Chester Ashley

Chester Ashley


United States Senator from Arkansas
In office November 8, 1844 – April 29, 1848
Preceded by	William S. Fulton
Succeeded by	William K. Sebastian
Personal details
Born	(1790-06-01)June 1, 1790 Amherst, Massachusetts
Died	April 29, 1848(1848-04-29) (aged 57) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic

Chester Ashley (June 1, 1790 – April 29, 1848) was an American politician who represented Arkansas in the U.S. Senate from 1844 until his death.

Ashley was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1790; while a child he moved with his parents to Hudson, New York. He was a graduate, with honors, of Williams College; following this, he attended the Litchfield Law School.^[1] Ashley moved west upon completion of his education, going first to Illinois, and thence to Missouri. In 1820 he arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas, soon becoming one of the best and most prominent lawyers in the Arkansas Territory; for a time, his partner in practice was Robert Crittenden. Together, Ashley and Crittenden founded Rose Law Firm.

For some twenty years Ashley's practice was the largest in the state, and he became a wealthy man. This led him to try his hand at politics; in 1844 he canvassed the state campaigning for James K. Polk for president; the Democrats were victorious, and Ashley was elected by the state legislature to fill a vacancy in the Senate. Soon after entering, he was made the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; in 1846, he was reelected to the Senate. Two years later, he became suddenly ill in the Senate Chamber and died not long after.

Chester Ashley is the namesake of Ashley County, Arkansas.

One of Ashley's descendants is Sterling R. Cockrill, the Democratic Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1968 to 1969 and the unsuccessful Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 1970.

References

↑ "Litchfield Ledger - Student". www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. Retrieved 2015-12-15.

External links

Brief biography, with picture from the Central Arkansas Library System
Chester Ashley on Find-A-Grave

United States Congress. "Chester Ashley (id: A000311)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

United States Senate
Preceded by William Savin Fulton	U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Arkansas 1844–1848 Served alongside: Ambrose Hundley Sevier and Solon Borland	Succeeded by William K. Sebastian

United States Senators from Arkansas

Class 2	Fulton Ashley Sebastian McDonald Clayton Garland Berry Davis Heiskell Kavanaugh Robinson Miller Spencer McClellan Hodges D. Pryor Hutchinson M. Pryor Cotton

Class 3	Sevier Borland Johnson Mitchel Rice Dorsey Walker Jones Clarke Kirby T. Caraway H. Caraway Fulbright Bumpers Lincoln Boozman

Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Chase Crittenden Burrill Smith Van Buren Berrien Rowan Marcy Wilkins Clayton Grundy Wall Berrien Ashley Butler Bayard Trumbull Edmunds Thurman Edmunds Hoar Pugh Hoar Platt Clark Culberson Nelson Brandegee Cummins Norris Ashurst Van Nuys McCarran Wiley McCarran Langer Kilgore Eastland Kennedy Thurmond Biden Hatch Leahy Hatch Leahy Hatch Specter Leahy Grassley

Rose Law Firm

Founders	Robert Crittenden Chester Ashley

Prominent partners	Hillary Clinton Webster Hubbell Vince Foster William H. Kennedy, III George C. Watkins Uriah M. Rose

Prominent clients	Walmart Tyson Foods Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Bank of America WEHCO Media Stephens Inc.

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 19520010 LCCN: nr00033703 US Congress: A000311

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