Rebekah's Notes

It would seem that Charles and Nellie endured many hardships and heartaches during their 50 plus years of marriage. Between 1906 and 1908, they buried two children. The family was living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the Great Flood of 1913, and had to be evacuated by boat. During the Great Depression (1929-39), Charles lost his job as a conductor on one of Fort Wayne's interurbans, and the family lost its home. Daughter-in-law, Violet Reynolds Ashton, Paul's wife, recalled that both Paul and his twin, Pauline, told her that the family sometimes went hungry. Pauline told Voilet that a staple was rhubbarb on bread (which she grew to dislike).

To add to the family troubles, two daughters were in hardship. The eldest, Fern, had divorced and was raising her daughters on her own. And Florence's husband was killed in a auto accident in North Carolina (the family suspected he was run off the road do to his union activities), leaving her with four young children to raise on her own.

After the family lost its home in Fort Wayne, Charles found work with his brother-in-law, Elmer Coil, husband of Nellie's sister, Bertha, in Spencer Township, Allen County, Ohio, helping to bail hay and cut wood. At the time the twins and Bob would have still been in school. However RC has been told (and needs to verify) that Pauline was left in Indiana where she was working for a family and the boys, Paul and Bob, moved with their parents, the thinking being that they would be able to help earn money for the family. Bob returned to Indiana. Only Paul would remain in Ohio. The family attended the West Union Church on West Union Road outside of Spencerville.

Charles and Nellie lived in a series of rentals in Spencer Township, Allen County, and Jennings Township, Van Wert County, and Violet recalled that their situation was quite tough.

Paul and Violet purchased the "Little House" by the ballfield in Venedocia, Van Wert County, on March 1, 1940. About this time, Paul and his siblings helped to secure a rental for Charles and Nellie on Main Street in Venedocia, close to the Salem Presbyterian Church. Many family photographs were taken in front of and behind this home. Usually the lights of the nearby baseball diamond are in the background in the pictures taken in the back yard. From the photographs, it appears that the extended family gathered at this home as much as time and circumstances permitted, and that they remained close.

Because Paul and Violet were the only family members in town (and in Ohio), they played a major role in assisting Charles and Nellie. When Nellie became ill, they took her into their home and Violet cared for her. Nellie was able to return to her own home, where she died not long afterwards. She was buried in the Venedocia Cemetery.

After Nellie died, Charles lived with Paul and Violet. By this time they lived in the "Big House" in Venedocia, which wasn't big at all - just bigger than their first small house. They partitioned off the downstairs bedroom and installed a bathroom on the first floor (their first indoor toilet). The "Big House" was now home to Charles, Paul and Violet, and their children, Ruby and Chuck, and, for a short while after Ruby married, to their son-in-law, John. As time went on, some of Charles' other children thought it would be best, and more fair to Paul and Violet, if Charles divided his time among the homes of his other children. Unfortunately, while he was in Indiana, he fell out of bed and broke his hip. To Paul and Violet's regret, he was too ill to be moved back to Venedocia and he died in a nursing home in Indiana. He is buried in the Venedocia Cemetery next to Nellie.

Charles in Ft. Wayne Interurban uniform

Charles & Nellie's 1945 50th wedding anniversary

4 Generations, abt 1917

Image:Ashton, Charles S. - Marriage License.pdf

Ashton Family, abt 1940

Charles in his Ft. Wayne Interurban uniform

Ashton Male Relatives

Charles & Nellie with their 1st child, Icie "Fern"

Charles & Nellie c 1950

Charles Schriner Ashton

After Nellie died, Charles lived with Paul and Violet. In a rare photograph, he is pictured in their backyard with Violet's parents, Ed and Gladys Reynolds, their youngest child, Lela, and daughter and granddaughter, Ruby and Connie Jones

Ashton gathering in Venedocia, Ohio

Charles with Paul and relatives of Samuel Savidge

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Ashton, Charles S. - Memorial Record
   1957.

   The Memorial Record for Charles S. Ashton is in the collection of his great-granddaughter, Rebekah Carlisle.

2. ↑ Ashton, Charles S. - Obituary
   1 Apr 1957.

   Charles S. Ashton. VENEDOCIA - Services for Charles S. Ashton, 84, a retired farmer and a resident of this community for about 20 years, will be at 2 p.m. Monday in the Harter & Son Memorial Chapel, Delphos, with Rev. Ellis Lloyd officiating. Burial will be in Venedocia Cemetery. Mr. Ashton died at 3 a.m. Friday in Pleasant View Rest Home, Indianapolis, Ind. following an illness of three months. He had been seriously ill one month. He was born Oct. 29, 1872, in Paulding County, and was married to Nellie Seslar who preceded him in death. Surviving are four sons, Floyd and Roy, both of Indianapolis; [Charles] Robert, Fort Wayne and Paul, Venedocia; two daughters, Mrs. Pauline Patterson, Indianapolis, and Mrs. Fern Wolff, Fort Wayne; 16 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. George Widener [Widmer], and Miss Pearl Ashton, both of Defiance, and a brother, Roy Ashton, Roy, Paulding. The body will remain in the funeral home where friends may call after 7 p.m. Saturday.

3. ↑ Ashton, Charles S. - Marriage License
   23 Feb 1895.
4. ↑ Allen, Indiana, United States. 1920 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication T625).
5. ↑ Clay, Indiana, United States. 1900 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication T623).
6. ↑ Allen, Indiana, United States. 1910 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication T624).
7. ↑ ^7.0 7.1 Ohio, United States. Ohio Births and Christenings, 1821-1962. (Online: Intellectual Reserve, Inc.).
8. ↑ Indiana, United States. Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992. (FamilySearch Record Search).
9.   Ohio, United States. Ohio Births and Christenings, 1821-1962. (Online: Intellectual Reserve, Inc.).

   16 Nov 1897 record of birth for Ray Milton Ashton lists his parents as Charles Schriner Ashton & Nellie Seslar.

10. ↑ ^10.0 10.1 Ashton, Violet Reynolds. Ashton, Violet Reynolds - Recollections.

    Charles & Nellie rented a home in Venedocia, with the aid of their children. Of their large family, only son Paul, and his wife, Violet, lived in Venedocia. After Nellie died, Paul & Violet invited Charles to live with them, and he did so until his other children thought it best that they also help in his care, and he began taking turns visiting them. It was during one of these visits, to a child in Indiana, that he fell out of bed and broke his hip. He spent the remainder of his days in a nursing home bed, where he died, in Indiana. My grandmother, Violet Ashton, always regretted that he was able to make it back to Venedocia to live. She seems to have enjoyed having him live in her home...I never heard her speak of the situation as a trial. When Charles moved into Paul and Violet's home, they had a bathroom built out of a portion of the downstairs bedroom. It was the first flush toilet in the house that was built in the early to mid 1800s.

11. ↑ ^11.0 11.1 Ashton, Charles, in Van Wert, Ohio, United States. 1930 U.S. Census Population Schedule
    1 b; line 62.

    Head of household in Jennings Township, Van Wert County, Ohio, Charles Ashton, 52, married, b. abt 1878 in Ohio; parents b. in Ohio.

12. ↑ Ashton, Charles, in Van Wert, Ohio, United States. 1940 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

    Charles & Nellie are only ones in household.

13.   Ashton & Winkler, in Indiana, United States. Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019
    p 252, 27 Sep 1947.

    Charles Robert Ashton, 28, married once before, b. 16 Jul 1919 in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, s/o CHARLES SCHRINER ASHTON & Nellie Seslae [Seslar], married Minna Marie Winkler...27 Sep 1947, Allen County, Indiana.

14. ↑ Ashton, Michael, in Paulding, Ohio, United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

    HOH: Michael Ashton, 33, b. in Indiana; his wife, Melissa, 30, b. in Ohio; children: CHARLES S., 7; Royal F., 4; Alvin Coe, 1; Harry B., 0; Also Stephen Schooley, 14, in household.

15. ↑ Ashton, Charles Schusyner, in United States. Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. (Washington, D.C.: National Archives Microfilm Publication M1509, 1987-1988)
    12 Sep 1918.

    Fort Wayne, Indiana. Charles, 45,a millwright for Rolling Mills, wrote his middle name as "Schuryner."