Riverside County
Biographies
LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROY WILSON ASHBROOK
Lieutenant
Colonel Roy Wilson Ashbrook, an officer of the United States Army who has been
awarded a number of citation and medals, is the owner of Rancho Felicidad, a
ten-acre orange grove on Magnolia
Avenue in Riverside. He was born in Somerset, Ohio,
January 12, 1875, his parents being Aaron P. and Margaret (Saine) Ashbrook,
also natives of the Buckeye state. The
father fought in the civil ware with the Seventeenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was active as a farmer, miller and stock
raiser prior to his removal to Kansa
City Missouri, where
he took up his abode in 1879 and embarked in the real estate business. Aaron P. Ashbrook was a member of the Baptist Church, and both he and his wife are
deceased. Their family numbered then
children, five of whom survive.
Roy W.
Ashbrook, the ninth in order of birth in his father’s family, supplemented his
early educational training by attendance at the University
of Kansas and Kansas State
Agricultural College. At the time of the Spanish-American War, in
1898, he enlisted in the Third Missouri Volunteer Infantry and three hears
later, in 1901, was commissioned second lieutenant. He served with the United States Armey in the
Philippines for six years
with the Fifth and the Seventeenth Infantry and subsequently was stationed at Fort McPherson, Georgia, for five years. During nine months of the year 1907 he was in
Cuba and during the
succeeding four years was stationed at Columbus Barracks, Ohio.
Subsequently he was connected with the Blackstone
Military Academy
at Blackstone, Virginia, for one year and then spent a
similar period at Washington State College as professor of Military science and
tactics. Thereafter he did examination
work at the officers Training Camp of Boise, Idaho, whence he assigned to the
Fourteenth Infantry at Camp Lewis,
Washington, there remaining until
1917. In that year he was sent to Fort
Lawton, Washington, in command of the Fourteenth Infantry, subsequently served
as division machine gun officer, Fourteenth Division at Camp Custer, Michigan,
where he continued until the close of the World War and was commissioned lieutenant
colonel. He was afterward placed in
charge of military training at the Polytechnic High School of Riverside, California,
where he now indulges his hobby of horticulture in the cultivation of an orange
grove comprising ten acres, known as Rancho Felicidad. He has retired from active military life and
resides in a beautiful home at 9225
Magnolia Avenue, Riverside. A member of the American Legion, he was
chosen vice-commander for the year 1931.
In 1906
Colonel Ashbrook was united in marriage to Miss Louise Adams, of Zanesville, Ohio,
daughter of James and Annie Adams, who were pioneer residents of that
city. Colonel and Mrs. Ashbrook are the
parents of four children: Margaret
Louise, Roy Adams, Mary Ann and Barbara Durfee.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Episcopal Church. The Colonel has membership in the National
Exchange Club and fraternally is affiliated with the Masons, belonging to Lodge
No. 635 Riverside.
Transcribed
By: Michele Y. Larsen on May 2, 2012.
Source: California of the South
Vol. II, by
John Steven McGroarty, Pages 345-346, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 Michele Y. Larsen.
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