Henry C. Ash Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1728-1729 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.


	HENRY C. ASH, of Meade county, is a native of Allegany county, 
Maryland, and was born on Christmas day, 1827. He remained under the 
paternal rooftree in his native state until he reached the age of 
eleven, then moved with his parents to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where 
the family engaged in farming in which he assisted, attending a little 
country school near the homestead in the winter months, thus 
supplementing in a small way the slender educational facilities he had 
enjoyed in his former home. In a short time he entered actively on farm 
work in connection with his father, remaining so occupied until the 
death of the latter, when the son was but sixteen years old. Mr. Ash and 
his brother conducted the farm for a number of years under the 
supervision of their step-mother, then divided their interests and he 
went to White county and began farming on his own account, uniting stock 
raising to his other work. He developed a fine farm and built himself a 
comfortable residence, making his property one of the most desirable 
rural homes of the section in which it was located. In 1856, believing 
there were better opportunities for thrift and enterprise in the farther 
west, he sold his Indiana home and came to Sioux City, arriving at that 
place on May 26th. The town then consisted of a few tents and shacks and 
contained only one house with a shingle roof. On July 4th he opened the 
first hotel ever conducted in the town and continued to conduct it until 
the fall of 1859, the building being built of logs. At the time last 
mentioned he moved his family to Dakota, arriving at Yankton on 
Christmas eve. There he built the fourth house in the town, a log 
structure with a dirt roof and no floor but the earth, and here he again 
engaged in the hotel business, this being the second frontier town in 
which he ministered to the wants of the traveling public, and this 
enterprise being practically the first hotel within the present limits 
of the state. He continued in active control of it until 1876, when he 
sold it and went to the Black Hills, whither he had been ordered as 
United States deputy marshal, an office he had held continuously since 
1862. His outfit was the first to cross the Missouri on the way to the 
Hills, and the party was obliged to make its own trail through the 
wilderness from the Missouri to Deadwood. They arrived at what is now 
Rapid City on March 25th and then pushed on to Deadwood. Mr. Ash made a 
number of trips back and forth over this route in his official capacity, 
taking away the first prisoner ever taken out of Custer county, a man 
whom he had arrested for selling whiskey without a license. In 1877 he 
moved his family to Deadwood, and while on the passage up the Missouri 
the boat on. which they were traveling caught fire and they lost all 
their possessions aboard of her. The climate at their new home not 
agreeing with Mrs. Ash, she returned to Yankton but he remained in the 
territory and in August settled at Sturgis. The town was staked out on 
August 7th, and the next day he located on his present site, having 
taken up one hundred and sixty acres of land. Of this he still owns 
forty acres, but has sold the rest in town lots, the depot and St. 
Martin's Academy having been built on land which was originally in his 
farm. He built a log house on his tract and in the fall of 1878 his 
family joined him there. He engaged in the real-estate business and 
found it profitable. Sturgis was a thriving town in those days and there 
was ready sale for land in the vicinity. He resigned as deputy marshal 
in the fall of 1878 and the next fall was elected justice of the peace, 
an office to which he was continuously re-elected for a period of seven 
years. While living at Yankton Mr. Ash represented Yankton county in the 
territorial legislature, serving two terms in that capacity. In 1894 his 
residence was destroyed by fire and he at once began the erection of a 
fine stone dwelling. The facilities for building were not first class 
and a long time was consumed in building this house, but when it was 
completed it rewarded his patience and efforts, being the best residence 
in the town and beautifully located on the brow of a small hill about 
half a mile from the center of the place commanding a view of a wide 
extent of the surrounding country. It is in colonial style with a wide 
veranda around it, and is in the midst of a fruitful orchard and garden. 
The house is elegantly finished and furnished throughout, and the place 
is one of the finest homes in the west. Mr. Ash belongs to the Masonic 
order, with membership in the lodge at Sturgis. In 1863, as a charter 
member, he helped to organize St. John's Lodge, No. 1, at Yankton, the 
first. Masonic body in the state, and he is one of its two surviving 
charter members. 

	On March 22, 1851, at Mount Jackson, White county, Indiana, Mr. 
Ash was married to Miss Mary Reynolds, a native of Ohio. They have five 
children, Ben C., Julia (Mrs. Bates), Harry C., William B. and Elizabeth 
(Mrs. Eccles).