Ashmore, John D. (John Durant), 1819-1871

John Durant Ashmore (1819-1871) was a planter of Sumter and Anderson Districts, S.C.; member of S.C. House of Representatives, 1848-1852; comptroller-general, 1853-1857; and Democratic congressman, 1859-1860.

John Durant Ashmore (1819-1871) was a planter of Sumter and Anderson districts, S.C.; member of S.C. House of Representatives, 1848-1852; comptroller-general, 1853-1857; and Democratic congressman, 1859-1860.

John Durant Ashmore was born 18 August 1819 in the Greenville District of South Carolina. He attended common schools and studied law. Ashmore was admitted to the South Carolina bar, but never practiced, preferring to engage in political and agricultural pursuits.

From 1848 to 1852, Ashmore was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives; from 1853 to 1857, he served as comptroller-general of the state. Elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-sixth Congress, he served from 4 March 1859 until his resignation on 21 December 1860. During the Civil War, Ashmore was elected colonel of the Fourth South Carolina Regiment, but resigned before the regiment was called into service. After the war, he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Greenville, later moving to Sardis, Mississippi, where he died on 5 December 1871.

During the period covered by the plantation journal, Ashmore lived first in the Sumter District and then in the Anderson District, South Carolina. On plantations in these districts, he raised cotton, corn, potatoes, peaches, and other crops.