Ashley Pond


Ashley Pond was born at Wilmington, 
N. Y., Nov. 23, 1827, and came with his par
ents to Branch County, Mich., at an early 
age. He was well past his majority when 
he entered the University of Michigan, af
ter studying at the Wesleyan Seminary, now
 Albion College. He was graduated in 1854
 with the degree of A.B., and immediately 
entered upon the study of the law in the 
offices of E. C. and C. I. Walker at De
troit.

He was admitted to the bar in 1856, 
and became a partner with Jedediah Em
mons. Later he became a member of the 
firm of Newberry, Pond & Brown, his as
sociates being John S. Newberry, who left 
the firm about 1872, and Henry B. Brown, 
 late Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States.

In the early eighties Mr. 
Pond became general counsel for the Lake
 Shore and Michigan Central Railways, and 
soon became known as one of the leading
 railway lawyers in the United States. From
 1865 to 1868 he was Professor of Law in 
the University, and was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention in 1873.

Of late
 years he has had his office with the firm of 
Angell, Boynton & McMillan in the Union
 Trust Bldg. About seven years ago he sus
tained a broken hip in alighting from a
 streetcar, which, however, did not necessitate his retirement from active practice un
til about three years ago.

He was married
 when in middle life to Harriet L. Pearl. 
 He died at his home on Woodward Ave., 
 Detroit, Jan. 12, 1910, of pneumonia. He 
is survived by two children.