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Family History 
of
 Alexander Perry Asbury and Almira Beecher


Editor's note: this is a transcription of a short family history written
by (1887) Joseph Lester Asbury, about the family of Alexander Perry Asbury
(photo shown here), and Almira Beecher (Joe's parents).


We, the progeny springing from the marriage of Alexander Perry Asbury
and Almira Beecher in 1868, may well be proud of our heritage.

Alexander Perry Asbury, born December 1, 1846, was one of five children
born to George Asbury and Sarah Jane Hubanks, who were wed in Maysville,
Mason County, Kentucky in 1841.  Grandmother was born March 14, 1826 and
lived to be 101+ years old.  She was a small, black-eyed Kentuckian lass
with a keen mind and indefatiguable energy.  She took care of her own
room and helped some with the cooking in the home of her son, John
Thompson Asbury, until she was 101 years old, when she fell and broke
her hip, after which injury she was confined to her bed until her death
in 1927.  I have often heard her relate incidents of slavery in Kentucky,
recite poems and songs of many, many verses that she learned when she 
was young, even though she couldn't remember things (at her advanced age)
that had happened the day before.  She was what was known as a "shouting
Methodist" and believed that a person was not really converted unless he
or she went into a sort of hypnotic religious trance.  She bragged that
she had read the Bible through some one dozen times and had a very rigid
moral code.  She referred to dancing as "hugging to music" and made many
witty, though sarcastic, remarks about the trends in modern living.  
She received a telegram from the President of the United States 
(N.B.: Calvin Coolidge) congratulating her on her 100th birthday.
Also Congress passed a law at that time giving her a special pension
for being the "only living mother of a Civil War Veteran in the U.S.".
My brother Arthur [Asbury] has a copy of that "Act of Congress".

George Asbury, our grandfather, was an eloquent Methodist preacher at
Ebenezer Church in Sullivan County, Indiana, for many years.  He
operated his farm and did blacksmithing on the side, to supplement
his meager church salary.  He was a kindly man, beloved by all who
knew him, and very devout.  He died at the age of 75 of a heart attack.
His last words were "Peace, Peace" and those present think he was
trying to sing his favorite hymn, "Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace".
Grandfather Asbury was directly descended from Daniel Asbury, a
Methodist preacher in a Southern state, who was an own cousin of
the famous Bishop Francis Asbury, who was sent over to this country
from England by Charles Wesley, the founder of Methodism.  Francis
Asbury was the first Methodist Bishop in the United States and was
known as the "Founder of Methodism" in this country.  He never
married because he said he would never ask a woman to be his wife
and share his hardships as he rode more than 30,000 miles on 
horseback as he rode from place to place in his capacity as a
"Circuit Rider".

Alexander Asbury, fondly known to all as "Uncle Alex", enlisted
in the Union Army at the age of 17 and served three years in the
Civil War.  The only would he ever received was a flesh crease
from a rifle bullet on his thumb.  His brother, Elbridge (or 
"Eldridge") also was in the Civil War.  

After his discharge from the Army, father (Alexander Perry Asbury)
attended seminary school in Farmersburg where he met an attractive
young girl named Almira Beecher.  Her parents were of German-Swiss
ancestry and farmed northeast of Farmersburg.  Almira Beecher
taught school for a short time and then she married Alex Asbury.

They made their first home in Illinois where the first three of 
their ten children were born.  Later they moved to Indiana and
father bought a 140 acre farm between Farmersburg and Hymera
where their seven other children were born - all of them in a
crude log cabin with the exception of the youngest, Ray, who was
born in the "new house" which father built from lumber which he
sawed in his own mill on the farm.

Father planned to enter the ministry but his family was too large to 
live on a preacher's salary so he was ordained as a "local preacher" 
and although he never held a pastorate, he preached more sermons than 
most regular ministers as he traveled over the country as an expert 
binder and mowing machine repairman and salesman.  He was a brilliant
orator even though he never went beyond the 5th grade in school.  He
was chairman of the Old Settlers Picnic at Farmersburg for 17 years.
His big, booming voice could be heard distinctly by the 10,000
listeners and they did not have any loud speaker apparatus in those
days.  I would rather hear my father preach than any man I ever knew.
He was famous for his fervent prayers in Church and I have known him
to preach a sermon, deliver a patriotic address, and "cry a sale"
(which they called our present-day auctions in those days) all three
in the course of a single day.

Alexander was an ardent member of the Grand Army of the Republic all
his life and served one year as State Commander of that organization.
He was nominated for National Commander once but was defeated by a 
very small margin in the election.

"Myra" [Almira Beecher] Asbury, as people called our mother, was
significant for her industry, patience and devotion to her husband
and family of ten children, all of whom lived to maturity except the
youngest son, Ray, who was thrown from a horse and killed when he was
only 16 years of age.  Bertha's husband, John Thralls, once said that
Mother had the most droll sense of humor of anyone he ever knew and
John, being of Irish stock, should know.  Mother never was well after
Ray was born but lived and continued to work without complaining until
she was 68 years of age.

Father lived a little more than three years after Mother's death.  He
was on his way to visit me in Seattle but stopped off to visit Eva
near Boise, Idaho.  He was stricken with an acute heart attach one
evening and died within 10 minutes.  It was my sad task to go from
Seattle and accompany his body back to Indiana on the train for burial
at Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, where his wife and youngest son are buried.

Father's funeral at the Farmersburg Methodist Church was said to have
been the largest ever held in that town.  There were people lined for
more than a "block" who could not get into the church for the service,
but who came from all over the state to pay their last respects to a
man whom they loved and respected.

I remember vividly the closing words of "Brother" Dick Couchman (a
life-time friend and co-worker with father) who preached the funeral
sermon.  He said, as he leaned forward from the side of the pulpit
and stretched out his hand to the members of our family as they sat
there in deep mourning for a wonderful father and grandfather:
"If A. P. Asbury could rise in his coffin now and bid you all a last
farewell, I am sure that this is what he would say: 'Be good, be good'."

And I think that still would be father's plea to all his progeny
today - to "be good" which quality he so eminently exemplified by his
own life.  There were some who disagreed with him, particularly over
his relentless battle against the liquor traffic, but there were none
who did not respect him.  One saloon-keeper said to him one time:
"A.P., you HATE me, don't you?".  Father replied, "No, George, I do
not hate you.  I hate your business".  This saloon-keeper left the
request before he died that Father should preach his funeral.

I want to leave these memories to the younger generation of Asbury's
who never had the privilege of knowing this great man, at least not
for long.  Never was I so thoroughly convinced of immortality than
when his physical body ceased to have life.  Surely, I reasoned to
myself, there must be a "life hereafter" because such a dynamic
spirit as A.P. Asbury had could not cease altogether just because
his great heart stopped beating and the breath left that huge body
that had so frequently sounded the clarion call to love of God,
love of Country, and love of Fellowman.

I have had the privilege of knowing ALL of father's grandchildren
and many of his great-grandchildren and there can be no doubt that
his qualities of leadership and personality have been handed down
to the succeeding generations.  How proud he would have been of his
progeny and may we all strive to conduct our lives according to the
high standards that he laid down for us.

Joseph Lester Asbury

 - transcribed by James Alan Sherman, November 2010