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JERRY ASHLEY, M. D.
Vol. 3, p. 1056

A continuous practice of twenty-two years constitutes Doctor Ashley
one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons of the old Oklahoma
Territory and the new state.  Since 1908 he has been identified with
the growing community of Fletcher in Comanche County.  While his
professional work has been an important service in any community
where he has lived, he has also identified himself closely with the
civic and social progress of the state.

	The Ashley name is an Irish descent, and some of the prominent
pioneers in the State of Kentucky were Ashleys.  Doctor Ashley's
father was J. S. Ashley, who was born in Kentucky in 1817, and from
that state in 1844 removed to Lamar County in Northeastern Texas,
where he was an early settler, and continued to live in Texas all the
rest of his life.  He died while on a visit at Moral, Oklahoma, in
1900.  He was a prosperous farmer, and lived retired for several
years before his death.  As a democrat, he was elected and served as
county commissioner of Lamar Delta County, was for many terms a
justice of the peace, and his ability as a fluent speaker, and the
possession of an education much above the average standards of the
time made his a prominent factor in politics and in civic affairs.
He was a member of the Christian Church.  J. S. Ashley married Mrs.
Margaret (Campbell) Marrs, who was born in Hickman County, Tennessee,
in 1833, and died at Pecan Gap, Texas, in 1897.  Doctor Ashley was
the oldest of their four children.  The daughter, Docia, died at
Princeton, Collin County, Texas, after her marriage to J. C. Highsaw,
who is still living at Princeton, a farmer; Nannie is the wife of
James Bagwell, a farmer and stock man at Floydada, Texas; Jesse L.
died in infancy.

	Born in Delta County, Texas, December 1, 1867, Dr. Jerry Ashley
attended the common schools at Pecan Gap in Delta County, the high
school at Spanish Fort, Texas, and in 1891 entered the University of
Tennessee medical department at Nashville, where he continued his
studies until graduating M. D. with the class of 1893.  He at once
removed to Southern Oklahoma and located for practice at Orr in Love
County, and in the next fifteen years built up a large practice.  In
1908 Doctor Ashley came to Fletcher in Comanche County and was one of
the first members of his profession to serve that community.  Doctor
Ashley is a member of the county and state medical societies and the
American Medical Association, and is a physician of most excellent
attainments.  He also served as mayor of Orr three terms, and in 1908
was elected a justice of the peace, and is at present serving as an
alderman in Fletcher.  In politics he is a democrat. A member of the
Christian Church, is past grand in Fletcher Lodge No. 520,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, affiliates with the order of the
Rebekahs at Sterling, Oklahoma, with Camp No. 413 of  the Woodmen of
the World, with Fletcher Camp of the Modern Woodsmen of America, with
the Woodsmen Circle, with the Royal Neighbors, and has taken the
encampment degrees in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

	On January 3, 1897, at Orr, Oklahoma, Doctor Ashley Married Miss
Pearl Cobb, of Honey Grove, where her father, C. R. Cobb, is still
living, a prosperous farmer.  Mrs. Ashley died May 6, 1915, after the
birth of three children:  John S., who is a junior in the high school
at Fletcher; and Una and J. Shelton.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An

Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916)