John Riley Ashley was born July of 1820 in South Carolina and he died in 1915 on Lookout Mountain, Etowah County, Alabama. He is the son of Ebenezer Ebon Ashley and Elizabeth (Young) Ashley.

John married Laura Ann Pruitt about 1838-39 in SC.
Their Children were:

(1.) Edward Simpson Ashley (1840-1921)
(2.) Mary Elizabeth Ashley (1843-1922)
(3.) Lucinda Ashley (1846-bef. 1900)
(4.) Margaret Caroline Ashley (1847)
(5.) Frances "Fannie" Ashley (1849)
(6.) John Ashley (1853-1893)
(7.) Ella Berton Lady Ashley (1854)
(8.) Dorothy Josephine Ashley (1855)
(9.) Ida Eliza Louisa M. Ashley (1857-1941)
(10.)Martha Amanda Ashley (1857-1931)
(11.)Carolina J. Ashley (1858)
(12.)Jarucia Paralee Ashley (1863-1933)

They lived in Cherokee County during 1850-1860, but moved to Etowah Co., AL by 1870. Under Etowah County, Alabama Ancestral Homesteads; John Ashley; 79.69 total Acres; Sign Date: 1885/12/10; Doc#: H3922; Description: E 1/2 SW 1/4; Section: 12; Township: 11S; Range: 6E. If our John R. Ashley owned this property, he sold it before 1899, as his schedule of property filed with application for Pension showed he owned no land.

John R. Ashley served in the Civil War as a confederate soldier; Company A of the 31st Regiment of AL Infantry; Petters Brigade.

While in discharge of his duties as such in 1864 in the State of Mississippi, he was struck by lighting and severaly injured.

John appeared before the Judge of Probate in Etowah Co., AL and being duly sworn in, said he was a Confederate Pensioner of the fourth class Etowah Co and he was entitled to be placed on the first class being over 80 years of age in accordance with Act 1907.

A handwritten note on his document by the Judge of Probate: This party is old and feeble and does not remember date of birth. May 13, 1908.

John Riley Ashley was a member of the Advent Church and he is buried in an unmarked grave at the Lebanon Advent Cemetery in Etowah Co., AL.