Date Original
1841-1842
Description
This collection contains a land patent and a letter concerning Chester Ashley's land. The land patent is for Township 1 South, Range 10 West, which lays in modern day Pulaski and Lonoke counties.
Biographical/Historical Note
Chester Ashley was born June 1, 1791, in Amherst, Massachusetts. After graduating from Williams College and Litchfield Law School, he moved to the frontier, first in Illinois and Missouri. He eventually settled in 1820, in present-day Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1821, he married Mary Watkins Worthington Elliot of St. Genevieve, Missouri. He was one of the first lawyers in Little Rock and represented more appeals before the Arkansas Territorial Superior Court than any other lawyer. He held a prominent role in disputes over the land for the town of Little Rock. His career was tarnished by his involvement in the Bowie fraudulent land claims and as director of the State Bank, which ended in disaster. However, in 1844, he was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat and served two terms before his death on April 29, 1848, in Washington, D.C.
Physical Description
Document, 8.5" x 11"
Geographical Area
Pulaski County (Ark.); Lonoke County (Ark.)
Language
English
Identifier
SMC.001.010
Resource Type
Text
Collection
Chester Ashley land papers, SMC.001.010
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Chester Ashley land papers, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rights
Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.
Disciplines
United States History
