Primary Name: Ashby, Thomas Henly
Filed as: ashby_thomas_henly
Also known as: Thomas H. Ashby
Occupation / Association: Prospector; Miner; Merchant; Charter Member, Juneau Men’s Igloo; Topkuk Ditch Company partner
Born: 1865, Missouri
Died: 1951, Tacoma, Washington
Parents:
Spouse: Mary Andreafsky
Children: Charles Ashby; Inez Ashby
Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Treadwell, Alaska; Glacier Bay, Alaska; Stewart River, Yukon; Forty Mile, Alaska; Dawson, Yukon Territory; Nome, Alaska; Tacoma, Washington
Property / Address: Ashby and Leek Building (later Missouri Saloon / Louvre Theater), Front Street, Juneau, Alaska
Keywords: Thomas Henly Ashby, Thomas H Ashby, Ashby brothers, Missouri Saloon Juneau, Louvre Theater Juneau, Topkuk Ditch Company, Dawson stampede 1897, early Juneau prospectors
Biography
Thomas Henly Ashby was a charter member of the Juneau Men’s Igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska.
Ashby was born in Missouri in 1865. In 1884, he and his brother Oscar left their pig farm in Missouri at the urging of Richard T. Harris. They arrived in Juneau on May 11 and worked in various enterprises, including employment at the Treadwell Mine.
One of Thomas’s first prospecting trips was with Joe Juneau to Glacier Bay. In 1886, he and his brother traveled north, built a pole boat, and mined in the Stewart River area. They returned to Juneau in October of that year.
In 1887, Thomas returned to the Forty Mile area to prospect. Back in Juneau in 1891, the Ashby brothers and William Leek built a two-story building on Front Street at the site of the present Imperial Bar. The establishment began as a saloon known as Ashby and Leek, and later the Missouri. It was later known as the Louvre Theater and Saloon.
Thomas was among the early stampeders to Dawson in 1897 during the Klondike Gold Rush, where he mined on Eldorado, Below Bonanza, and other creeks.
He met and married Mary Andreafsky at Holy Cross. In 1899, Mary joined her husband in Dawson and crossed the Chilkoot Pass, carrying their three-month-old baby, Charles, on her back while a friend carried their two-year-old, Inez.
The family later moved to Nome, where Thomas and his brother became partners in the well-known Topkuk Ditch Company. Mary died in 1913. Thomas continued prospecting afterward and staked claims in many locations north and south of Juneau.
He died in Tacoma, Washington, in 1951 from complications following surgery.
Sources
Gastineau Channel Memories 1880–1959, pp. 260–261.
Tags: Thomas Henly Ashby, Thomas H Ashby, Ashby brothers, Oscar Ashby, Juneau pioneers, Missouri Saloon Juneau, Louvre Theater Juneau, Topkuk Ditch Company, Klondike stampeders, Juneau Men’s Igloo charter member