Origin of Surname
ASHBY
(Sax.) Local. The house by the ash, or the village on a place abounding in ash-trees; by signifying a villa or habitation.
An etymological dictionary of family and Christian names - By William Arthur - 1857.

Biography
William Saint Oliver ASHBY was born sometime between 1725 and 1745 in St. Mary's Parish, Hull, Yorkshire, England. William served as a sergeant in the English troops from St. Mary's parish, which had been established in 1564. He arrived in New York with the English Army's 27th Regiment of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in June 1756. He served at various sites before 7 Fusilier companies were posted to Quebec, Trois Rivieres and Montreal in the mid-176o's. When his regiment returned to England in 1767, William decided to stay in the colony. He married Elisabeth Marie Berthiaume, a twenty-year-old habitant in about 1765 and settled in St. Joseph de Chambly, where they had nine children, five of whom died in infancy... Elisabeth died in 1785, six days after the birth of her ninth child.
Our Tangled French Canadian Roots by Jan Gergoire Coombs