I’ve been doing a lot of research trying to learn more about an Ashby ancestor of mine from Virginia who relocated to Clark Co, Kentucky, in the early 1800s.
My ancestor, Thomas B. Ashby (later spelled Asby), was born in Virginia about 1784 in Virginia. He came to Kentucky probably in the early 1800s as he married Susannah Brundage (daughter of Solomon Brundage and Sarah McCarty) in Clark Co, Kentucky, on November 10th, 1810.

Some researchers believe that Thomas was the son of Martin Ashby (son of Captain Nimrod Ashby, grandson of Robert Ashby) and Miriam Tebbs, though I have never come across an proof or, for that matter, a reason to this idea. I’m not exactly skeptical, but I would like to find reasoning to this claim. Can anyone tell me more information about Martin Ashby, son of Captain Nimrod Ashby?

This is what I have compiled so far from wills, probate records, online biographies and family trees:

Nimrod Ashby was born at Yew Hill, the house his father Robert Ashby (built in 1748) near DeLaplane, Virginia. His wife, Francis Wright was born in about 1742. The story goes that Francis Wright’s father (also named) Francis Wright died while his daughter was still young and that Nimrod’s father Robert Ashby took her in. Frances and Nimrod were married on November 30th, 1759. They built a house of their own in 1760, one mile west of Yew Hill where they had at least two children: Martin Ashby (born about 1760) and Thomas Bryan Ashby (born about 1762).

Nimrod went on to become a captain in the Fauquier Co Militia and, in 1763, commanded a detachment on the frontier during the French Indian War. During this time, he had to advance his own credit to furnish the militia with clothes and other things as well as to pay people to be “Pilots or Runners”. He came back to Fauquier Co and in April of 1764 was given 74 pounds from the treasurer as pay for himself and his men. While on his way back to give his men their pay and to pay off some debts accumulated there on the following June 29th, Nimrod and a companion named William Furman were ambushed, robbed and killed by a band of about twenty Delaware Indians near Furman’s Fort on the south Branch of the Potomac River. Nimrod’s estate was immediately appraised and 74 pounds was taken out of it to pay the reimburse the stolen payment from the treasurer, leaving Nimrod’s children “destitute of bread”. Nimrod’s father and his widow Francis both petitioned for monetary reimbursement on November 18th, 1766, but the claims were rejected. Robert, as per Nimrod’s will, was appointed guardian to Martin and Thomas Bryan Ashby. Frances quickly remarried to a man named John O’Bannon but died within five years of her husband’s death.

It’s a bit unclear exactly what happened to Martin and Thomas Bryan Ashby. Martin went on to marry a woman named Miriam Tebbs (born about 1760) and had a child named Foushee Ashby. It is also thought that they had a daughter named Miriam Ashbee and two sons named Thomas and John Ashby.

I’ve seen transcriptions of a Virginia will for Foushee listing his father as a Martin Ashby, but I have been unable to find any proof or, for that matter, even any reason to believe that Martin had children named Miriam , John or, most importantly to me, Thomas.

If anyone knows further information concerning any of these people, or another prospective Thomas Ashby, please let me know. I would sincerely appreciate the assistance.