ABRAHAM L. ASHBROOK. This gentleman claims descent from Simon Ashbrook, a soldier in the German army, one hundred and twenty years ago, who left the Father land for America at the time of the Revolutionary war. In this country he was employed, during that struggle, in drilling recruits for the American service. His death occurred in Lancaster county, Penn., where one of his sons, also named Simon, was born. This son, Simon, about the year 1778, when he was in the neighborhood of twenty-one years old, came to Washington county and purchased land in Buffalo township, where he passed the remainder of his days, dying in 1849 at the age of eighty-two years. He had married Marry Fennell, who departed this life in Washington county in 1856, at the age of eighty-eight years. They were members of the Baptist Church. Absalom Baird Ashbrook, son of Simon and Mary (Fennell) Ashbrook, was born June 3, 1808, and was reared on his father’s farm. He married Miss Elizabeth Braddock, of Franklin township, this county, a daughter of John Braddock, and after marriage they made their home in Buffalo township up to 1884, when they came to the borough of Washington, here to pass their declining years. They were the parents of the following named children: Mary, wife of Robert Lytle, of East Finley township; Simon F., in Buffalo township; John, who died at the age of seven years; William, died when twelve years old; Abraham L., subject of this sketch; William A. and John B., both deceased; Sarah Margaret, wife of W. P. Hastings, of Washington, Penn., and Solomon Luther, deceased (a dentist who practiced in Buffalo township). The mother of this family died at the home of her son, Abraham L., in 1886, at the age of seventy-four years. Abraham L. Ashbrook, of whom this sketch chiefly relates, was born March 31, 1847, in Buffalo township, Washington Co., Penn., and received his education at the common schools of the district. In his youth he commenced the study of dentistry, which he supplemented with a course of study at the Dental College, Baltimore, md., during the sessions of 1885-86, from which he graduated in the latter year. He then came to Washington, where he has since remained in active practice, a prominent and popular leader in the profession. In 1871 Dr. Ashbrook was married to Miss Mary E. Stewart, of Buffalo township, daughter of John Stewart, and one son was born to them, named John Stewart, now living with his father. Politically the Doctor is a Democrat; socially he is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and in religion is an adherent of the Second Presbyterian Church. The Ashbrook family have, as a rule, been long-lived; Margaret (Howell) died when ninety-eight years old; John, when eighty-four; Solomon, when ninety-three; Nancy Huston, when ninety-one; William, when eighty-five -- all brothers and sisters of Absalom B. Ashbrook, father of Dr. Abraham L. Ashbrook.

Text taken from page 307 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed May 1997 by Barbara Bower of Yorktown, VA as part of the Beers Project. Published June 1997 on the Washington County, PA pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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