Ralph Page Ashworth, Jr.

Posted on by Carol Ann McCormick

(1 June 1918 – 30 August 1991)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill curates well over 450 vascular plants collected by Ralph P. Ashworth.  He seems to have been Harry E. Ahles’ field assistant during the summer of 1958, for he is listed as the secondary collector on specimens collected for the Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.  He usually used “R. P. Ashworth” on herbarium labels.

Ralph Page Ashworth, Jr. was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina on 1 June 1918.  His parents were Nina Briggs Ashworth and Ralph Page Ashworth, Sr. 1  After attending Mars Hill Junior College, Ashworth graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Wake Forest College in 1939.2

Ashworth is listed twice in the 1940 census — living in Asheville with his parents and teaching public school in that city, and as a lodger in Mount Gilead, Montgomerty County, North Carolina and teaching school.3,6    In the 1942 yearbook of Mars Hill College Ashworth is listed as being on the Science Faculty. 7

Ralph P. Ashworth, Jr. earned graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was co-collector on vascular plant specimens collected in 1958. Photo from 1939 yearbook of Wake Forest College.

In 1947 Ashworth earned a M.A. in the Zoology Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He studied with Dr. Dale Beers and the title of his thesis was “Some observations on the culture and morphology of Dero limosa”.

In 1950 Ashworth was living in Madison County, North Carolina with his spouse, Helen Oneida Ashworth (1920-1982) and daughter, Helen Loretta Ashworth (b. ca. 1943).  According to the Federal Census he was teaching biology at a junior college.4

He returned to Chapel Hill for doctoral studies in the Botany Department in the late 1950’s.  During May, 1958 Ashworth served as a field assistant to Harry E. Ahles for collecting activities for the Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas  in Avery, Beaufort, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Mitchell, Pasquotank, Perquimans, and Watauga Counties, North Carolina.  He earned a doctorate in 1960 from the Botany Department with his thesis, “Investigations into the foliar anatomy and ontogeny of certain species of the genus Ilex L.”.

Ashworth was a faculty member in the Department of Botany, Bacteriology, and Plant Pathology beginning in September, 1960.  According to Sean Baker, Reference Specialist in the Special Collections & Archives of Clemson University, “His name last appears in the undergraduate catalog in 1968-69, so I assume he left some time after the end of the academic year.”8

Ashworth died on August 30, 1991 and is buried in the Old Stone Church Cemetery, Clemson, Pickens County, South Carolina.5 

 

PUBLICATIONS:
Ashworth, Ralph Page.  1960.  Investigations into the foliar anatomy and ontogeny of certain species of the genus Ilex L.  Ph.D. Thesis, Botany Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ashworth, Ralph Page.  1947.  Some observations on the culture and morphology of Dero limosa.  M.A. Thesis, Zoology Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

SOURCES:
1.  Social Security Applications & Claims Index, 1936-2007 .  Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
2. Seniors:  Ralph Ashworth, page 176 of 1939 Howler, published annually by the student body of Wake Forest College, Wake Forest, NC.  “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; School Name: Wake Forest College; Year: 1939.  Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
3.  Year: 1940; Census Place: Asheville, Buncombe, North Carolina; Roll: m-t0627-02877; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 11-9.  Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
4.  Year: 1940; Census Place: Asheville, Buncombe, North Carolina; Roll: m-t0627-02877; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 11-9.   Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
5.  Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/168716088/ralph-page-ashworth: accessed 07 November 2022), memorial page for Ralph Page Ashworth (2 Jun 1918–30 Aug 1991), Find a Grave Memorial ID 168716088, citing Old Stone Church Cemetery, Clemson, Pickens County, South Carolina, USA; Maintained by L N M W H (contributor 47583636) .
6.  Year: 1940; Census Place: Mount Gilead, Montgomery, North Carolina; Roll: m-t0627-02946; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 62-9.  Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
7.  Science Faculty, page 13.  “Laurel 42” published by the Senior Class, Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, NC.
8.  Personal communication, email Sean Baker to McCormick dated 10 November, 2022.