne, during her garrison years, would have acquired food preservation knowledge and knowledge of edible and medicinal plants that would serve them in good stead. Other supplies were carried from Perth, or even Brockville during the first few years. No doubt the First Nations people who lived in the area befriended them and taught them additional survival skills. Joseph, their first son born in 1817, does not appear to have survived and may have died that first winter. William, born in 1819, was to become their legacy.

The original shanty sat on a hill overlooking the foot of the lake. Through time it was replaced by a log cabin which served two generations of the family and was replaced by a one and half storey log home in the 1920s. With its location close to the Boulton sawmill, this property may have been cleared of timber at an early date although it was not until about 1861 it was reported that there was additional acreage being used for crops.

In 1835, Mr. C. Rankin, was commissioned to report on the status of settlers placed in Lanark County circa 1820-1821. Although writing of conditions in townships to the north of Bathurst, his remarks could also be used to describe the Fallbrook area. in his report he described land allotments in this area as “a continuous succession of rocky knolls with scraps or bits, seldom exceeding an acre in extent, of good land between.” The rock outcrops on the hillside of this lot are replaced by low-lying land where it straddles the foot of Bennett Lake at the beginning of Boulton Creek. No doubt it was flooded when mill ponds were created.  As the area was settled, an old road between Fallbrook and Watson’s Corners ran along part of the Fallbrook side of the lot and a simple bridge was built to cross the creek. This road became a major route north for servicing timber shanties to the north of the lake. Along this route, the Boulton sawmills were built on a piece of land John sold to the Boulton brothers in September 1831.

Bennett lake/Boulton Creek are adjacent to the major timber highway of the Mississippi River made famous by exploits of the Caldwell and McLaren timber empires. Although not part of the water of the major timber drives, locating sawmills here provided an outlet for timber lying close to the lake watershed. These mills served local needs and products were shipped south to Perth and beyond. There were four mills built along this section of Bolton Creek, thanks to the skill of Alexander Wallace, the local millwright. Walter Cameron, in 1979 is quoted as saying, that “Now a cow could drink the bit of water that flows through it (Boulton Creek)”. Pg. 17

When I visited the home in the 1950s as a child  (the log house built by John Ashby, grandson of Sgt. John), and in photos taken in earlier times, the area was open with visibility stretching to the homes of the neighbours. Today it is heavily reforested in the places where sufficient soil can be found, and one only finds clearings around dwellings and where bare rock exists.

John and Susannah Ashby’s Neighbours during the settlement Period

The early settlers along the 10th line were connected by a very rudimentary ‘bush road’. Beyond the Ashby property the 10th line of Bathurst township became lost in unsettled “wild lands” of rock, swamps, and small lakes. Activities for the family and their neighbours focused east to the beginnings of a village that would boom during the early years. The village of Fallbrook became a place to rest horses and men before proceeding north to the lumber camps to the north.

Among those who settled near the Ashby family were several who were also military settlers, and they may have known each other before arrival. Many of the first lot assignments were not taken up – settlers looked and moved on. Using the Crown Patents issued before 1845 as a guideline we can identify who may have been living nearby during the early years. The following tables are broken down by the north and south sides of the 10th concession of Bathurst. All other lots received a patent in 1846 or later, many not until the 20th century. This is wild, rugged land, and not a place for the uninitiated John with his military background and years of service in Canada was an ideal candidate for life in this rugged environment. Fishing, hunting and using the bounty of the land would not have provided John, Susanna and their son William with a good life.

Crown Patents Along the North Side of 10th Line Bathurst issued before 1845

Crown Patents Along the South Side of 10th Line Bathurst issued before 1845 (Con. 9 NE)