Biographical Sketch of George D. Ashbridge from the 'Biographical and Portrait 
Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania, Comprising a Historical Sketch of 
the County', by Samuel T. Wiley (1893); Chester County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris <jmcdmorris@comcast.net>.

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From the 'Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County,
Pennsylvania, Comprising a Historical Sketch of the County', by Samuel T.
Wiley, revised and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, published by the Gresham
Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pp. 590-593:

"George D. Ashbridge, an old and highly respected citizen of West Chester,
who is a representative of an early settled and prominent family of this
section, several members of which have occupied important positions and woven
their names with the history of this county, is the only son and sole
surviving child of Daniel and Sarah (Davis) Ashbridge.  He was born in Goshen
(now East Goshen) township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, February 1, 1818,
and grew to manhood on his father's farm.  His education was obtained in the
schools of West Chester, and after leaving school he engaged in agriculture
in  his native township, and successfully followed the occupation of a farmer
until 1851, when he removed to West Chester and retired from active business.

He has been a resident of the county capital ever since, and is widely known
among the people of Chester county.  In his political affiliations Mr.
Ashbridge was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party in
Pennsylvania, since which time he has adhered to the latter, strongly
supporting its policy during the war, and as firmly believing in the
principles of protection and reciprocity which it has advocated since.

The family to which Mr. Ashbridge belongs is of English-Welsh extraction, and
is among the oldest in Pennsylvania, having been planted here as early as
1698, by George Ashbridge, who came from England to Philadelphia in that
year, and shortly afterward settled at Edgemont, then Chester, now Delaware
county.  Here he purchased property, and August 23, 1701, at Providence
meeting, married Mary Malin, by whom he had a family of ten children: John,
George, Jonathan, Mary, Elizabeth, Aaron, Hannah, Phebe, Lydia, and Joseph.
The mother of these children died February 15, 1728 and George Ashbridge (1)
married Mrs. Margaret Paschall January 6, 1730, and died at Chester in 1748.

His son, George Ashbridge (2) was born December 19, 1704, elected to the
assembly in 1743, and continued to be re-elected each year until his death,
which occurred March 6, 1773.  He married Jane Hoopes in 1730, and his
children were: Mary, George, William, Susanna, Phebe, Jane, Daniel, Joshua,
and Lydia.  In 1732 he came to Goshen township, this county, where his father
had purchased a large tract of land.  Here he built a house which is still
standing.  His son, Joshua, was born in that house, September 17, 1746, and
died there September 4, 1820.  He married Mary Davis, November 4, 1773, by
whom he had four sons and three daughters.  He was one of the viewers who
located the present almshouse of Chester county.  His son, Daniel Ashbridge
(father), was born in East Goshen township, this county, in 1774, and died
here in 1838, in his sixty-fourth year.  He was a farmer by occupation, as
his ancestors had been, and in politics adhered to the old Whig party nearly
all his life.

His brother, Thomas Ashbridge, was elected and served for some time as a
member of the State assembly.  In 1817 Daniel Ashbridge married Sarah Davis,
a daughter of Amos and Eleanor Davis, of Thornbury, Delaware county, and to
their union was born a family of two children, one son and a daughter; George
D., the subject of this sketch, and Lydia, who became the wife of John R.
Warey, of this county, and died November 27, 1887.  Mr. Sarah (Davis)
Ashbridge was born in 1795, and passed peacefully away at her home in this
county, August 12, 1872, greatly respected and beloved by a wide circle of
friends."