first wife and baby were killed by the Indians about 1780.
In the will of John Ash in 1800 he leaves one-half of all real estate and one-third of all personal property to Elizabeth which would seem to indicate that she was a lady of some means when she married Tom Cox. Many Beatty’s, including me, are Cox descendants.
The Story of George Ash:
As told by George Ash
The following was communicated to the Cincinnati Chronicle in the autumn of 1829 by the gentleman in substance, as related below. He received it from the mouth of Ash himself, who resided on the Ohio, in Indiana, upon lands first presented to him by the Indians, and afterwards, confirmed, in part, by Congress - - - he paying for the same. We copy it from Turner’s Traits of Indiana Character:
My father, John Ash, was one of the earliest immigrants to Kentucky and settled near Bardstown, Nelson County, many miles from any other white settlement. In the month of March 1780, when I was about ten years of age, we were attacked by the Shawnee Indians; a part of the family was killed, the rest were taken prisoners. We were separated from each other, and, excepting a younger sister who was taken by the same party that had me in
possession, I saw none of my family for seventeen years.
My sister was small; they carried her 2 – 3 days but she cried, and gave them trouble so they tomahawked and scalped her and left her lying on the ground. I was, after this, transferred from one family to another several times and treated harshly and called a “white dog” till at length I was domesticated in a family and considered a member of it. After this my treatment was like that of other children of the tribe. The Shawnees, at this time lived on the Big Miami, about twenty miles above Dayton. Here we continued until General Clark came out and attacked us and burnt our town. We then removed to St. Mary’s and continued there about two years. After this, we removed to Fort Wayne, on the Maumee, here we were attacked by General Harmar. We then removed to the Anglaizie River and continued there some years. While there, General St. Clair came out against us. Eight hundred and fifty warriors went out to meet him and on their way were joined by fifty Kickapoos. The two armies met about two hours before sunset. When the Indians were within about half a mile of St. Clair, the spies came running back to inform us, and we stopped. We concluded to encamp. "it was too late” they said, “to begin the play”, they would defer the sport until next morning.