Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries......Ashburn, Benjamin F., 1902 

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ASHBURN 

VETERAN FALLS DEAD IN NORFOLK STREET. 

Had Participated in Parade of the Day and Was Marching, 
   With His Camp to the Depot. 

  NORFOLK, VA., May 15. - While paying homage to his departed comrades who 
fought for the Confederacy, B.J. [sic; B.F.] Ashburn, a member of the Suffolk 
Camp of Confederate Veterans that came here to participate in the memorial 
exercises to-day, dropped dead of heart failure.  Though several thousand 
strangers, were in the city, this was the only fatality.  The dead man had 
marched in the parade and participated in decoration of the graves, and was 
marching to the depot with his camp to take the train for Suffolk when he 
died.  He was 67 [sic; 60] years of age, and was prominently connected 
throughout the South. 

****************************************************************************** 

SUDDENLY SUMMONED 

Mr. B.F. Ashburn, of Suffolk, Drops Dead in Norfolk 

  Our community was greatly shocked on Thursday night, May 15, 1902, upon 
receiving the news that Mr. Benjamin F. Ashburn, one of Suffolk's best-known 
citizens, had dropped dead in Norfolk.

  Mr. Ashburn was a member of Tom Smith Camp, Confederate Veterans, and went 
to Norfolk with his comrades on Thursday to participate in the Confederate 
memorial exercises.  He left home bright and cheerful, little dreaming of 
the fatal termination of his trip.

  About 7 o'clock in the evening, after the parade was over, and while on 
his way to the Norfolk and Western depot to take the train for Suffolk, he 
was attacked with heart trouble and fell on the street.  Death was probably 
instantaneous, as he gasped but once after being raised from the pavement. 
He had been in failing health for two years, and his death, while a great 
shock, was not unexpected to his family, who knew he was suffering with 
heart trouble.

  Mr. Ashburn was born in Nansemond County, Va., October 16, 1842.  He 
enlisted in the Confederate service at the age of seventeen, joining Company 
A of the Sixteenth Virginia regiment, which company was commanded by Captain 
Thomas W. Smith, of Suffolk.  He was severely wounded at the second battle of 
Manassas, and was afterwards placed in charge of medical supplies, spending 
the remainder of the war in Mobile, Ala., and Charlotte, N.C.  He was 
engaged in business in Baltimore from 1866 to 1890, and from the time of his 
death he was a resident of Suffolk.

  On the 13th of March, 1872, he was married in Henderson, N.C, to Miss Mollie 
Lassiter, who survives him.  He leaves two sons and a daughter, all grown, 
namely: Mr. B.W. Ashburn, of Selotoville, Ohio; Mr. W. Robert Ashburn, of 
Hampton, Va., and Miss Kate Ashburn, of Suffolk.  The deceased was confirmed 
in the Episcopal church at Henderson, N.C., in 1873.

  Mr. Ashburn's funeral took place last Sunday afternoon, at 3:30 o'clock, at 
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Rev. Joseph B. Dunn, the rector, conducting the 
services.  Tom Smith Camp, C.V. attended in a body, to do honor to the beloved 
comrades, and a delegation was also present from the Pickett-Buchanan Camp, 
C.V., of Norfolk.  A large number of friends also turned out to pay the last 
tribute of respect to the departed.  The remains were interred in Cedar Hill 
Cemetery, the pallbearers being as follows: J.P. Bell, Charles P. Cramer, W.M. 
Crumpler, A.H. Hargrave, J.Q. Holladay, W.T. Johnson, Calvin Jones and T.O. 
Palmer.  The floral offerings were numerous and beautiful.

  The deceased was a brave soldier, a devoted husband and father, and a 
faithful friend.  After life's fitful fever may he sleep well.

"Under the sod and the dew, 
  Awaiting the judgment day, 
 Lies the man to his colors true, 
  The soldier who wore the gray." 


Benjamin Franklin ASHBURN, of Suffolk, 
retired Baltimore businessman, Confederate veteran, 
b. 16 Oct 1842, Nansemond Co., d. 15 May 1902, Norfolk, 
interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Block D, Lot 49*), Suffolk, 18 May 1902, 
"Richmond (VA) Dispatch," Vol. 1902, No. 15,940, Fri., May 16, 1902, p. 1; 
donated obit, newpaper unknown - posted with Find a Grave Mem. #9797953 

*Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society 
   {SCHS} Cemetery Project: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_a.txt 

A biographical sketch is posted at: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/military/civilwar/cw_vets.txt 

His widow applied for a pension 16 Jul 1926 in Warwick Co. 

Her obit ("Suffolk News-Herald," Jan. 20, 1930, p. 3) is posted at: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/a216m1ob.txt 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/a216b1ob.txt