Note 8 — JOURNAL.

Capt. Ashby resided on the Shenandoah river above Burwell's island and the great bend of that stream, at which place he maintained a ferry and kept a house of entertainment. It was on the natural line by which travel came from the tide-water region of Virginia, through a gap in the Blue Ridge and across the Shenandoah valley to the country beyond. Being a man of great courage and usefulness, he was deservedly popular among the early settlers, and his name was given not only to his ordinary but also to the gap and to the ferry. There was, too, a Fort Ashby on Patterson creek, near the town of Frankfort. There are numerous families bearing the name of Ashby throughout the southern and western states, who are probably descendants of this famous pioneer. General Turner W. Ashby, an officer of distinction in the Confederate army, is presumably of this family. The name still attaches to the gap in the mountains, but it has been superseded at the old ferry.