Charles William Ashton

Family/Spouse: Minnie Haviland. Minnie was born in 1863; died in 1915. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Benjamin married Margaret Permelia Lackey on 7 May 1856 in Defiance County, Ohio, United States. Margaret (daughter of John O. Lackey and Mary Watts Stites) was born on 19 Jan 1839 in Clermont County, Ohio, United States; died on 3 Sep 1892 in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States; was buried in Sep 1892 in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Mary Watts Stites on 10 Jul 1836 in Warren County, Ohio, United States. Mary was born on 22 Apr 1815; died on 16 Jun 1878 in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States; was buried in Jun 1878 in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Military: War of 1812
• Name: Richard D. Lackey
• Occupation: Farmer
• Probate: 11 Apr 1848, Warren County, Ohio, United States

Notes:

Richard and Sarah moved from Kentucky to Ohio with the Harlans, and settled on land about a mile east of Ridgeville. He purchased land of Heighway, who, like Symmes, could not pay for it, and it reverted to the Government; those who had bought of him had to pay for their land again. (see note below)

NOTE:
The Symmes Purchase, often called the Miami Purchase, is located in the southwestern corner of the state. During 1787 and 1788, the Ohio Company and John Cleves Symmes had purchased millions of Ohio acres on credit from Congress and were permitted to pay one-seventh of the price in federal bounty-land warrants. In 1792, Congress modified this contract. On September 30, 1794, President George Washington signed the U.S. Patent (deed) conveying to Symmes 248,250 acres. Symmes paid $70,455 in public securities for 105,683 acres and used military bounty land warrants, totaling 95,250 acres, to acquire the remaining 142,857 acres. Because Congress allowed one third of a dollar off for bad lands and incidental charges, Symmes actually paid two-thirds of dollar per acre.

By the time Symmes heard that Congress had not granted him all the land that he had asked for, he had already sold much of the land which was not really his. In the hopes that Congress would eventually grant him the rest of the land between the two Miami Rivers, he continued to sell to the incoming settlers during the 1790's. Samuel Heighway was one of the surveying party who came up the Little Miami Valley to survey the lands under the Symmes Contract.

The federal government decided that the land ownership dispute had to be resolved in the Miami country. Congress delineated very specifically which lands had been sold to Symmes and thus were legal sales, and which lands still belonged to the U.S. government and would have to be bought again. Between March of 1799 and March of 1804, Congress passed five Symmes Land Acts which stated, in essence, that all people who had bought tracts of land from the speculator John C. Symmes would be allowed to keep their land if they would apply to the U.S. government for a patent, pay $3.00 to have their tract surveyed, and pay $2.00 per acre on all land they claimed. [Source: W. H. Beers & County, Chicago, "The History of Warren County, Ohio", Clear Creek Twp., pg. 599]

Richard married Sarah Harlan on 23 Aug 1793 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. Sarah (daughter of George Harlan and Margery Baker) was born on 5 Jun 1774 in Chatham County, North Carolina, British Colonial America; died after 1815 in Warren County, Ohio, United States; was buried in Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Religion: Society of Friends (Quaker)
• Will: 23 Aug 1793

Notes:

August 4, 1783 - Hopewell Monthly Meeting, Frederick County, Virginia, pg. 398, Sarah Harlan, received on certificate from Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, Orange County, North Carolina, dated March 2, 1782

August 23, 1793 - Redstone Monthly Meeting, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, pg. 91, Sarah Lackey, late Harlan, disowned, married out of unity.