Descendants Of Robert Ashman
Robert
Ashman
is first found in Hempstead, Long Island, when he is
listed in 1647, as sharing in the first division of land there, and it
is not unfair to assume
that his name was one of the three, missing from the original list of
the
founders, which had been eaten off by mice before 1848. On November 10,
1654,
he was nominated with others to serve as Magistrates, and the
Director-General
and Council in New Amsterdam chose John Symons and Robert Ashman.
On
December 15, 1661, Robert Ashman was again appointed Magistrate, and on
February
25, 1661, he complained to Peter Stuyvesant that he was not fit to fill
the
place because he could not read nor write, but on February 4, 1662 and
January
18, 1663, he was renominated and the New Amsterdam powers endorsed him,
showing
that he must have been an unusually able man. He does not appear in
Hempstead
after that date, but in the 1680's is a land owner in Jamaica, where he
died
March 15,1683, and where his widow Catern, Katrina or Katherine sold
certain
of his lands. Her maiden name has not been found, but it is
suggestive
of Dutch origin. The date of her death is not known, but she was living
in
1689. From Wills, etc in back of Book A of Queens County, N.Y. Deeds,
pp.
42, 43: "Jamaica, June the 13th Anno. 1689, An inventory taken of the
estate
of Robert Ashman, deceased, by Nathaniell Denton, Senr & John
Everett
& prized as followeth, viz: (Includes 4 oxen, 3 cows, 1, 3 yr.old
steer,
2, 2 yr.old cattle, 2, year old cattle, 1 mare, cart, gun, sword,
household
goods, a few minor items, farm tools, Total Pounds 47, 05, 00)'
"This
being all we could find or being informed of, it amounted to, as
Witness
our hands, Nathaniel Denton, Sr., John Everet." Queens County,
S.S.
Whereas at a Court of Sessions for the North Riding of Yorkshire on
Long
Island on the 13th day of June in the 35th year of the reigh of the
Lord
Charles the Second, late King of England *c. Anmno Domini, 1683, A
noncupative Will of Robert Ashman, late of Jamaica, aforesaid,
deceased, was proved by
the oaths of Rush Smith, Jonathan Furman & John Carman & the
widow
(in regard the sd testator had not named in his said will, nominated an
executrix)
having desired letters of administration upon the said estate, was
recomended
to the Comander & Councill for obtaining the same accordingly, And
Whereas
at an Inferior Court of Pleas held at Jamaica in the County aforesaid
on
the 10th day of April, 1689, Katrina Ashman, the widow of the said
Robert
Ashman, deceased & Wait Smith & Nathaniel Denton, Jr., her sons
"in"
law (in omitted) (not having obtained letters of administration of the
Comander
& Councill aforesd) made application to administer upon the estate
aforesaid."
"These my (may) certify unto all whom it may concern that the said
Katrine
Ashman, Waite Smith and Nathaniel Denton, Jr., having exhibited an
inventory
of the goods & chattels of the sd testator, being under the value
of
Fifty pounds, into the sd Court & also security truly to
administer,
they, above named are admitted joint administrators &c." Signed by
Thomas
Hicks, Esq. Judge of the Court at Jamaica, 10, July, 1689. New York
published
wills, Vol. 1, p. 125, state that Joseph Smith, Jonathan Wellman and
John
Colman declared that a short time before Robert Ashman died, when
"being
in his perfect senses," they heard him declare as his will, that he
gave
all his estate to his wife for life and then among his children, only
Thomas
Flewellen was to have a double portion, if he was dutiful and good to
his
grand mother. Letters granted to his widow, March 13, 1683 and the
declaration
signed, July 26, 1683. He died March 15, 1683 owning a home lot,
orchard,
barn, 10 acres of meadow and 309 upland and part of a ten acre lot.
Aspinwall's Notarial Record, p. 321 shows that Robert Ashman was in
Stratford, Conn., September 30, 1648. Issue:(order not known) John,
Lydia Swanson, Deborah, wife of Nathaniel Denton, Jr.; Mary, wife of
Hope Carpenter; Martha Cokse; Phebe, wife of Wait Smith; Hannah, wife
of Thomas Flewelling. References: Documents of Early Colonial History
of New York, Vol. 14, pp. 296,496, 509,
521, 529; New York Record, Vol. 10, p. 9; Annals of Hempstead, L.I.,
pp.
41, 42, 43, 63; Jamaica Town Records, Vol. 1, pp. 109, 149, 250, 325,
326,
360-362; Vol.2, pp. 337,
396; Vol.
3, p. 49. (Source
- Pg 62-63: Keeler-Wood genealogy)
