Biography - JOHN R. ASH

John R. Ash, M. D., a representative member of the medical profession in Macoupin County, and a practicing physician at Brighton, was born here, November 27, 1867, and is a son of the late distinguished Dr. John Ash and Mary E. Loveland, his wife.

The Ash family is of German extraction and was founded in America by Joseph Ash, the great-great-grandfather of the present Dr. Ash. He settled in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, prior to the Revolutionary War, married there and then removed to a farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of 97 years. He possessed the strong constitution of sturdy German stock, and but a few years before his death took part in the harvesting of the grain on his fields. At the time of burial, his pall-bearers were four great-grandchildren, one of whom was the late Dr. John Ash. His wife lived to the age of 95 years. Both were members of the Lutheran Church.

William Ash, the great-grandfather of our subject, was reared in Chester County, where he died in 1850, aged 70 years. He married Nancy Stepler, a member of the Society of Friends.

Joseph Ash, their son, and grandfather of Dr. Ash, was born and reared in Chester county, and there married Elizabeth Zigler, also of German extraction: In 1853 Joseph Ash and wife located in Brighton, Illinois, where the latter died at the age of 66 years. Joseph Ash survived until the age of 92. In Pennsylvania both he and wife were members of the Baptist Church, but after coming to this locality both united with the Methodists, and until the close of their lives were faithful and consistent members.

Dr. John Ash was the second in order of birth of their family of six children, and was born in West Cain township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, November, 29, 1818, and died January 31, 1903, in Brighton, Macoupin County, where he had ministered so long to the sick and suffering. He secured a good, public school education and then entered the Pennsylvania Medical College at Philadelphia, and was there graduated in 1851, prior to this having attended the Strasburg Academy for two years. He then came to Illinois, locating first at Delhi, Jersey County, removing then to Piasa, Macoupin County, where he remained until locating in Brighton, in 1853. He continued to make his permanent home at Brighton, where his years of devotion to the public in the following of his profession is so well known. His loss is too recent for it to be yet fully appreciated, but he left behind, in the person of his son, our subject, one whose professional skill and sterling character worthily supplement all his efforts. During the Civil War, Dr. Ash served in the capacity of surgeon at Memphis, Tennessee. He was a member of the Macoupin County and State Medical Societies. Dr. Ash married Mary E. Loveland, who was born in 1830, in Rhode Island, and in childhood accompanied her parents, Leonard and Elizabeth Loveland, to Illinois, locating in Brighton township, Macoupin County. Mrs. Ash was a lady of culture and refinement, a graduate of the Monticello Seminary and Jacksonville Female College. The four children of the late Dr. Ash were: Charles, who died in childhood; Lena, a graduate of Monticello Seminary; Dora, also a graduate of Monticello Seminary and now the wife of Dr. James Mason Barcus, a leading dental surgeon of Carlinville; and John R., of this biography.

Dr. John R. Ash was afforded very excellent educational advantages and secured his medical degree at the Beaumont Hospital Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri, where he was graduated in 1889. He began practice with his father at Brighton and has been engaged here continuously with the exception of three sessions which he spent at the Marion Simms College of Medicine at St. Louis, having charge of the nose and throat clinic. Dr. Ash has met with much success and has won the confidence of the public and enjoys a cordial relationship with his brother physicians.

In 1896 Dr. Ash married Mabel Martin, who is a daughter of the late Dr. Frank Martin, of Greenfield, Illinois, a son of Hon. Henry F. Martin. One son, John Loveland, has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Ash.

Fraternally, Dr. Ash is a Mason, his father having been a Knight Templar, connected with Belvidere Commandery at Alton. He belongs also to the Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he is identified with the Republican party. Dr. John R. Ash is a member of the Macoupin County Medical Society and has served as its president. He is a member of the board of trustees of the village of Brighton.

Extracted 2018 May 07 by Norma Hass from Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Macoupin County, Illinois, published in 1904, pages 189-191.