This Ashton family is of English origin, but our forbearers immigrated to the United States about 1732 from Queens County, Ireland and made their way to Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  The immigrants, Peter and Mary Ashton, were granted a Land Patent in April 1745 and with their oldest son, Robert, established a homestead on a tract of 207 acres on Cook's Creek in what was to become Springfield, Pennsylvania. Peter and Mary were active Quakers and attended the Richland Monthly Meeting. This website contains the history of this family through Peter and Mary's son, Thomas and his posterity. Thomas and his sons—John, Thomas, Stephen, and Abraham—left Bucks County and eventually settled in Locke, Cayuga County, New York about 1800. John, the eldest son of Thomas, was the father of nine sons. The history of these sons has been a subject of considerable speculation among Ashton researchers in the past and the genealogy of these sons is included in this work. As far as we know, their history has not been previously documented. The history presented here is the result of two years of research by three of Peter Ashton's descendants.