First found in the county of Leicestershire where they held a family seat for many many centuries. Richard de Ashby was Lord of the manors of South Croxton and Quenby. The name was recorded in the Hundrendorum Rolls in 1273.

Families began migrating abroad in enormous numbers because of the political and religious discontent in England. Often faced with persecution and starvation in England, the possibilities of the New World attracted many English people. Although the ocean trips took many lives, those who did get to North America were instrumental in building the necessary groundwork for what would become for new powerful nations. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America bore the name Ashby, or a variant listed above: Alice Ashby who settled in New England in 1635; John Ashbey settled in Barbados in 1663; William Ashbey settled in Virginia in 1663.

Motto Translated: Be just and fear not

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