Administration papers for Mary (Ashbrook) Dodd----March 4, 1816.

1794 Papers about Thomas Ashbrook land
Ann/Nancy/Grace not age 18.
Thomas Ashbrook not age 14.


"Line-a-Day Book" by William A. Ashbrook, P 1282.
The Conversion and Ministry of Rev. Eli Ashbrook With a Bit of Ashbrook History Written by Himself in His Nintieth Year

Thomas Ashbrook, (son of Aaron ) emigrated to Washington County Pennsylvania where he was killed by the Indians. He had two sons, John and James. James became a noted lawyer.

"The Honorable Dorsey Pentecost" by Mary Alice Ferry Diener, 1978.
P 50
In September 1779 the Court gave Thomas Ashbrook the task of surveying a three mile section of a six mile road from Catfish Camp to Pentecost's mills. Ashbrook owned about 130 acres in the Strabane Township near where this road was to be constructed. Ashbrook died in the early spring of 1781 It is said that he was killed either in the war or by the Indians. He left his young wife Mary (who later married John Dodd), his five-year-old son James, and several other children. When James grew up he became an attorney and married Lucinda (Lucy) Pentecost, Dorsey’s daughter.

It was a law of Virginia that each county, under penalty of a fine, must erect a whipping post, stocks, and an pillory. So on June 28, 1780, the Yohogania County court made arrangements to have these instruments of punishment built. Dorsey donated $100 to this cause This is not as much as it seems because the dollar had devaluated to two cents, and this amount would equal about $1.25.

P 10
James Ashbrook, son-in-law of Dorsey and Catherine Pentecost and husband of Lucinda (Lucy) Pentecost, was born about 1773, probably in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Washington County in Nov. 1798. He was a practicing attorney in the courts of Washington County for many years. James' father, Thomas Ashbrook was a surveyor; in 1779 he made a contract from the Yohogania Courts to survey a road from Catfish Camp to Pentecost's mill. It is said Thomas was the son of Aaron Ashbrook of Hampshire County, Virginia. He died intestate in the fall of 1781, leaving his pregnant young wife Mary, his six year old son James, and 3 other small children. It is said Thomas was killed either by the Indians or in the Revolutionary War.

Mary Ashbrook was the administratix for her husband Thomas' estate and John Dodd was one of the bondsmen. Mary submitted a bill to the courts for lying in and the funeral expenses for the youngest child, named Hannah. Mary Ashbrook married John Dodd, who then became the legal guardian of the Ashbrook children. Mary had 2 children by John Dodd. John Dodd owned land near Washington town; when this town was mapped out he purchased a lot on Main Street (across from the now County Courthouse). On this lot he built a log home and there operated a tavern. So, it is presumed, when the Ashbrook children were old enough they helped with dishwashing, cleaning, bedmaking, and other chores of keeping an inn. Then too, Charles Dodd, John's brother, operated a tavern next door; it was in a room here that the first courts were held, and in a log stable in the rear that county prisoners were confined. Here, in his formative years, James may have acquired his taste for the law. John Dodd had the Ashbrook property patented in his own name, as he claimed he had spent considerable amounts of money raising the Ashbrook children. After Dodd's death in 1794, the two children of John and Mary (Ashbrook) Dodd relinquished their rights to the property and it returned to the Ashbrook heirs. Then James Ashbrook purchased the rights to this property from his two brothers, John and Thomas, and his sister Agnes (also known as Nancy or Ann).

In 1803 James Ashbrook purchased the land in the Thomas Ashbrook Estate from his mother. He promised to give his mother $30.00 a year for her natural life. His mother Mary (Ashbrook) Dodd died in 1816, and the letters of administration were issed to James Ashbrook on March 4, 1816.


P 69.
Slaves----Mary Ashbrook Dodd, Lucy Pentecost's mother-in-Law, registered her one slave Lydia, periodically up to 1815.


P 121,
Selected Abstracts of Augusta, West Augusta and Yohogania Counties Court Minutes.
Sept. 28, 1779
Thomas Ashbrook was appointed surveyor of half of road ( 3 miles) from Pentecost ‘s Mills to Catfish Camp, do work on and keep in repair.

P 12
In Raymond M. Bell’s list of inhabitants of Washington County before 1800, Dorsey is not listed. Son Joseph Pentecost is listed as are James Ashbrook and his mother Mary Dodd.


"Virginia Counties, An Abstract of Their Formation” by Martha W. Hiden , P 36-37.
In 1754 Governor Dinwiddie ordered a fort built on the present site of Pittsburgh. The French captured the fort and named it Fort Duquesne. This outpost of great strategic importance fell to the English in 1758 and was renamed Fort Pitt.

The area was under Virginia jurisdiction and called the district of West Augusta being considered a part of Augusta County. "County courts were held at Pittsburgh under Virginia jurisdiction and the great section of country from the Alleghany mountains northwest to the Ohio came to be called West Augusta”.

In Oct. 1776, the district of West Augusta was divided into the counties of Ohio, Yohogania and Monongalia. A portion of this territory, including Pittsburgh, was claimed by Pennsylvania and there was much disorder and some bloodshed betweed the officers and adherents of the two Colonies. In 1779, commissioners from Virginia and Pennsylvania finally settled the line and Pittsburgh and the adjoining area were surrendered to Pennsylvania. The above account explains why in the Augusta County records are found deeds for land now in Pennsylvania.


"A Hornbook of Virginia History"
Yohogania County formed 1776. Discontinued 1786.
Comprising an extensive area between the Ohio and the Monongahela in dispute between Virginia and Pennsylvania, now mostly in Pennsylvania.

Notes: The three West Augusta Counties were Ohio, Monongalia and Yohogania.

Ohio County was the West Virginia area between the Pennsylvania line and the Ohio River comprising present Ohio, Brooke, Wetzei, Tyler, and Hancock Counties.

Monongalia Countywas the area south of the Pennsylvania line comprising Preston, Monongalia, Marion, Harrison, and other Counties.

Yohogania County was the area given to Pennsylvania and bounded on the east by the Monongahela River and on the south and west by the Virginia line and included Greene, Washington and Allegheny Counties.