Biographical Sketch of Ai Edgar Asbury, Lafayette County, Missouri >From "History of Lafayette County, Mo., carefully written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources" St. Louis, Mo. Historical Company, 1881. ********************************************************************** AI Edgar Asbury, banker, Higginsville. Mr. Asbury was born in Prunty- town, Taylor county, West Virginia, August 16, 1836. He was partly educated at Rector College, Virginia, and finished his education at Allegheny College, Pennsylvania. In 1857 he removed with his father's family to Richmond, Ray county, Mo. Here he studied law in the office of C. T. Garner and Hon. Mordecai Oliver, formerly member of congress and afterwards secretary of state of the state. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar and removed to Texas county and practiced his profession until the breaking out of the civil war, when he took service on the side of the south, first in the service of the state of Missouri, and afterward, and until the close of the struggle, in that of the Confeder- ate states. In 1865 he returned to Missouri and engaged as clerk in his brother's store at Dover, in this county. In a short time, comparative- ly he engaged in business for himself as a merchant at Dover, where he remained until 1878, when he returned to Higginsville and opened a banking house. In 1880 he organized the Asbury-Catron banking company, of which he is still the senior member. Mr. Asbury was married November 9, 1865 to Miss Ellen Knox Gaw, of Lafayette county, who was born May 15, 1842. They have been the parents of seven children, two of whom died in infancy and five are living, viz.: Eva Garnett, Hugh Gaw, Leah Barnett, Ai Edgar, Jr., and Harvey N. He is a member of the Masonic order and he and Mrs. Asbury are members of the Baptist church. He has large interests in the coal mines near Higginsville, on the Chicago & Alton railway, is proprietor of Asbury's addition to the town of Higgins- ville, and is possessed of a fair competency of this world's goods, every dollar of which has been honestly acquired by himself, for in almost every sense Mr. Asbury is a self made man. At the close of the civil war and upon his return to Lafayette county, his capital was a $20 gold piece, all that was left of the proceeds of the sale of his horse and pistols after his surrender at Galveston, Texas. Capt. Asbury's record as a soldier is a remarkable one. His first service was as conductor of a wagon train of powder, which he conveyed from Jefferson City to the camp of Gen. J. H. McBride, about 150 miles. This was a perilous service since the road was rough and rocky, the powder sifted from the kegs continuously and the weels of the wagons struck fire at almost every revolution. On reaching the camp of Gen. McBride that officer appointed him Aide-de-Camp on his staff with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In this capacity he served in the battles of Oak Hill, Dry Wood, Lexington and in Zagonyi's attack on Springfield. At Elk Horn or Pea Ridge, he was on the staff of Gen. Frost. He served twelve months in the service of the state, and upon the expiration of this term engaged under Gen. McBride in recruiting troops for the Confederate States, during which service he was engaged in many an adventure and skirmish with the enemy. April 20, 1863, at West Plains, Howell county, this state, he was captured together with his company of recruits intended for Cornell's regiment of Missouri Volunteers. Capt. Asbury was a prisoner of war for twelve months, during which period he endured extreme privations and sufferings, not to mention indignities at the hands of his captors. While enjoying the hospitalities of Federal prison keepers he was frequently confined in filthy prison cells, half starved and clad, and incarcerated closely for many weeks at a time. At St. Louis not long after his capture he was paroled with 27 other officers and started for City Point, Va., for the purpose of being exchanged, where he arrived and exchange being refused he was placed in Fort Norfolk. On the way from Fort Norfolk to Fort Delaware, the vessel, the Maple Leaf, upon which he and about 100 other Confederate officers were, was seized by about ten daring spirits, who overpowered the guard, forced the engineer to land, and, after administering paroles to the officers and crew, struck out for the Confederate lines which they reached in safety. Twenty-seven of the prisoners, Capt. Asbury among the number, took no part in the emeute, having due regard for their paroles and refused to escape. Notwithstanding they had sworn to do no act in aid of the Federal government until exchanged the officers of the Maple Leaf, as soon as their captors were out of sight, placed the twenty-seven paroled Confederates under guard, and instead of taking the vessel to her destination, steamed away to Fortress Monroe and from there to Fort Delaware. From here Capt. Asbury and his comrades were taken to Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie. In February, 1864, he was exchanged at Richmond, Va., and went to the parole camp at Demopolis, Ala. From Demopolis he made an adventurous journey to the army of Gen. Price in Arkansas, joining Gen. Shelby's division, at Batesville. In the fall of 1864 he came into Missouri with a recruiting force, commanded by Col. Rathbun, in advance of Gen. Price's army. The force captured Lexington and Capt. Asbury conscripted the town. After Price's army passed through Lexington, Capt. Asbury crossed the river with 18 others, and became temporarily attached to Bill Anderson's guerrillas, and was present when Anderson was killed. After this event Arch Clements took command and led the force around Richmond, across the Missouri at Brunswick, and Capt. Asbury soon made his way to the Confederate army under Gen. Kirby Smith, in Arkansas. With this army he served until the close of the war, when, as before stated, he surrendered at Galveston, Texas, in June, 1865, and returned to Missouri, arriving at Dover, July 9, following. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. 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