Place of Birth: Emmanuel County, Georgia

Date of Birth: January, 1843

Date of Death: December, 1906

Marriage: November 13, 1866 to Roxannah Martha Augusta Harrell in Decatur County, Georgia

Children:

Charles Samuel Mitchel (1869-1905)
James Benjamin Lawson (1871-1913)
Augusta Martha "Gussie" (Every) (1874-1946)
John David Walter (1878-1968)
Oscar Hampton George (1886-1940)
Thomas Wilson Warren (1888-1966)
Margaret L. "Maggie" (Rankin) (1883-1976)
Lula Louise (White) (1890-1976)

Military Service: Mustered in to Captain P.H. Loud's Company H "Wilcox Rifles", 10th Georgia Infantry on May 20, 1861 in Abbyville, Georgia. Appointed Second Sergeant on January 1, 1862. Wounded by a minnie ball in the right hip at Savage's Station, Virginia on June 29, 1862. Elected as 2nd Lieutenant on December 2, 1864. Unit was
surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia with Lee's Army on April 9, 1865.

Occupation: A farmer until 1880, but by 1885 he had become a lawyer in Florida and later served as a circuit court judge in Polk County for 14 years in the 1890's and 1900s.

Personal: James Ashley was called "Ped" for most of his life by family members and friends. He was given that nickname while growing up in Georgia after he imitated the mannerisms of a local peddler.

Burial Location: Fortner Cemetery in Parrish (Manatee County), Florida.

Other: Two of James Ashley's brothers also served in the Confederate States Army. His older brother, Jonathan Lawson Fortner, served in Company E, 49th Georgia Infantry and is buried in the Mt. Zion Cemetery near Dade City. His younger brother, Stephen A. Fortner, served in the 64th Georgia Infantry, participated in the Battle of Olustee, Florida and was killed at the Battle of The Crater, near Petersburg, Virginia in 1864. His burial location is currently unknown.