Difference between revisions of "Chester Ashley"

From FranaWiki
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Chester Ashley'''
+
'''Chester Ashley''' was a lawyer and purchaser of [[New Madrid Certificates]] to Little Rock public lands granted by the federal government to settlers relocated after the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812.
  
New Madrid Certificates providing public lands to settlers were granted by the federal government following the devastating New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812. Certificate holders were given surveyed lands in various parts of the Missouri Territory, including Arkansas. A few victims settled near Little Rock under the earthquake relief bill passed in 1815. Speculator William O'Hara, purchased 1,120 acres worth of New Madrid certificates in the vicinity in 1819.
+
Ashley was not an original holder of certificates, but instead purchased them from speculator [[William O'Hara]] in April 1821. O'Hara's certificates were at the center of a legal dispute with rival claimant [[William Russell]], who derived his claim from first settler [[William Lewis]]. Ashley eventually lost the case in June 1821 in the Superior Court of the Territory of Missouri. Many of the town's buildings created by the New Madrid certificate holders were pulled several blocks to land not owned by Russell.  
  
O'Hara became embroiled in conflict with speculator William Russell who held a claim derived from first settler William Lewis. In April 1821 O'Hara sold his certificates and exited the controversy. He was replaced on the New Madrid side by Chester Ashley. Ashley lost the case in June 1821 in the Superior Court of the Territory of Missouri. Many of the town's buildings created by the New Madrid certificate holders were pulled several blocks to land not owned by Russell.
+
Ashley granted land for the establishment of Little Rock's [[Mount Holly Cemetery]], the so-called "Westminster Abbey of Arkansas," as well as to the [[Diocese of Little Rock]] for the establishment of the Old French Church (now the [[Cathedral of St. Andrew's]]).  
 
 
Mount Holly Cemetery is the final resting place of ten former Arkansas governors, six U.S. senators, fourteen Arkansas Supreme Court justices, and twenty-one Little Rock mayors. Mount Holly is also the final resting place for Confederate spy David O. Dodd, five Confederate generals, Arkansas Traveler Sanford C. Faulkner, Arkansas Gazette founder William E. Woodruff, and Pulitzer prize-winner John Gould Fletcher. The fame attached to the people interred has earned the cemetery the moniker "Westminster Abbey of Arkansas."
 
 
 
The cemetery was established in 1843 on four blocks of land donated by lawyers Chester Ashley and Roswell Beebe. Mount Holly is located at the corner of Broadway and 12th streets, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==

Revision as of 05:03, 30 November 2008

Chester Ashley was a lawyer and purchaser of New Madrid Certificates to Little Rock public lands granted by the federal government to settlers relocated after the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812.

Ashley was not an original holder of certificates, but instead purchased them from speculator William O'Hara in April 1821. O'Hara's certificates were at the center of a legal dispute with rival claimant William Russell, who derived his claim from first settler William Lewis. Ashley eventually lost the case in June 1821 in the Superior Court of the Territory of Missouri. Many of the town's buildings created by the New Madrid certificate holders were pulled several blocks to land not owned by Russell.

Ashley granted land for the establishment of Little Rock's Mount Holly Cemetery, the so-called "Westminster Abbey of Arkansas," as well as to the Diocese of Little Rock for the establishment of the Old French Church (now the Cathedral of St. Andrew's).

References

External links