Galusha W. Ashby. Many of the men of Montgomery County who have attained prominence in business life, have had their training in agricultural work and prior to entering commercial, industrial and financial affairs have achieved success as tillers of the soil. In this category is found Galusha W. Ashby, who until 1914 centered his activities in farming in Montgomery County and since that time has given his fine talents to the advancement of the lumber interests of Liberty, as proprietor of the Liberty Lumber Company.
Mr. Ashby was born on a farm in Appanoose County, Iowa, December 23, 1861, and is a son of Thomas and Amanda V. (Fuller). Ashby. On his father’s side he is of Scotch descent and on his mother’s side of French ancestry, and both families located in Maryland during Colonial times. Thomas Ashby was born in 1834, in Indiana, was reared and educated in that state and Iowa, and in the latter state entered upon his career as a farmer. On May 20, 1871, he came to Montgomery County, Kansas, establishing himself as a pioneer farmer, and here the remainder of his life was passed. He became a substantial agriculturist, accumulated a good property through industry and well-directed effort, and won and held the esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens. His death occurred in 1882. Mr. Ashby was a republican, but took only a good citizen’s interest in public affairs. He was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church and a member of its official board. He married Miss Amanda V. Fuller, who was born in Illinois, in 1842, and who still survives him and resides at Liberty. They became the parents of the following children: Galusha W.; D. C., who resides at Kansas City, Missouri, and is a lumberman; J. S., who is engaged in farming in Missouri; Dora, who is the wife of S. T. Woodring, manager of the Kallashu Lumber Company, of Lake Charles, Louisiana; Newton, who is a salesman for the Long Bell Lumber Company, at Kansas City, Missouri; Eliza, who died at the age of six years; and Langton, who died when five years of age.
The public schools of Montgomery County furnished G. W. Ashby with his education, and when nineteen years of age he began farming on his own account. For a period of about thirty years he continued as an agriculturist, winning success by his own efforts, and while he has disposed of some of his land still holds farming interests. In 1914, desiring to enter business, he came to Liberty, where, in company with John H. Tole, now of Independence, he purchased the yard, stock and equipment of the W. D. Riley Lumber Company, the name of the concern at that time being changed to its present style, the Liberty Lumber Company. Under the new management the enterprise has met with excellent success, and is justly accounted one of Liberty’s leading industries. Mr. Ashby has shown himself to be a shrewd, far-sighted business man, alive to every opportunity and with a thorough knowledge of his business. He has also established a reputation for honorable dealing, which has proven a valuable asset in commercial circles. He is a stockholder and director of the Liberty State Bank. In politics he is a republican, but acts rather as a supporter of his party’s interests than as a seeker for personal preferment. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Ashby was married in 1888, in Liberty Township, Montgomery County, to Miss Grace Forsyth, daughter of the late Alfred P. Forsyth, a farmer, who was for three terms, or nine years, a member of the Board of Regents of the Kansas State Agriculture College. Mr. and Mrs. Ashby have two children: Edith Beryl, who is the wife of L. P. Guy, a Missouri farmer; and T. A:, who resides at El Reno, Oklahoma, and is connected with the Long Bell Lumber Company.