| Birth: | 19 Dec 1856 in New Ulm, Austin County, TX |
| Death: | 25 Apr 1934 in Bellville, Austin County, TX |
| Sex: | M |
| Father: | Christoph Heinrich Ashorn b. 14 Sep 1824 in Brockhausen Province, Hanover, Germany |
| Mother: | Carolina Liebscher b. 8 Oct 1832 in Wilden, Konigr., Saxony, Germany |
| Spouses & Children |
| Rosalia Chaloupka (Wife) b. 6 Dec 1858 in Cermna, Czechoslovakia | |
| Marriage: | 1881 in Texas |
| Children: | |
| |
| Notes |
baptized Friederich Edward
Edward Ashorn, (pronounced Ed'-vard in German) was short and stocky, maybe five-ten and 170 pounds. He had twelve
children, but they never all lived at home at one time. All their children survived many years, which was unusual in those days.
Baptized Friederich Edward Ashorn in 1857, he had ten siblings, eight of whom lived to raise families of their own. He was the
father of Edmond Ashorn who married Emma Findeisen.
Edward raised corn, cotton, sugar cane and sorghum near New Ulm, "like everybody else,"
says Della Kriegel. Even after he stopped actively farming they still grew some corn and
maize to feed the chickens. A garden grew behind the smokehouse, where Edward raised
his own tobacco to smoke in his corncob pipe. He cured the tobacco leaves in the
smokehouse. They had a pretty large persimmon tree, with big flat fruits, behind their house.
There were also pear trees and a row of three big pecan trees by the barn. At least one
grew long Mahan-type pecans, while others grew shorter Success-type pecans. You would
go through the pecan trees to one of the two barns, separate for cattle and horses. Edward
only had two horses once he stopped farming. He would use two for mowing and one for
plowing the garden. One barn had a catwalk that you could walk along as you put food in
the stalls. Hog killing time came in winter. Instead of sausage casings, Edward filled the bags
in which he had bought tobacco, and tightened the drawstrings. The big sausage balls
became very dark but had no tobacco flavor.
Edward wasn't particularly affectionate, thought his wife Rosalia was. His grandson Riley remembers that once Edward had a
bad nosebleed and put a dime on his forehead to get it to stop. He worked hard and took few vacations. But as a young father,
Edward faithfully observed Maundy Thursday (two days before Easter) by loading a keg of beer on the wagon and heading out
with his friends to go fishing, quite a distance from home. In later years, he like to walk around his farm with his hands behind his
back, surveying his domain. In those days the unfenced woods of the various farmers stretched from New Ulm to Bernardo.
Edward apparently gave each son a generous $1000 when they left home, and perhaps because of father-son clashes, they
seemed to leave home as soon as they turned 21. Uncle Eddie (Edward Ashorn Jr.), a little short fellow, went off to Bleiberville
and never saw his father again, returning only for his funeral. Edward's daughters stayed until they were married, but they
married young. Though Otto ran off too, to his uncle Willie and Emma Findeisen, he later became his father's neighbor and had
no animosity toward him.
Several of Edward's children lived on adjacent farms, since later in life, Edward divided up his land among his sons in
hundred-acre portions, like his father Christoph. Edward charged Otto $60 an acre (a high price in those days). His $1000 gift
provided the down payment and he loaned Otto the rest at 6% interest. Otto's land was in a valley next to Edward's
own remaining farm. Inschrich lived on an adjacent hill, and Edward's daughter Edith "Kleine Ettie" Schunka and her
husband Joe lived on another neighboring hill. On a hill in another direction lived W.C. Ashorn, Edward's youngest
brother, on their father's original homestead.
To visit Edward's farm today, take Schunka Road to the right off Hwy 109 after the New Ulm cemetery, about two miles. The
lane to the right goes to Edward's home. Originally the farms were divided along the borders of fields, like a jigsaw puzzle, since
they were informally transferred from father to child. They were fenced and surveyed only when the owners died. At the end of
his life Edward lay in bed for some time before dying in a Bellville hospital of stomach cancer.
baptized Friederich Edward
!MARRIAGE:Jan-Feb 1881, according to Shirley Nielsen