Harrison County, West Virginia Biography of Roy F. ASH ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Ann Schwirian , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II pg. 287 ROY F. ASH. The young men who volunteered for service in the World's war returned to their own land to find conditions greatly changed. Industrial affairs and economic matters, as always in the wake of a great international cataclysm, were unsettled in a degree that made it a difficult problem for the returned soldiers to place themselves in the scheme of things, and, indeed, such conditions prevail to a great degree at the present time. Among those who returned after seeing much active service was Roy F. Ash. He at once recognized that the man with special ability would have the better chance in readjusting himself, and accordingly trained himself through special study for the life insurance business, with the result that he is at present a member of the successful insurance firm of Ash & Lynch, at Clarksburg. Mr. Ash was born on a farm in Doddridge County, West Virginia, November 15, 1895, but was only two years old when his parents removed to Harrison County, where he was reared. He is a son of Harvey H. and Ruth Elizabeth (Dodson) Ash, both of whom were born in Doddridge County. His paternal grandparents were Silas and Mary J. (Underwood) Ash, and they, too, were born in Doddridge County, where the Ash family has long been numbered among the oldest and most highly respected people. The first of the Ash family to settle in Doddridge County was John Ash, the great-great-grandfather of Roy F. Ash, who came from North Carolina to old Virginia and then to what is now West Virginia. He and a brother, William Ash, were born in England, whence they came to America and settled in North Carolina. From that colony they enlisted as patriot soldiers in the Colonial army for service during the Revolutionary war, in which struggle for independence William Ash was killed. Silas Ash, the grandfather of Roy F., served with gallantry in the Union army during the war between the states, and at the close of hostilities reenlisted in the United States regular army for the campaigns against the hostile Indians on the western plains. After leaving the army he engaged in the oil business and resided at Clarksburg, where his death occurred. Roy F. Ash is one of three sons, his brothers being Noah Arthur and Russell H., the former older and the latter four years younger than he. There was a sister who died in infancy. Roy F. Ash was reared on the home farm to the age of fifteen years, attending the rural schools, and then moved to Clarksburg, where he obtained a high-school education. He then entered the West Virginia University, at Morgantown, which he left in his junior year to volunteer in the United States Army when this country became involved in the World's war. He was accepted and sent to Fort Benjamin Harrison, at Indianapolis, to enter the Officer's Training School, and later, upon examination, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the regular army and sent to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to the Sixtieth Infantry. Later he was transferred to Camp Greene, South Carolina, and there was appointed aide on the staff of General Crawford, Sixth Infantry Brigade, Third Division, and as such went overseas in April, 1918. In France he was promoted to a first lieutenancy and subsequently returned to the Sixtieth Infantry Regiment and served until the signing of the armistice. Later he was with the Army of Occupation until June, 1919, when he was sent back to the United States. At Washington, D. C., he received his honorable discharge, September 5, 1919. He is a member of the American Legion and in 1921 served as post commander at Clarksburg. Upon his return to the United States, and after receiving his honorable discharge, Mr. Ash attended the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburgh, to prepare himself, in a three-month course, for the life insurance business. At the end of that time he came to Clarksburg and has since been a member of the firm of Ash & Lynch, representing the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, with offices in the Goff Building. He is a thirty-second degree Mason of the Scottish Rite, a Noble of the Mystic Shrine and an Elk. His religious connection is with the Christian Church. Mr. Ash is unmarried.