from Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County, Ohio
The Ashbaugh family of Rushcreek left Huntington County, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1799, for the Ohio country, and arrived safely at the cabin of Col. Samuel Carpenter, December 31, 1799, where they remained overnight. That night a child was born to one of the families and was named David Ashbaugh. The parents were John Jr. and Catharine Miller, his wife.
The family that left Pennsylvania consisted of
John Ashbaugh, Sr., and wife, and their sons, Jacob, Joseph, Frederick and Andrew and his two daughters, Mary and Patsy, and
John Ashbaugh, Jr., and wife. They came in company with
Joseph Miller, wife and daughters Elizabeth and Rachel.
Rachel Miller, in about twelve months became the wife of Edward Young and reared a large family of children. She was the mother of the late Mrs. Jacob Moyer.
The party floated down the Ohio from Pittsburgh on flatboats, or family boats, landing at the mouth of the Hockhocking. The men came up the valley on foot and on horseback, and the women, with the goods, in canoes, to the mouth of Rushcreek. Here the goods were placed upon pack horses and the party made their way to Col. Carpenter's cabin on foot. From Carpenter's they traveled through the woods to a spot since known as the Neely farm and now as the Weaver place, near Bremen. Here a small plat of ground had been cleared the previous spring by Joseph Miller, John and Joseph Ashbaugh.
Elizabeth, a daughter of John Ashbaugh, Sr., was left in Pennsylvania. She had previously married a Mr. Saxton of Huntington, and there she lived with her family until her death in 1822.
. .
Joseph and Jacob, sons of John Ashbaugh, Sr., moved at an early day to Kentucky and the family lost all trace of them and their descendants.
Patsy, the daughter of John Ashbaugh, Sr., married Mr. A. Ray and died young.
Mary, a daughter of John, Sr., married Samuel Ray. They were the parents of two daughters, one of Fairfield County, Ohio. 195 of whom became the wife of Wright Larimer, and the other the wife of Isaac Larimer.
Catharine, a daughter of John, Sr., married Asa Johnson. They were the parents of the late Edward Johnson, of Rush Creek.
Andrew Ashbaugh married Esther Ray, of Huntington county, Pennsylvania, and after coming to Rushcreek settled east of Bremen on the farm now owned by A. Grafis. Their children were John, William, Abraham, Samuel, James and Robert, Catharine, Jane, Margaret and Elizabeth, who married George Orndorff.. .
