Background
William Ashley was born in Chesterfield County. His date of birth has been given variously as 1778, 1782, and 1785; modern scholarship tends to accept the earliest date. From Virginia young Ashley migrated to Missouri.
William Ashley was born in Chesterfield County. His date of birth has been given variously as 1778, 1782, and 1785; modern scholarship tends to accept the earliest date. From Virginia young Ashley migrated to Missouri.
His date of birth has been given variously as 1778, 1782, and 1785; modern scholarship tends to accept the earliest date.
By 1805 William Henry Ashley had settled in the St. Genevieve area, where he became a supplier for local merchants and businessmen. Then he turned to land speculation, operating a plantation near Cape Girardeau.
By 1811 he and Andrew Henry had moved to Washington County, where Henry worked a lead mine and Ashley processed saltpeter and manufactured gunpowder. During this time Ashley served as justice of the peace for the St. Genevieve district and as an officer in the territorial militia.
During the War of 1812 he received several promotions, becoming a lieutenant colonel in 1814. Five years later he advanced to the rank of colonel and in 1822 became a brigadier general. He arrived in St. Louis in 1819 and became active in real estate speculation, banking, and politics.
In 1820 he was elected the first lieutenant governor of Missouri, and 4 years later he lost a close election for the governorship. His political activity remained secondary, Ashley's major interest was the fur trade.
In 1822, with his former associate Andrew Henry, he advertised for "enterprizing young men" to enter the trade-and from that time on, the American fur business depended upon hired trappers (rather than Native Americans) to obtain the bulk of the furs. Ashley's advertisement encouraged a number of the most famous of the trappers and mountain men to enter the trade.
While working for Ashley, Jedediah Smith brought back news of South Pass; Ashley took wagons over it and later explored parts of the Colorado River Valley. In 1826 Ashley sold his interest in the trade and turned to the less risky business of supplying the trading companies.
In 1831 he was elected to Congress to complete the term of Spencer Pettis, who had been killed in a duel.
Ashley claimed to support Andrew Jackson, but at the same time he favored the Second Bank of the United States. He was reelected to Congress in 1832 and 1834. At the close of his third term he ran a second time for the Missouri governorship but lost to Lilburn Boggs.
Two years later, in 1838, he died of pneumonia.
The United States House of Representatives from Missouri, the Jacksonian Party, Rocky Mountain Fur Incorporated.
A slender, energetic man of medium height, Ashley had a narrow face with a prominent nose and jutting chin.
He had leadership abilities, that helped him remain in public life.
William Henry Ashley married Mary Able in the 1800.
In 1825 he married a second time Eliza Christy.
In 1832 he married Elizabeth M. Wilcox.
